Two months ago, the Cross River State Police command had confirmed that one of its officers at Atakpa Police station in Calabar, Inspector Effiong Bassey, blatantly murdered a 41 years old lady, Ijeoma Wilson Obot, when he opened fire on civilians without any form of provocation.
A press release signed by the Command’s Public Relation Officer, SP Irene Ugbo, had told the bewildered public that the killer officer was mentally deranged and that he had been detained while investigations were ongoing. About eight weeks after, the public is yet to know the direction of the said investigations.
The history of Police bullets sniffing lives out of innocent citizens in Nigeria is rich with ignominy and appears to be a long journey into eternity.
Life is sacred as it is a precious gift from our creator, but in Nigeria, the reverse appears to be the case as innocent souls are dispatched to their early graves by bullets from the nuzzles of trigger-happy policemen who at times pretend to be insane in order to escape justice.
The recent incident in Atakpa Police station in Calabar is one out of a million of such ugly situations Nigerians are forced to live with.
The self-indicted press statement from the police in defense of such dastardly act further goes to prove how policemen see and regard lives of ordinary Nigerians who they are paid to protect.
The statement claimed that the personnel in question was a mentally unstable fellow who was attached to a beat that require? him to bear arms.
What an insidious way of explaining away a clear case of inefficiency and maladministration! Wait a minute, are our law enforcement agencies now recruiting mad men to protect Nigerians? This is a disgrace of the highest degree.
The police should not forget that in this era of smart phones and Artificial Intelligence (AI), their shortcomings cannot be hidden from the public scrutiny.
In the case under discussion, the shame at Atakpa police station was captured in a no hole bared action video which is now in the public domain. It showed where the trigger-happy policeman was seen spraying bullets and could only be disarmed by a civilian while the so-called police tactical unit were watching helplessly. This is unacceptable.
We agree with the position of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUL), Cross River state council, that henceforth, all policemen who must bear arms should be subjected to psychiatric test and that the police institution must sit up and approach their duty in accordance with international best practices.
Granted that the trigger-happy police man is actually insane, whoever assigned him to such a sensitive beat that required arm bearing is equally as guilty as the personnel now in custody, and such a person must also be bought to book.
Furthermore, if truly the police is our friend as advocated by the force top echelon in Lius Edet House, then it behooves on them to educate the public on what constitutes the indelible wrong signal that the arms bearing policeman sighted from afar is not the type of a friend that the public should go near by keeping a safe distance.
It is our considered opinion that the killing of Ijeoma Obot must not be swept under the carpet. Proper investigations should be carried out on the immediate and remote causes of the dastardly act.
Moreover, the media should be brought in to follow up and report each step of the prosecution. This is what happens in saner climes, and we insist, there must be justice for Ijioma Obot.
