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 labeled 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 to you in a fair and an uncorrupted system.
Yet, the
real tragedy in my country 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 Nigerian
society is proportional to the level of cooperation between law enforcement
agents and criminals. Of course crimes will be committed when perpetrators are
aware that enforcement agents will cooperate.
On this
score, the police are the worst culprits. In a cheeky negation of their own
popular catchphrase affirming friendship with the public ("The Police Is
Your Friend"), the police would rather choose to befriend criminals than
law-abiding citizens. 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 suburb 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 choreography 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.
It was Nkem
who dished out a cocktail of lies to the Odama family in defense of his
evil-minded friend, Adamu. He started the harassment and intimidation of the
family while declaring to them with a 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 up 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 has obtained an autopsy report at the National Hospital
in Abuja which puts the cause of Joy’s death as “cardiogenic shock secondary to
diffuse myocardial infarction 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: the 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 a
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 at gonyeacholem@gmail.com.
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