Armed, drunk and deadly

• Curbing excesses of alcoholic policemen

Mr. Christopher Oji is a journalist, who narrowly escaped being shot by a drunken police officer on the road. Oji was with his wife and cousin on the fateful day in question. According to him, remembering that incident always sends shivers down his spine. The incident underscored the thin thread between life and death.

He recalled: “The incident occurred at Fagba Iju, Agege, Lagos State. My cousin, wife and I were returning from a wake keep of an uncle; I was driving. At Fagba, there was a Police check point.
My car was flagged down at about 5:20am. I stopped and a police corporal came over to attend to me. He was uncoordinated in his movement. I immediately sensed danger. When he finally came close to me, I smelt the stench of alcohol. He was dead drunk! I quickly whispered to the other occupants in my vehicle to keep mum while I handled him.
Lo and behold, my fear was confirmed when he started reeling off irrelevant and unnecessary questions. He barked ‘who are you people? Where are you coming from? Did you go for armed robbery? Who is this woman? Is she an Ashewo (prostitute)? I know you must have picked her from Chapters hotels. By the way, why did you want to hit me while parking your car?
Why are you looking at me? Am I a television? ……..” Oji said that the atmosphere in his car was tensed. Everyone was worried that the gun wielding drunk might pull the trigger of his rifle for no reason. Oji kept quiet as the cop reeled off his drunken questions. Oji said that he kept quiet because he didn’t know what to say that might trigger off the corporal. “As I was looking at him, he corked his rifle. He warned that if I made any move to run, he would fire! I was praying within my heart that God should intervene and avert this calamity.
As I was looking at him and praying, I saw a police sergeant. The sergeant walked towards the corporal and before the drunk knew what was happening, the sergeant swiftly seized the gun from him,” recounted Oji. The sergeant apologised to Oji and asked them to go.
Oji said if he hadn’t controlled himself and the situation, perhaps his wife, cousin or him would have been killed by the drunk on the road. Oji added: “Each time I hear of police killings at check points, I always remember my experience and that of 17-year-old Master Okafor. Okafor and his university school mate were shot dead on Victoria Island about 10 years ago for not stopping at a check point.”
Oji and family escaped, but not many people are always that lucky. A few years ago, three mechanics were shot and killed at the Ebute- Meta area of Yaba Oyigbo, Lagos by some drunken policemen in a patrol van. The mechanics were alleged to have been shot and killed in their workshop without provocation. The policemen immediately bolted, while residents in the area attempted to set their station, Dento Police Station on fire. Perhaps the most brutal and deadly consequences of policemen being drunk and still being on duty was the shooting and killing of a mother of four at the Isheri Oshun area of Ijegun, Lagos State.
The shooter, Musiliu Aremu, 28, was attached to Isheri-Oshun Police Division. He shot into the tricycle of Mr. Godwin Sunday, on September 16, 2015 and killed Mrs. Comfort Godwin Sunday.
He also injured her husband. It was later alleged that the police corporal, who was armed with AK47 rifle, was drunk. Godwin, a tricycle operator, wife (Comfort) and four children, were returning from a church programme at Jakande area of Lagos while Aremu and other policemen on a ‘Stop-and-Search’ duty flagged them down and allegedly demanded a N50 bribe. But Godwin, who was not carrying passengers told them he had no money and attempted to ride off.
Angered by his response, Aremu was said to have corked his gun and opened fire on the family. Godwin and his wife were shot, their four children, among them an 11-month-old baby, escaped death by a whisker.
The policemen were said to have jumped inside their patrol van and fled. Passers-by and fellow tricycle operators rushed the couple to the hospital. The woman died. Speaking on the incident, Owoseni said the police would foot Godwin’s medical bill and take care of his children. He also promised that the trigger-happy corporal would be charged for murder while his colleagues would be disciplined. It was alleged that Aremu had, before the incident, taken Monkey Tail (a local gin mixed with Indian hemp). Many believed that Aremu acted under the influence of the alcohol.
Aremu was charged for murder at Ebute Meta Magistrates’ Court and remanded in prison custody. Before his arraignment, Aremu was given a day orderly room trial, found guilty and dismissed from the police. Aremu may have been dismissed from police, but there are many policemen, who till date, still drink on duty. The most appalling part is that these policemen not only drink on duty, they also carry guns and are stationed on the roads. These drunks, who are already temperamental because of the alcohol level in their systems, are also expected to interact with impatient, stressed out motorists and commuters. The situation is like a keg of gun powder, waiting to explode.
At barracks, Car Wash Bus Stop area of Egbeda/ Idimu, Lagos State, policemen are often seen smoking Indian hemp with youngsters. Most of them are always in uniforms. These are the same personnel that would be drafted to the roads. According to some security experts, many accidental shootings from police, leading to death of innocent Nigerians are caused by cops who take alcohol while on duty. Many policemen get drunk before going on duty.
The former Assistant Inspector General of Police, (AIG), in charge of Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos State, Prince Umar Manko, when he was the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, ordered that there should be no more sales of alcohols in police barracks.
Oji, who is also the President of Crime Reports in Nigeria, added: “If you visit police barracks in the evenings as police teams prepare for night duties, you’ll see policemen buying as many as five bottles of local gins. This is even after taking many glasses of different alcohols.
I’ll like to advise Nigerians not to attempt to beat police check points or ‘Stop and Search’ as many policemen would have fired before they realised the gravity of their actions. Have it at the back of your mind that the policeman stopping you for ‘Stop and Search’ may be drunk! Remember your loved ones. The tricycle rider lost his wife because he failed to stop. The Inspector General of Police, (IGP), Mr. Solomon Arase should do something urgent on the drinking habits of policemen on duty.”
The current Assistant Inspector General of Police, in charge of Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos State, Mr. Bala Hassan, speaking on reckless shootings by some policemen, warned policemen to stop killing Nigerians whom they are supposed to protect. Hassan spoke during a courtesy visit to the Lagos State Police Command Headquarters, Ikeja.
Hassan said: “Any policeman found wanting will be duly persecuted! Don’t forget Corporal Musiliu Aremu who shot an innocent woman without provocation. He killed and injured the husband. He was immediately sentenced and dismissed within 24 hours from the force. Extrajudicial killing is prohibited in the force. Policemen are meant to protect citizens, not kill them! Any policeman found wanting will not be spared!”
He further said that policemen should beware that the Human Right Commission was watching the police. Hassan said that any policeman, who was planning to get involved in extrajudicial killings, should stop immediately. “The Inspector General of Police cannot afford to lose any lives to extra judicial killing any longer,” warned the AIG.
The policemen were urged to protect the image of the police at all times, bearing in mind that if they were dedicated to their jobs, the reward would be enormous. Policemen with bloodshot eyes, reeking of alcohol are seen every day on Nigerian roads.
One doesn’t need an alcohol detector to know they are drunk once they are on the roads. In order to check accident shootings on roads, Senior Police Officers (SPOs) should begin to play roles other than crime bursting.
These SPOs should examine the policemen they draft to the roads. Commissioners of Police, Area Commander and Divisional Police Officers should ensure alcohols sellers, stop operating around police barracks, police stations and its environs. Even policemen drafted to roads should be checked regularly to ensure they don’t sneak off their duty posts to go and drink, before rushing back to duty.
Arase should create an avenue, where SPOs, who drink on duty, could be reported even by rank and files. An SPO, who is in the habit of taking alcohol while on duty, will not have the moral muscle to check his subordinates.