• Home
  • Anti-Corruption
  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
  • National
    • Government
  • Security
  • Features
  • State
  • Event
    • PR Nigeria Award
  • E-Paper
Search
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
PRNIGERIA PRNigeria News
PRNIGERIA PRNIGERIA
  • Home
  • Anti-Corruption
    • ICPC Secures Conviction of Rector for Running Unaccredited Degree Programmes

      Engr Abba Babagana Dalori

      Engr Dalori Forfeits Galaxy Hospital, Petrol Station, Properties & Cash

      Chinese nationals jailed in Lagos

      Court Jails Nine Chinese Nationals for Cybercrime in Lagos

      ASUU

      Tackle Corruption, Institutional Decay – ASUU Charges FG

      EFCC Arraigns Bauchi Accountant General Over N8bn Fraud as Court Sentences…

  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
    • PRNigeria Fellows and CEO IMPR Yushau A Shuaib

      PRNigeria Fellowship: A Model for NIPSS Kuru

      Africa’s Economic Ties Deepen as Nigeria, Benin Sign Joint Trade Plan

      Customs Partners US Mission to Prevent Expanded Visa Ban

      Nigeria Customs Partners China on Smarter Ports, Officer Training, Reforms

      Comptroller General Nigerian Customs Bashir Adewale

      Customs Moves Against 223 Importers in N379bn Permit Breach

  • National
    • CDCFIB

      Correctional Service Elevates 30 Officers to Assistant Controller General Rank

      Troops Intercept Illicit Logistics Bound for Cameroon, Uncovers, Destroys 14 IEDs…

      Group photograph of Staffs of VON and representatives from RATTAWU

      We are Here to Fix The Voice of Nigeria as A…

      PRNigeria Fellows and CEO IMPR Yushau A Shuaib

      PRNigeria Fellowship: A Model for NIPSS Kuru

      Peter Obi

      Peter Obi Reaffirms One-Term Presidential Vow, Says “My Word Is My…

    • Government
      • Secretary State Government Alhaji Umar Farouk Ibrahim receives report on Commissioner alleged role in drug baron bail

        Kano Govt Receives Report on Commissioner’s Alleged Role in Drug Baron’s…

        Group photograph of Staffs of VON and representatives from RATTAWU

        We are Here to Fix The Voice of Nigeria as A…

        The Executive Secretary of the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Mr. Kamar Bakrin (L), receiving the President of the All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Dr Farouk Rabiu Mudi (R), who led a delegation to pay him a courtesy visit in his office.

        Why Investments in Local Sugar Production is Profitable Now – NSDC…

        Kemi Badenoch

        Kemi Oomoale Badenough: A Liar By no Other Name by Chief…

        Peter Obi

        Peter Obi Reaffirms One-Term Presidential Vow, Says “My Word Is My…

  • Security
    • Nigerian Army Launches New Welfare Initiatives for Retiring Soldiers

      CDCFIB

      Correctional Service Elevates 30 Officers to Assistant Controller General Rank

      PRNigeria logo fearured image

      After 21 Years, Gen. TY Danjuma Relaunches Union Dicon Salt to…

      Rivers Police Arrest Suspects in Lawyer’s Murder, Recover Weapons

      Police Officer

      Police Eliminate 8 Terrorists in Zamfara as Bandits Abduct 5 Residents,…

  • Features
    • Tinubu, Atiku and Peter Obi

      Atiku, Obi and the ‘Confused Marriage’ Called ADC

      Kwankwaso, Northern Nigeria and the Politics of Marginalisation

      Kemi Badenoch

      Kemi Oomoale Badenough: A Liar By no Other Name by Chief…

      DSS, NNPCL and EFCC

      NNPCL Controversy: Arewa Economic Forum Raises Alarm as EFCC, DSS Refute…

      Tinubu’s Greek gift by Festus Adedayo

  • State
    • Secretary State Government Alhaji Umar Farouk Ibrahim receives report on Commissioner alleged role in drug baron bail

      Kano Govt Receives Report on Commissioner’s Alleged Role in Drug Baron’s…

      Rivers Police Arrest Suspects in Lawyer’s Murder, Recover Weapons

      Police Officer

      Police Eliminate 8 Terrorists in Zamfara as Bandits Abduct 5 Residents,…

      Troops Intercept Illicit Logistics Bound for Cameroon, Uncovers, Destroys 14 IEDs…

      Prof Pate donates laptops to UNIMAID

      Prof Pate donates 20 Laptop Computers to UNIMAID

  • Event
    • Prof Pate donates laptops to UNIMAID

      Prof Pate donates 20 Laptop Computers to UNIMAID

      D'Tigress Basketball team

      Will Presidential Gifts Follow as Nigerian Female Basketballers D’Tigress Reach 5th…

