By Francis Ewherido
“The police is your friend,” is a popular saying of the Nigerian Police Force. “Friend” has many definitions, but this definition suits my discourse today: “someone who is not an enemy and who you can trust.” Do Nigerians see the police as people they can trust? “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind…,” a refrain from a song by Bob Dylan. It is also a popular hymn. On their own, every policeman/policewoman needs to come up with their own definition of a friend and do introspection. This is very important because some Nigerians are expressing their doubts, about their friendship and rightly so.
A 24-year-old aspiring musician, Paul Obukohwo, has reportedly died while in police custody in Asaba, Delta State. All the accounts of the sequence of events that led to his death point to a one fact: this death was totally avoidable. The account which I believe is the most accurate is that Obukohwo’s friend, Prosper Ejiro, was arrested by the police. When Obukohwo heard, as a good friend he went to the station to see how he could get his friend released. Instead, he was arrested, chained and tortured. He died as a result of the torture. He was arrested on a Wednesday. He died on a Saturday. How long is the police supposed to keep a suspect before charging him to court? When he became weak and ill, he didn’t get the urgent attention he needed. The story shows lack of human sympathy and negligence.
The police account said he was suffering from low blood sugar and that probably led to his death. I have not been to the Federal Medical Centre, Asaba, but the standard is that when you get to a medical facility, the first two checks they carry out are blood pressure and sugar level. No matter how ill-equipped, FMC should have the equipment to do these two simple procedures. The immediate solution to low blood sugar is a bottle of coke or sugar if coke is not available. Coke is preferable because the effect is immediate. This the police account doesn’t add up.
Another account said he was detained because he hit a police vehicle. With what did he use to hit the vehicle because he probably didn’t have a car, or did he use a hammer or other objects to damage the police vehicle? Although I don’t believe this account, if the police consider that an infraction, detain and charge him to court, not chain his hands and legs like a dangerous criminal.
Another report said that the “boys (Prosper Ejiro, 19, and Ejiro Obukowho, 22,) were on their way to work when the RRS officers stopped and searched them but nothing incriminating was found in their possession except the black camouflage shorts Prosper wore on that fateful day.” Let me ask, what is the position of the law on bloody civilians in military camouflage? I don’t know, but I have seen a lady forced by military personnel to remove her camouflage trousers in public and left with only tights. Some ladies don’t wear undies. If she was one of such ladies, you would have been forced to strip naked in public for wearing military camouflage! Another man was forced to sweep a shopping mall in the rain for wearing military camouflage. Some young men were also forced to roll in the dirty gutter for wearing military camouflage. Will these Nigerians consider the police or the military as friends?
These are inhuman, barbaric and high-handed acts. A strict warning should have sufficed. Some people argue that with our level of insecurity, civilians should avoid wearing or being with anything military or police. I belong to that school. I never wore or bought them for my children. Now that they are older and buy their own clothes, I have warned them to flee from any clothing and apparel bearing resemblance to the military. My son once bought a pair of trousers with a colour close to what the US Army wears. I told him he can’t use it. He argued that it was not Nigerian military colour. “Are you in the US army,” I asked him? I put down my foot. My philosophy is avoiding temptation/trouble, instead of trying to overcome them.
I saw one of the photos of Obukohwo with dreadlocks and a cross tattoo on his face. Could these have been what made the police to profile him? Sagging trousers, dreadlocks, tattoo, earrings and “weird” hairstyles by youngsters are magnet to the Nigerian Police. Such youngsters have been stereotyped as youths associated with internet fraud and other vices. Also stereotyped are youths with particular brands of Mercedes Benz cars. Police hunt them on our roads every day. I warned my boys. One of my sons had a particular hairstyle. He looked stunning. But I called him, “son I love your hairstyle. It fits you well. Where I to be with you all the time, I would love you to keep it, but I can’t, so you can’t keep it.” I felt very sad, but it is better than going to see my son in a police cell as a suspect because of his hairstyle. Even with the “bail is free” sign boldly displayed in all police stations, I would rather not go to the extent of trying to bail from my son from detention. Prosper and the late Obukohwo didn’t need to be detained. They were detained because the police probably wanted to collect money for the bail police said is free, as one report inferred.
I am very sad over this matter because another promising life has been cut short because of greed and high-handedness. Who said Obukohwo could not have become another Davido, Wizkid or Burna Boy? I empathise with the parents. It is not just right the way some policemen continue to cause parents heartbreaks. I have seen a policeman weep over the loss a child. They know the pain, so why inflict it on other parents?
Part of the solution to tackling insecurity in Nigeria is not brutalizing unarmed youngsters who wear camouflage as a fashion apparel. Civilians freely wear camouflage in the US and UK. But I am against civilians wearing camouflage in Nigeria. All bloody civilians like me should stay away from camouflage. We have enough variety of clothes to choose from. Criminals disguising as military or police personnel use it to commit crimes. Moreover, uniforms generally are tools of oppression/lawlessness in Nigeria by the military, police, customs and paramilitary organisations; nurses and doctors in hospitals; even church wardens, who wear sashes and uniformed gatemen. When these officers carry weapons, they are worse. That’s why I wondered when the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) wanted a law passed to enable them carry weapons. They know best why they want to carry weapons, but it has nothing to do with their core mandate. Nigerians have enough stress and trepidation dealing with people with guns and uniforms. FRSC does not need to be armed. They can continue to stay near military and army checkpoints or ad spots on our roads and ambush errant drivers. But my problem is that they are selective and they go outside their mandate sometimes. All road users know what I am talking about.
My departing shot is that policemen need to behave like true friends or at least be nice if they want Nigerians to trust them. The Delta State Police Command should also investigate Obukohwo’s death and ensure that those involved are brought to book. That though cannot be enough consolation for Obukohwo’s family, but that is the law.
