On my way home earlier today I had the misfortune of being caught up in some type of raid operation by some policemen accompanied by cane wielding thugs that appeared to be under the influence of drugs unknown. The mission was apparently to "arrest" black marketers around the area.
For me it all started while I was in a mosque in wuse II, my friend said his eyes were burning. I quickly understood what he meant because my eyes were on fire the next second. I looked around for an explanation and I heard someone cry out TEAR GAS!". We moved away from the place till our eyes stopped burning.
We followed a shortcut that got us out to the main road where we saw those armed men moving around with guns at the ready. I first noticed that the thugs were with the security men when one of them "arrested" someone was who was clearly a black marketer and brought him over to the security man.
Who authorized live ammunition in arguably the busiest and most densely populated area of Abuja ? Who authorized tear gas in such an area ? What were the objectives of the raid and did the planners consider the safety of civilians in planning ? For what crime were three(or more) Nigerian citizens killed for ? Why should black marketers be attacked, have their fuel confiscated ? For many Nigerians, these people are the only reason they can still go to work or school since we are being denied fuel from the stations. If you want them to stop selling fuel on the sides cut off their demand by ensuring there is fuel in the stations, if you don't want them hanging around then empower them! Educate them! Employ them! For God sakes no one grows up thinking "I want to sell black market fuel". If they have to resort to that then it is because their government has not given them work or opportunities for school. But to cheat people by failing to give them opportunities then raiding them and confiscating their source of food amounts to a betrayal of trust and a breach of the social contract of harmony that should be the norm of a serious society. And then to top it all off, physical attacks have been added to economic attacks.
We must demand accountability, the change we want will not come until we hold our government accountable for every action. We must do this for our own sakes as well. The only reason it is not anyone of us among the people hit by the stray bullets is because God has willed that you will live another day. So please add your voices to this important call. It is a civil responsibility to ensure accountability. If the citizens don't do it then who will ?
This incident is conclusive proof of the inability of our security men and women to succeed in their most solemn duty and that is the protection of lives and properties. Why on earth will anyone agree to sell us weapons ? To even entertain that thought is ridiculous. That goes to a broader point that no one will help us until we help ourselves. There is no foreign solution to the Nigerian problem and we will only solve them when we look internally, fix the rot and make our security agents worthy of the great uniform.
Clearly the incoming government has its hands full, the work at hand is enormous. Despite that, President(elect) Mohammad Buhari must understand that we will watch closely and see if he will improve on human rights. Let us agree for the sake of avoiding arguments that the retired general's record on this particular issue is not too great.
We hope to see GMB the democrat and would like to believe his days as a soldier are behind him. With that hopefully we will see an improvement on human rights, there is no doubt that the task ahead is big. I think only God and God alone knows the number of wrongfully jailed men and women. Some of them offended "big men" who ask them to be thrown in jail and forgotten. Some cannot afford the bribe styled as "bail money", while others are mentally unstable and so are left to rot in jail cells as opposed to what would be done in any serious country i.e. Taking them to a mental facility and giving them treatment.
We hear stories that 70% of our jail population is "awaiting trail". I have seen pictures of more than one over crowded prison in Nigeria, leaving them places of congestion, sweat, suffering, infection and possible mental illness instead of a correctional facilities that turns criminals into educated, clean and productive members of the society.
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| police brutality in Nigeria |
These are the small things in the democratic system that we tend to underestimate because we cannot see clearly the relevance. However, change is hard and it does come slow. All we need to focus on is making sure we are providing a solid foundation for it today so that we will be ready when it comes. Fundamental human rights are not called "fundamental" for no reason, they are the minimum requirement and a Global standard that cannot be ignored. These rights are said to be "inalienable" because they are "self evident" and "God given", no man or government should ever attempt to take it away. I hope this incident is fully investigated and the exactly individuals responsible must be identified and made an example of. This will send a clear message to the entire world that Nigeria does not tolerate such trigger happy security operatives, and cares about its citizens. Lets show the world we will uphold justice and human rights (maybe they'll sell us weapons then...)
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