Seun Kuti, son of legendary Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, is not alone in bragging that he allegedly slaps men in uniform. We all are guilty, even when few will have the courage to slap and tell. We routinely slap members of the Nigerian Police. Before you protest your innocence, keep in mind that any insult, put-down, snob, and other disparaging comments launched against a policeman constitutes a slap in the face. Did I hear you say that Seun’s case is different because he went beyond verbal to the physical assault? Even on this score, there are scores of citizens who behave towards the police like Seun, men and woman, rich and poor, powerful and disadvantaged. Ask any policeman and they will regale you with tales of how regular citizens physically assault our police.
This propensity to attack the police is not limited by gender or social status. Women, you will be shocked to learn, may have delivered more slaps to the face of Nigerian policemen than their male counterparts. Google “woman slaps police” and you will be confronted with stories of dozens of cases of Nigerian women hitting out at men in uniform. It will also shock you that the culprits are not always the rich and influential. When I did the search, Google threw up a cook in Abuja, a hairdresser in Ikeja, a single parent in Ibadan, and an okada passenger in Karu (Abuja).
The rich and powerful are, however, not left out. There is sufficient evidence to show that they also routinely mistreat the police. Their regular victims are police guards assigned to protect them. The Force has inadvertently constituted a unit that operates much like a protection racket for the rich and powerful. Under the arrangement, the lower ranks struggle to be posted to affluent persons who apply for protection in society. Some of the officers regularly endure humiliation from their masters And they must smile and bear it; anyone who complains loudly risks instant transfer from the unit. They also dare not complain since they need the “opportunity” that this offers to augment their poor remuneration
Police recruits are equally abused inhouse, beginning from the day they enlist up until they become senior police officers. This abuse is considered part of endurance training, some sort of mental and physical toughening up process. Any form of disobedience to orders is swiftly contained through a “default” and orderly room trials. In extreme cases, such trials may lead to summary exit from the force. Police brutalization in the name of endurance training goes on daily and is unreported. However, the unintended consequences make headlines, for instance, when an abused or unstable constable, recruited through nepotism, revolts to fight or shoot an oppressive superior.
This police-on-police violence is real, but only civilian assaults of vulnerable policemen constantly make the news. Three years ago, former police spokesperson, Mr. Frank Mbah, now an AIG, described this growing public assault as “a classic example of unprovoked, unwarranted and unnecessary attacks faced by police officers in the course of performing their legitimate duties.” Hear him: “The Inspector-General notes that since the commencement of the COVID-19 enforcement duties (in 2020), a total of 27 police personnel have suffered a series of attacks and assault from members of the public at different times and different locations. Many of these officers are still in hospitals receiving treatment from the injuries sustained during such attacks. These include a female police officer, PC Ngozi Nkem, in Agbor, Delta State, who was seriously assaulted when a police team was dispersing a group of persons holding a birthday party in clear disobedience to the social restrictions and distancing orders…”
So, there you have it. We have always been guilty of police assaults, so, why should I join the outrage over Seun’s shameful public exhibition the other day? Na who never slap police before? Each time we consider ourselves safely out of their gun-wielding earshot, we habitually launch into a rain of insults, put-downs, complaints and curses against this class of overworked and underpaid public servants. Seun’s crime appears to be that he was recorded and exposed by the social media. Otherwise, this could have been quietly settled as these things often are – when they involve the powerful. The annoying part of it is that assault on policemen happens even where the officers are not culpable or are in a vulnerable state. No one will attack a policeman who has a gun.
It is a fact that there are instances where policemen themselves launched their peculiar brand of aggression against civilians. This is also becoming the pastime of a small group of rotten tomatoes in the service. It is this tiny group that gives the Nigeria Police their poor image, and their members are in the minority. Because of them, we must, therefore, be fair and admit that the actions of rogue officers constitute a menace to the public they are hired to protect.
Officers in this group commit abominable sins. On routine street patrols, they casually accost and rape commercial sex workers. Inside their stations, female suspects behind counters are not safe from the paws of randy policemen. On highways, the inebriated and stupid among them shoot motorists who refuse to offer bribes. In their homes and on the streets, young men are humiliated and money extorted, even when they voluntarily give police access codes to their phones to search for evidence to further extort. There are reported cases of people alleging that the police planted evidence in their cars and in their homes to arrest and harass them with false charges. These monkeyshines are not restricted to patrolmen and detectives on operations duties and their supervisors.
There are also rotten tomatoes among the top brass. The influential, the powerful, and the moneybag visit police commissioners and AIGs with bags of cash to, among other things, smooth over their bad actions or punish perceived injuries from enemies and rivals. The schemes of these rotten ones is a slap in the face of vulnerable citizens and communities that they are employed to protect. Their disgraceful conduct is equal and opposite to the physical humiliations and secret verbal assaults they suffer in our hands.
How is this situation to be arrested? The police, to paraphrase Achebe, hold both the knife and the yam, as the first point of contact for citizens in the criminal justice system. Their image will improve and the public will desist from serving them a slap in the face when they perform their duties without fear or discrimination. I do not necessarily agree that state police is a sustainable solution; most of what is wrong at the federal can easily be replicated at the state level. What may do the magic may be people police recruited at the local government level, with their leaders elected like mayors and governors. Let them replicate the effective community vigilante, with better training and equipment. This may be a solution that guarantees that, in their enforcement functions, they will not allow the powerful who break the law to get off with a slap on the wrist.
LAST LINE: It is a grievous offence to assault a police officer in or out of uniform performing their lawful duties. Anyone who tries this is at risk of going to jail for three years on a charge that goes beyond battery to aggravated felony. Section 356 of the Criminal Code applies to every “public officer” but singles out policemen and those who come to their aid while performing their rightful duty. The reason for this is obvious. A policeman in uniform is a representative of the state, mandated to enforce law and order. The law regards any slap or other forms of assault that distract them from performing this duty as an attempt to rob the state of the power to maintain law and order. The State will fight back, as it is doing in the alleged Seun Kuti incident.