There is no question that in Nigeria,
the poor, the less privileged and the largely dispossessed majority who find
themselves in that demeaning class of human categorization have been condemned
to a life of perpetual oppression. Forget what is in the law books. Under this
rightly described prevailing order of fascist democracy, it has been the lot of
the masses to be tormented, denied, and subjugated, except something
revolutionary happens. And indeed as this phenomenon seems to have been
ingrained in the system, the only way out, at the risk of being labelled an
anarchist, is a revolution.
When you happen to live in this
abnormal society and be so cursed as to be in that lower rung of the ladder –
social, political or economic – without “connections,” just resign yourself to
the reality that in the circumstance, unless in some strange way, you will
never get justice if you ever turn up against an affluent and seemingly more
powerful compatriot or a foreigner in our courts and/or at the offices of the
law enforcement agencies.
No, you will not get justice because your
low, inconsequential status does not endorse you as a beneficiary of that globally
acknowledged ennobling act of rectitude. And more importantly, because the rich
and powerfully “connected” will deploy the wherewithal to effect a miscarriage
of the justice that easily ought to have been served you in a fair and an
uncorrupted system.
Yet, the real tragedy in Nigeria is the
bitter irony embedded in this subject. In most cases, those who have the
mandate to facilitate the attainment of justice by ensuring public order and
doing their work in accordance with the law regardless of who is involved, are
themselves the real perpetrators of crime and abettors of criminals. Here, one
has in mind the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy Nigerian Air Force, the police,
other paramilitary forces and, in short, all the other coercive institutions
existing under the Nigerian law.
They are all implicated in the
despicable act of committing unforgivable crimes, working with criminals to
achieve selfish ends and, wait for it, openly playing very strategic but
shameful roles in impeding justice of which the poor and those who don’t have
influential people in the society to “fight’ for them are mostly the victims.
In fact, it can be safely argued that the
frequency and intensity of crime in the Nigerian society is proportional to the
level of co-operation between law enforcement agents and criminals. Of course
crimes will be committed when perpetrators are aware that enforcement agents
will co-operate.
On this score, the police are the worst
culprits. In a cheeky negation of their own popular catchphrase (The Police is
your friend) affirming friendship with the public, the police will rather
choose to befriend criminals than be “your friend.” There is a legion of
stories over the years to validate this claim, and the one trending now is just
as ugly, stomach-churning and damaging to the unflattering image of the police
as its antecedents. It’s the alleged murder in Karmo, a surburb of Abuja, just
a little over six months ago of Joy Odama, a 200 Level Mass Communication
student of Cross River State University.
The suspect, Alhaji Usman Adamu, is
without doubt currently enjoying the full protection of the police who seem
bent on ensuring that the Odama family, who obviously belong to the
aforementioned class of the less privileged, does not get justice no matter how
hard they try.
Sadly, in this tragic drama that evokes
a mixture of anger and hopelessness, the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim
Idris, who has a golden opportunity to prove for once that the police under his
watch will not toe the rotten conspiratorial line of the past, has himself
shown, from utterances and actions, to be the chief conductor in the sordid orchestra
of injustice.
From the beginning, the role of the
police has been geared toward making sure Alhaji Adamu, who obviously counts
the top hierarchy of the police as friends, does not answer to his crime. Suspecting
foul play on sighting the lady’s corpse when Adamu sought to deposit it in the
mortuary at the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, Abuja, the management had asked
for a police report before the corpse could be kept in the mortuary.
Adamu rushed out and returned with Raph
Nkem, a Chief Superintendent of Police and Divisional Police Officer of Karmo
Police Station who ordered the mortuary staff to embalm the body and admit it.
According to one of the witness, the DPO had been a regular visitor to Adamu’s
house where he was usually entertained with fried meat and wine.
Nkem it was who dished out a cocktail
of lies to the Odama family in defence of his evil-minded friend, Adamu. He it
was who started the harassment and intimidation of the family, while declaring
to them with shameless bold face that Adamu was not culpable in Joy’s murder.
Instead of arresting Adamu and working towards getting him to have his day in
court, see how a police officer at that level has put everything on the line to
cover up a suspected criminal. Who will now say Adamu and Nkem are not working
together?
That circle of despicable characters in
the police has since widened to the Force Headquarters in Abuja where top
officers have tried without success to force the Odamas to collect money from
the suspect and permanently shut up. In response to public outcry over the
failure to arrest the suspect, the police declared Adamu wanted. But it turned
out the declaration had no sincerity behind it. It was the usual farce and
mendacity to which the police are richly accustomed. The police never told the
public that the man whom they declared wanted had been arrested at any point.
Meanwhile, the deceased’s family had
obtained an autopsy report at the National Hospital Abuja which puts the cause
of Joy’s death as “cardiogenic shock secondary to diffuse myocardial infection
secondary to possible acute cocaine poisoning.”
At a meeting between the police and the
Odamas at the headquarters, Adamu, the suspect, suddenly showed up flanked by
officers, pumping hands and back-slapping cheerfully with people who supposedly
had declared him wanted as he took his seat in the room. The Odamas were
shocked to the bones. Faced with that perplexing spectacle, who will now say
the police and Adamu are not working together?
It was at the end of the so-called
meeting that the police, realizing that Adamu had been nailed by the autopsy
report, delivered yet another shocker to the grieving family and the public:
Police boss, Idris, directed that a fresh autopsy be conducted.
Predictably, this is done for no other
reason than to, by all means, create a window of escape for the suspect. At the
moment, the police are working hard to come up with the claim that the probable
cause of Joy’s death was generator fumes. Really?
And rightly so, members of the Odama
family and their lawyer have responded point-blank with the charge that the
police want to manipulate the result with the claim of generator fumes to
contradict the first autopsy report. Thankfully, the Odamas have the lead pathologist
at the National Hospital on their side. The pathologist insists he stands by
his report that the lady died from a heavy dose of cocaine.
The world is watching how the police
are scheming to pervert justice in this case. It is one case that will more
than determine the professionalism of the current IGP in the history of
policing in Nigeria. If Idris and his men eventually succeed in undercutting
the Odamas by freeing the man who allegedly murdered their daughter, he will
surely be listed on the negative side of history as far as police work is
concerned in Nigeria.
Let it be told in this country and
beyond that the Odamas, who are from Cross Rivers State, are crying for
justice. To be poor does not make anyone less human. Whoever is responsible for
their daughter’s needless death must be punished. It is gratifying that the
Cross River State Government under the leadership of Ben Ayade and Senator Rose
Oko, also from the State, have both shown more than casual interest in this
case. They should keep an eye on it to its logical end. So should all
well-meaning Nigerians.
*Godwin Onyeacholem is a journalist. He
can be reached on gonyeacholem@gmail.com
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