The plight of police officers, in Nigeria, is common knowledge. It has been like that forever, granted. They have my sympathy.
We can make all sorts of excuse for their behavior. But this issue is straight as an arrow. Although their parctice, including the \"return scheme,\" which involves every cop all the way to the Fed, is well known, and for which the populace does not begrudge them, this is a treamlined case.
It\'s not unclear, to the commander, what the issue was. He did not cite crime in his remark. As I said, the story is straight.
YET, another attempt by a motorist to abide by the directive of the new Inspector-General of Police, Sunday Ehindero, not to give \"bribe\" to the police has ended in disaster.
Policemen at a checkpoint on Abuja-Lokoja-Okene Road chased and opened fire on the law-abiding motorist\'s commercial vehicle, thus causing an accident in which two passengers died and several others were injured.
The bus driver had allegedly refused to part with any \"donation\" and had sped off. However, the infuriated policemen gave a chase and one of them opened fire on the vehicle deflating the tyres and causing the bus to somersault into a ditch.
I\'m not oblivious to the plight of the members of the NPF. But we\'ve got to call a spade, a spade. The story line tells it all. Observe the highlighted lines. They are the basis of my case.
1) Motorists have been instructed, by the IG, to ignore these highway IRS.
2) The report clearly labels the driver as \"law-abiding,\" implying that he did all that he was supposed to do, within the law.
3) Notice that the victim driver was not said to have crashed the checkpoint. The driver
refused to pay, implying that his vehicle had been checked, but was chased for pullung off without talking to Caesar.
Regarding the strike, I suggested \"a threat of,\" not an actual, strike. Anyway I was just saying that, to express that anything is better than abandoning a checkpoint and giving chase, with intent to murder.
There are other ways Police predicament can be alleviated, including, but not limited to, permitting them to moonlight. Schools, offices, financial establishment, convoys, factories, etc could use seasoned armed guards.