      The Paramount Ruler of Oka-Akoko, His Imperial Majesty Oba (Dr) Yusuf Adebori Adeleye, OON, the Olubaka of Oka

      Olubaka of Oka Praises Foundation for “Best Oka Day” Festival

      court Judiciary

      Lawyer Sues Housing Ministry, FHA Over Alleged Property Redesign

      Sam Obi Sponsors 500 students

      Sam Obi Sponsors 500 Students in Evergreen, SimplifiedIQ’s Education Program

    • PR Nigeria Award
  • E-Paper
Home Features 22 Officers Killed: Police Lives Matter, by Fredrick Nwabufo
  • Features
  • Security

22 Officers Killed: Police Lives Matter, by Fredrick Nwabufo

By
Fredrick Nwabufo
-
November 1, 2020
Endsars violence Police Station on Fire
EndSARS Violence Police Station on Fire

22 officers killed: Police lives matter, by Fredrick Nwabufo

Humanity is all inclusive. There are no higher or lesser humans. We all breathe the same air. Whether doctor, lawyer, journalist, police or soldier; we are all humans first, and as such we are entitled to the natural right to exist, to live. When this right is breached – even if it concerns our ‘’enemy’’ – we must all stand up against the violator and condemn the abomination. We cease being human when we selectively outrage against transgressions. Every breach of the human code must be condemned. The right to live is eternal; hence any innocent soul lost to violence of any kind must not be discounted. All lives matter.

As a matter of fact, in the heat of the violence that assailed the peaceful #EndSARS protests, the indignities executed on some members of the security agencies were consigned as footnotes. I must say, the violence was not the craft of the #EndSARS protesters; it was the sleight of hand of state agents and commanders of state terror who introduced hoodlums into the mix. The protests were largely peaceful until state-sponsored thugs, like bloodhounds, got unleashed on citizens exercising their rights. The centre could no longer hold and mere anarchy was loosed upon the nation.

Yes, we simply cannot obviate the government’s role in the machination of the violence that nearly devoured the country. We must recognise that, and in fact emphasise it, those retailers of violence across the country were never #EndSARS protesters. We must not confute this fact. While the government’s backed hooligans were plaguing peaceful protesters, their brothers in arms took over the place, killing and maiming citizens, including law enforcement agents.

I must concede, the savage killing of police officers in the recent violence has not received proportional outrage. I understand why this is so. But it is inexcusable. These are humans like the rest of us – with families. Some of them were the breadwinners of their homes; they were fathers to their kids; they were husbands to their wives; they were brothers to their siblings and sons to their parents. Let us take a minute to imagine the agony of those they left behind. Really, beyond their uniforms, they are just humans — with one life and cognate human challenges.

I watched the videos of some of these killings. Too gruesome, too bestial, too ghastly. One of the recordings show a policeman with a knife stuck in his forehead, bleeding from all orifices while a mob takes a vicious turn on him. Another shows the beheading of an officer. Oh! God!

Really, the past incidents are some of the darkest episodes in our recent history. Stranger than fiction. I used to think ‘’beheading’’ is a barbarity left in the gutters of our bloody past. Alas! We are unevolving.

Read Also:

  • Atiku, Obi and the ‘Confused Marriage’ Called ADC
  • Nigerian Army Launches New Welfare Initiatives for Retiring Soldiers
  • Correctional Service Elevates 30 Officers to Assistant Controller General Rank

In some places, police officers were ‘’carbonised’’ and about 205 police stations razed. I believe, this is saddening for all genuine #EndSARS protesters. Let me restate it, the violence was never the design of the majority of Nigerians who demanded the disbandment of the special anti-robbery squad unit. Nigerians only seek a police that will protect them, and not extort, frame, harm or kill them.

I condemn the killing of all police officers in the recent orgy of bloodletting. I am outraged by the killings. And I ask that all those who have a hand in the carnage be made to account for their crime.

Expectedly, police officers are refusing to return to their duty post. They are asking, ‘’why should we protect those that have humiliated us so?’’

A divisional police officer was quoted by PRNigeria to have said: “In these ember months, and up to Christmas period and the New Year, I doubt if any of the security services can guarantee maximum security as usual. There is no way we can discharge our statutory responsibilities and function when we have become soft targets of miscreants and violent persons. Our destroyed facilities are yet to be reconstructed and rehabilitated; our looted armouries are yet to be restocked and when our men and women are yet to get over the humiliation of the atrocities committed on them by the same people we are charged to protect, how can we return to our duty post?”

There is no defence for truancy. As long as they are still being paid by tax-payers they have to do their bounden duty. It is understandable that they could be experiencing ebbing in morale, but this is the time they have to rise up and show Nigerians it is a new era in the force.

Let the #EndSARS protest be the change that the police themselves need to reform and survive, and to address its own internal contradictions and challenges. We cannot minimise the important issue of police welfare if we really desire the best from the security agency. Let this be the herald of improved welfare and work condition as well as training for members of the force. By declining to do their constitutional duty, the police officers are leaving more room for citizens’ distrust and revulsion.

