Now that Mohammadu Adamu is substantive IG

I know that a lot of people would be congratulating you on your confirmation as substantive Inspector-General, but I feel very sorry for you. I see no reason why you would want to be the Inspector-General of Police at this time in our nation’s history. The morale of the institution you now head is at its lowest and going down. Trust from members of the public is even lower. The government that endorsed you to serve is not known either for respecting court orders, the rights of citizens or growing any of the organizations it inherited. It is safe to conclude that you were primed to end your career in the force you joined in 1986 as a failure.

Given the scenario elicited supra, what would be your legacy? Muhammadu Buhari could say that you were appointed because of your eminent qualifications and that he does not know you from Mother Eve. Thus far in our pseudo-democracy, politricians have only appointed people who would do their bidding whether it be lawful or illegal. Truth is, you are on the threshold of history. You could end up as the man who reformed the police or with the unenviable notoriety of some of your ex-superiors.

Whatever the reason for your appointment, and whatever you have done to get this nomination, you deserve my pity. Nigeria is at the crossroads. You were in the police force when Boko Haram crept into and disrupted the national psyche of the nation. It outgunned your men from their base in Borno, moved over to Yobe and has caused incredible carnage all over the country. You have been witness to the menace of herdsmen murdering farmers, robbing and even kidnapping victims while leaving trails of sorrows, tears and blood everywhere they go.

All these are happening because the force you now head has failed to police the nation. Your officers are often found wanting in the discharge of their professional duties. Some have been caught drunk in gutters, others behaving like gangsters and many in cahoots with men and women of the underworld. The force you now head has no operational guidelines. Your senior officers police based on their religious, clannish or ethnic considerations, committing atrocities in the process. Its intelligence gathering capacity is basically non-existent. Criminals of every hue and model now use our country as successful testing pad for terror operations and our people as targets for wanton destruction. Life is worthless and nobody, except those heavily protected by your men is safe. An effectively policed state is security for all – the elected and the electorate alike.

Kidnappers have taken our cities, towns and villages. They are in control of our forests and plains and have commandeered our roads. Our children are picked up at the gate of schools and citizens are murdered right in front of their doors. Nobody is safe anywhere in Nigeria, day or night. Farmers are hewed down in their farmsteads, fishermen are drowned on their boats and travellers are indiscriminately shot while those who survive are dragged into the bush for ransom. Believe me Mr. Adamu, you are in serious trouble.

All over the world, when people are in trouble, they call the police. Very few of the men you command earn the trust to be called upon at any time. This is what led to the hashtag – #EndSarsNow. An anti-crime outfit gained notoriety as a murderous gang of uniformed men and women who constantly harass and manifestly kill the citizens they had sworn to protect. What you do about these would determine how you are viewed in history.

Police officers frequently arrest lawful citizens, dump them into their trucks and slam them with spurious charges to extort them and their relatives before granting them their naturally earned liberty. Could the people trust you to change these issues or be a lapdog of the system that appointed you?

Your men have turned our cities into a testing ground for their warped religious and moral interpretations. They pick up girls and women on the streets for the way they dress. They willfully rape some using pure water sachets. They decree that dreadlocks and tattoos have criminal undertones. They pick up youths with backpacks and criminalize those with laptops and ‘high-end phones.’  Will you bring past perpetrators of these dastardly acts to book, change the rule and establish a new order or would you massage the ego of your appointees and turn your back on rule of law and rationality?

Police stations are filled to overflowing with innocent people whose only crime is walking free. Would there be cell-decongestion and a regime change to ensure that people are presumed innocent and imprisoned only by lawful order?

Ritual killers are on the prowl in our country. What is your plan of action to save our people from being kidnapped and harvested for ritual purposes? What would be your plan to make checkpoints protective posts and not centres of exploitation? How do you hope to tackle the endemic corruption that rewards DPOs, AIGs and allegedly trickle down to your office? How do you weed out the bad eggs and institute a merit-based recruitment regime? How do you stop quota promotion and reward excellence?

I am sure you’re well aware of these issues; the big challenge is whether you came as a radical or just to occupy space and do what the regime commands.