SENATOR MISAU AND THE POLICE FORCE

It was truly courageous of Senator Isah Misau to blow the lid off corrupt practices in the Nigeria Police Force. This courage to speak out is commendable because it is usually not the norm for Northerners to speak out against a system that overwhelmingly favours fellow Northerners. That is why, over here in the North, there is overwhelming support for the TSA, the EFCC, the ICPC, the NYSC, the federal police system against a mooted state police system, Nigeria’s continued “unity,” non-restructuring, etc. Presently, there are states that are considered areas of “plush postings or assignments” for any police officer because of the cozy and “egunje” arrangements that abound there and these states are usually identified as the following: Anambra, Imo, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Lagos, Ogun. With respect to other federating states, no insult is intended here but economically those other states cannot match the aforementioned states for ease with which capital move and the availability of cash on demand. A careful examination of the posting pattern in the Nigerian Police Force indicates that, somehow, these states have mostly Northern Hausa-Fulani police officers as their Commissioners of Police to the exclusion of the indigenes of those states who usually get the “crumbs” as Police Public Relation Officers. What Senator Misau told Nigerians was that this state of affair is heavily flawed and skewed to favour the highest bidder and when that bidder was not forthcoming then the kith and kindred of the ruling class gets the meat. Sunday Adole Jonah, Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology, Minna