The Outcry Over Nigerian Police Officers Collecting Money from Chinese Nationals: A Missed Opportunity for Genuine Reform amidst Misguided Indignation and Faux Patriotism

By Adewale Adeleke

MaTaZ ArIsInG
Dallas, Texas

The Outcry Over Nigerian Police Officers Collecting Money from Chinese Nationals: A Missed Opportunity for Genuine Reform amidst Misguided Indignation and Faux Patriotism

“A long time ago,” a video surfaced showing Nigerian Police officers lined up, heads bowed, some genuflecting, all displaying servile body language akin to slaves before their master, as they received what appeared to be approximately 5,000 Naira from Chinese nationals.

Notice that I wrote “a long time ago” even though the event happened this week. Because, Nigeria, being a country of an unfinished, limitless symphony of scandals, each jostling for attention, and scarcely any scandal holding public attention for less than 48 hours – at most 72 hours – the video surfaced over 96 hours ago, which in Nigeria is a long time, and most people might have difficulty remembering the video having been displaced from the main stage and drowned by yet another scandal of the moment.

For those who still remember the video, yes, the scene was indeed pathetic, shameful, and a disgrace to the Nigerian Police. However, the widespread condemnation, which in typical Nigerian fashion will also be short-lived, missed the point.

It is the Easter season, so it’s fitting to borrow terms of the season. The public response resembled a crucifixion of the officers involved, effectively casting them as sacrificial lambs. Yet, this condemnation, public crucifixion, only partially fulfilled the role of sacrificial lambs, highlighting the problem without any cleansing effect or contributing to a solution, which is the second part of crucifixion anyway.

Most of the comments focused less on the main issue – that Nigerian Police officers are often designated as errand boys and bullies for those who can afford to render them crumbs from the table. Far worse is that, in turning themselves into private security guards for the few that can afford them, they unleash all manner of terror on less privileged Nigerians. Which is worse? Unleashing terror on innocent Nigerians or exposing our lack of dignity, self-respect, and “ugliness” to the rest of the world.

The other day, Nigerian Police officers providing security to a fugitive from the law, Yahaya Bello, continued to provide him security and were ready to engage in battle, guns drawn, against EFCC officials attempting to effect an arrest warrant issued by a court. What happened to those police officers? Compared to what was captured in the video, which one is worse?

Instead of a teachable moment to condemn and demand reform of the very practice of police officers becoming errand boys for private citizens, the focus of the critique that trailed the video was more about the disgrace of revealing our ugly side to foreigners and the world through social media. Disgrace to the outside world, as if the outside world doesn’t know about the corruption and ineptitude of our police already. And not just the police, the entire security apparatus.

In March 2024, slightly over a year ago – a very long time ago in the Nigerian sense – one of the two Binance executives detained in Nigeria in NSA custody for alleged tax evasion and other offenses, Nadeem Anjarwalla, escaped from custody. NSA custody, “fa”.🤷🏽‍♂️ But guess what happened? Anjarwalla boarded an international flight despite his British passport, which he used to enter Nigeria, being held by Nigerian authorities.

Given the publicity in the Western Media about the finance executive’s Houdini-like magical escape from NSA custody and immigration at the airport, who, in the international community, that is remotely interested in international affairs, would not know the depth of ineptitude of our security agencies?

Like the police providing security for YB, what has happened to those involved, NSA and Immigration Service, in the Binanxe escape? What? Nothing. And can you compare what happened in the video to the two cases? The video pales in comparison.

We tend to shy away from engaging in the heavy lifting required for genuine reform, preferring superficial, quick fixes. Little wonder, we would rather hide our servile mentality than confront it head-on.

But why should we conceal our true nature from the world? What is so wrong with acknowledging our flaws, so maybe finally, we can begin to address the societal ills that enable police misconduct, and perhaps it would rub off on the rest of the society. Why pretend that our Police have dignity, when in reality they do not, and by so doing perpetuate a broken system.

The video is nothing but a mirror reflecting our ugliness in its naked form – our hair unkempt, teeth brown and burnt from smoking too much, eyes bloodshot from drinking to excess, our arms with needle spots from drug use.

Rather than seizing this reflection as an opportunity to acknowledge and address the vices that have left us in this state, we would rather shift blame, softening the stark reality through AI-generated distortions.

In a juvenile display of faux patriotism, we are quick to point an accusing finger at the Chinese nationals, asking how dare they expose our ugliness, while four fingers point back at us for being ugly in the first place. True patriotism is not hiding the ugliness in the society but putting it up in its naked unadorned form for all to see and be moved to act towards cleansing it. Now, that’s true patriotism.

Lost on us is the commonsense approach to channel our collective outrage towards genuine police reform and a cultural shift that values dignity and integrity in public service.

No, we are not interested in cleansing our Augean stable of corruption, lack of dignity, or self-respect. We are not interested in transforming the Nigerian Police into a force worthy of respect from both Nigerians and the world at large. No, our interest lies solely in hiding our ugliness from the rest of the world. What an amazing people we are?

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