Temitope Adeiye
The police ‘invited’ Senate President Bukola Saraki for questioning over the Offa robbery incident. He didn’t honour their invitation, but he did a Twitter thread to do shalaye.
I have been reliably informed that the police invitation was planned by the IG as a ploy to stop an alleged plan by some Senators and House of Representatives members from defecting from the All Progressives Congress (APC).
— Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki (@bukolasaraki) July 23, 2018
So they decided to show up at his house instead.
PICTURES: The police have blocked the Senate President Bukola Saraki's convoy at Lake chad junction on his way to report to the police headquarters upon the last night invitation by the police. pic.twitter.com/VXEtf64T7K
— I am Baba Idris (@babaidris090) July 24, 2018
There is a long list of things the Nigerian Police should be doing instead of wasting resources like this but I’ll name just three:
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Making the Abuja-Kaduna expressway safe:
That road is a death trap because robbers/kidnappers have made it their operations base. Countless lives have been lost to the bullets of these evil people and there remains next to no police presence on that road.
They don’t bother to stop vehicles anymore, they just shoot sporadically, take the belongings of the dead and kidnap those who are still alive for ransom.
Has the Police Force done anything about it? No. But many of them can camp in a street because they want to arrest one person.
2. #ReformSARS or #EndSARS:
Every single day, young men are targeted by the horrible officers of the Special Anti Robbery Squad. Instead of going after robbers, SARS officers target young boys and accuse them of being Internet fraudsters. Which doesn’t even concern them per se, but I digress.
SARS officers kidnap young men, and sometimes women, and extort money from them. they drive them to the ATM and force them to withdraw all their money. Or they forced them to make a transfer. They also search their car, bags and belongings and take any money or other valuables they have.
Basically, they do what the armed robbers they are supposed to protect us from do.
They also hold their victims hostage until their relatives are able to pay their ransom. And those are the fortunate ones. Others are tortured to death.
If you watch this video you will agree with me that Yomi Shogunle is an enemy of Nigerians, this USELESS man said all the allegations against SARS are false allegations. What an unfortunate human being. #EndSARS #ReformPoliceNG pic.twitter.com/V0s85SmVcv
— Olúyẹmí Fásípè AICMC (@YemieFash) June 30, 2018
Yet police spokesperson Yomi Shogunle insists that SARS is doing a great job, in spite of the very many video evidences documenting their atrocities. All he does is mock victims of SARS brutality on Twitter.
3. Stop demanding bribe:
The average policeman would rather collect your money than help you. If they aren’t extorting motorists, they are demanding that you pay them a fee if you walk into their station to report a crime. The wouldn’t even do their jobs unless you first bribe them.
The entire police force needs an overhaul and it needs to happen soon.
Make no mistake, this doesn’t mean Saraki is a victim in the way other ordinary citizens who have been abused and murdered by Nigerian policemen. And while our lawmakers turned a blind eye, the problem grew to the point where the number three citizen in Nigeria got a small dose of it too.
