My Nigeria…

In a normal society, the murder of Blessing Alawode would have led to the resignation of a few top level police officers, but in Nigeria, for where.

Just to give a quick overview to those who might have forgotten, or may not be aware of what happened, on Friday, December 12th, the Nigeria Police stumbled across the corpse of Blessing Alawode, an innocent civilian who it seems was killed in a cross fire between armed robbers and the NPF. Instead of the police to take her remains to the mortuary, they decided to not only dress her up as an armed robber, complete with charms and amulets, but also riddle her body with a few more bullets so as to really make it seem like she was involved in banditry.

Our beloved NPF then took her corpse to the police station and paraded it as that of the leader of the armed robbery gang that they had been battling a few hours earlier.

If you wonder why the NPF is useless, take a look at the kind of logic it uses to justify its ineptitude, courtesy of Sunday Uba, the Police Public Relations officer spokesperson for Ogun state:

“The  undeniable fact which the family of the woman agreed was that there was armed robbery attack on the First Bank Sagamu Branch  and that her corpse was found in the bush. After the robbery incident, the robbers were running away through Ijebu-Ode.

Ok, so this is something all reasonable people can agree to.

At a point in the town, they attempted to abandon their loot and jump into the swampy area. “There was exchange of fire between the police and the robbers with some of them jumping into the swampy area. After normalcy had returned to the area, the police searched the bush around and found the corpse of a woman with gun shots.

Ok, this reasonable people can agree to as well. But then check out the next leap of logic:

“Our investigations in the bank had revealed that the gang of robbers was led by a woman who was said to have churned out orders during the operation dispossessing people of both their money and other valuables. We are convinced, beyond reasonable doubt, that she was part of them because the bank even confirmed that the robbery operation was led by a woman. The claim that the woman was hiding in the bush during the exchange of fire is difficult to believe.”

I mean, is this guy an idiot or what? Even a primary 3 student does not make leaps of logic such as the one he is making. I mean, because “a” woman was involved in the robbery, and “a” woman’s corpse was found in the bush, then both women must be the same person? That is like saying, “a” man was seen stealing meat from a cooking pot in Agege, Mike Okiro was in Agege, therefore Mike Okiro must have been the one seen stealing meat from the cooking pot in Agege. C’mon.

Either way, how does this tie in with Rule #1 of the NPF’s 9 Way Test?

TRANSPARENCY/ACCOUNTABILITY:

Our focus shall be to reverse the disdain and contempt with which Policemen are held within the Nigerian society.
In line with the Servicom Charter, all Police officers and men must pledge themselves to offering services which the citizens expect in a timely, fair, honest, effective and transparent manner. The society expects nothing less and the new administration will pursue this goal aggressively to its logical conclusion.

I don’t know, but I would give it a failing grade. The IG must do the right thing, he must publicly offer an apology to Blessing Alawode’s family, and an autopsy must be conducted at which time the cause of death must be determined. If the bullets that killed her came from the barrels of the NPF, then restitution must be paid to her family, and those involved in slandering her name (i.e Sunday Uba) must resign. It is that plain and simple.

God Bless Nigeria.
Posted by Naija Pundit