Umar Gwadabe And My Police Story

By Osondu Ahirika

The police are your friend! True or false? What a way to begin this piece. Against all odds, contrary to compelling evidence of the reality, I choose to believe the Policeman is a friend.
A few weeks back, Sokoto State Governor, Aliyu Wammako reportedly flogged a PHCN official publicly. If His Excellency could, then what stops a few overzealous, half baked and probably ill-trained policemen to try their new horse whips on some citizens back in a show of strength?
So it was, that, Your's sincerely was caught on the ugly side of an unfortunate police encounter. On my professional beat to cover the peaceful demonstration by Ex-Councilors of Akwa Ibom State to the Hilltop Mansion along Wellington Bassey Way, before I could say “Jack”, the Mobile Policemen drafted to the scene to disperse the protesting councilors had descended on my colleagues, brutalizing them. I stepped in to intervene and pronto, I was hounded into the melee. Beaten, given a good dose of whipping from koboko which lacerated my body, dragged into the A Division Police office and detained behind the counter after my clothes were torn. My mobile phones were confiscated, even on self identification; the policemen who were clearly intoxicated either by vain sense of power or substance abuse were deaf to commonsense.
Within 36 minutes in their detention, other colleagues stormed the station in protest. Soon the State Council Chair of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Comrade Joe Effiong was there, things moved fast and the Commissioner of Police, Umar Gwadabe intervened. He gave signal that we should be brought to the Police Headquarters at Ikot Akpan Abia.
Arriving his office, he was livid with rage at the disgraceful, barbaric and primitive conduct of his men. Profusely apologizing for the, nothing but illiterate conduct of a few bag eggs who know nothing about modern policing, CP Gwadabe was hell bent on punishing those officers responsible for this reprehensible misbehavior.

Looking into his eyes, I saw the sincerity of an exposed, well trained, mature, patriotic and states manly disposition in approaching his commission. A trainer of policemen from days as commandant in the Police College, CP Gwadabe tutored his men on how to conduct themselves with civility, friendliness. Through his body language, I saw a light  and the end of a long dark tunnel of the modern futuristic Police Force the Inspector General of Police, M.D. Abubakar is trying to build, and is gradually succeeding in doing. With men like Umar Gwadabe, at the fulcrum of this new initiative, the IGP will certainly succeed, in the short, medium and hopefully the long term.
Tell magazine's August 30, 2010 edition had the cover, POLICE: THE ENEMY NEXT DOOR. There is, it seems, an unending debate to establish if the Nigerian Police is a protector or a predator to the citizens. The wicked illustration of November 14 experience lends credence to the number one public enemy image of the Police. But like Assistant Commissioner of Police, Gabriel Achong rightly reasoned, the police job is a difficult one. If they handle it with kid's gloves, it breaks the society, if on the other hand they apply maximum force, it also breaks the society. Unfortunately, there is no room for a middle ground or is there? I can only wonder aloud, that, if the police exert the kind of force they demonstrated on poor me, my innocent colleagues and other victims they mopped up long after the protesting councilors had gone on sundry criminals, then crime will be drastically curtailed. Sadly, you will see the police at their athletic best, and practicing the latest takwaendo or judo kicks on unarmed and harmless civilians who they treat as collateral damage and prisoners of war. Besides, you will see them very vibrant when they round up tricycle (Keke) operators in commando style like an elite Brigade Corp sent on a mission to hunt down Osama Bin Laden. What an irony.
Nevertheless, I have nothing but praise for our officers and other security agencies, for the unquantifiable services they offer our society. Before you drop this newspaper, a policeman would have lost his life in the line of duty trying to protect others. As you seat in the cozy comfort of your palour watching cable television, movies, or enjoying your family, policemen are legion, who have been drafted to far flung trouble spots, exposed to cold, sunburn and risking their lives to maintain order or restore calm in strange soil, far away from home and loved ones. There are many families with absent dads who are on special duty far a field. Often times, if they don't come back maimed or disabled, their remains are brought home to their families in body sacks, as casualties of a crisis they knew nothing about!
As a consequence of their long absence, they are not there to steady the course of their homes or provide leadership and direction for their spouses and children. As we speak, policemen are endangered species and need all  our prayers and support. Have you ever imagined a world without the police? Don't even go there. The Jungle will be a better specimen of a habitat compared to such a world. Even with the ubiquitous presence of the police, see what man can do to a fellow man. Murders, arson, acid baths, stabbings, suicide mass killers, religious fundamentalism, ethnic violence, human trafficking, ritual killings, cultism, rapes and sex molestations, the list is endless. It would be a horror filled world. So folks, we need the Police like we do oxygen. As I wallow over my woes in the hands of policemen, I still find grace to oscillate towards love for the 8000- strong force under CP Umar Gwadabe's command in Akwa Ibom. I wish them all the best but I pray, Gwadabe gets to the top of his career. Nigeria needs men like him.