The police cannot police well without the cooperation of citizens. So, leaving Nigerians to their own fate because they campaigned for reforms in the force will only worsen police – citizen relationship.

This is the time we have to reach out to each other – the police and the civil population – to build a strong bond. We must rise from this stronger and better. Let #EndSARS be the spark that will bring about a new epoch of law enforcement and citizen camaraderie.

Again, police lives matter.

Fredrick Nwabufo is a writer and journalist
Twitter @FredrickNwabufo

VISIT OUR OTHER WEBSITES
PRNigeria.com EconomicConfidential.com PRNigeria.com/Hausa/
EmergencyDigest.com PoliticsDigest.ng TechDigest.ng
HealthDigest.ng SpokesPersonsdigest.com TeensDigest.ng
ArewaAgenda.com Hausa.ArewaAgenda.com YAShuaib.com
  • TAGS
  • ENDSARS
  • police
Previous articleEndSARS: SERAP, 261 others sue NBC over N9m Fines on Channels, AIT, Arise TV
Next articleNPA Resumes Operation, Recounts Loses to EndSARS Hoodlums
Fredrick Nwabufo
Fredrick Nwabufo
https://prnigeria.com
PRNigeria is the pioneer Press Release Distribution agency in Nigeria. A member of image Merchant Promotions limited, PRNigeria encourages individuals and organisations to be more transparent in their information management. with dedicated Editorial staffs, the PRNigeria ensures that information provided on its platforms are timely, factual and authoritative Read more at: //prnigeria.com/about/
Facebook Twitter

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Tinubu, Atiku and Peter Obi

Atiku, Obi and the ‘Confused Marriage’ Called ADC

Nigerian Army Launches New Welfare Initiatives for Retiring Soldiers

CDCFIB

Correctional Service Elevates 30 Officers to Assistant Controller General Rank

PRNigeria logo fearured image

After 21 Years, Gen. TY Danjuma Relaunches Union Dicon Salt to Revive Local Industry

Rivers Police Arrest Suspects in Lawyer’s Murder, Recover Weapons

Police Officer

Police Eliminate 8 Terrorists in Zamfara as Bandits Abduct 5 Residents, Rustle Cattle

Troops Intercept Illicit Logistics Bound for Cameroon, Uncovers, Destroys 14 IEDs in Borno

Kwankwaso, Northern Nigeria and the Politics of Marginalisation

Kemi Badenoch

Kemi Oomoale Badenough: A Liar By no Other Name by Chief Femi Fani-Kayode

PRNigeria Fellows and CEO IMPR Yushau A Shuaib

PRNigeria Fellowship: A Model for NIPSS Kuru

Nigerian Police Force

PSC Denies Police Recruitment, Warns Against Fraudulent Online Claims

Military Troops in Action

Troops Raid Bandits Camps, Eliminate 1, Recover Motorcycles

Recent Posts

  • Atiku, Obi and the ‘Confused Marriage’ Called ADC
  • Nigerian Army Launches New Welfare Initiatives for Retiring Soldiers
  • Correctional Service Elevates 30 Officers to Assistant Controller General Rank
  • After 21 Years, Gen. TY Danjuma Relaunches Union Dicon Salt to Revive Local Industry
  • Kano Govt Receives Report on Commissioner’s Alleged Role in Drug Baron’s Bail
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
© 2020 PRNigeria. All Rights Reserved.
Latest News
Atiku, Obi and the ‘Confused Marriage’ Called ADCNigerian Army Launches New Welfare Initiatives for Retiring SoldiersCorrectional Service Elevates 30 Officers to Assistant Controller General RankAfter 21 Years, Gen. TY Danjuma Relaunches Union Dicon Salt to Revive Local IndustryKano Govt Receives Report on Commissioner's Alleged Role in Drug Baron's BailRivers Police Arrest Suspects in Lawyer's Murder, Recover WeaponsPolice Eliminate 8 Terrorists in Zamfara as Bandits Abduct 5 Residents, Rustle CattleTroops Intercept Illicit Logistics Bound for Cameroon, Uncovers, Destroys 14 IEDs in BornoWe are Here to Fix The Voice of Nigeria as A True Instrument of National Power – DG VONWhy Investments in Local Sugar Production is Profitable Now - NSDC BossKwankwaso, Northern Nigeria and the Politics of MarginalisationKemi Oomoale Badenough: A Liar By no Other Name by Chief Femi Fani-KayodePRNigeria Fellowship: A Model for NIPSS KuruPeter Obi Reaffirms One-Term Presidential Vow, Says “My Word Is My Bond”PSC Denies Police Recruitment, Warns Against Fraudulent Online Claims
X whatsapp