- Ill-fated football star, Kazeem Tiamiyu of Sagamu, Ogun State, is the latest proof of wanton police killing of Nigerian youths
Nigerian youths are becoming an endangered species in the hands of the Nigeria Police, which ordinarily should protect them.
So, living out youthful exuberances, like sporting whacko hairdos, wearing torn jeans or generally looking hippie, seem now an ultra-dangerous pastime.
For lazy policemen, such looks, without any further proof, gives the person away as a confirmed “Yahoo-Yahoo” boy, engaged in cyber fraud.
The consequence could range from body search, extortion, ruthless assault, home search and arrest. In tragic extremes, the dire consequence could be death from accidental discharge, or any other reckless conduct of the policemen.
Last week, citizens protested in Sagamu, Ogun State, over the extra-judicial killing of one Kazeem Tiyamiyu, popularly known as Kaka, along Abeokuta-Sagamu expressway, allegedly by police operatives, operating as Zonal Intervention Squad (ZIS).
The police suspected him to be a Yahoo-Yahoo boy. But it turned out that Tiyamiyu was a popular local footballer, and the vice-captain of the Remo Stars Football Club.
In their official reaction to the sad end of the promising young man, the police claimed Tiamiyu was knocked down by a vehicle while running away after he was arrested.
But his teammate, who was with him during the encounter, alleged that the policemen pushed him out of the car; and after, he got knocked down by a vehicle.
According to DIG Peter Ogunyonwo, the policemen who arrested Tiyamiyu were on illegal patrol, and so the Inspector General of Police (IGP) has asked that those who ended the promising life ofTiyamiyu be recommended for dismissal.
We support the call for the internal disciplinary measures. We also support the promised reforms by DIG Ogunyonwo, who accompanied the Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, to commiserate with the parents of Tiamiyu.
But part of the urgently needed reform in the police should be a determined effort to weed out “trigger-happy elements” within the police, as the DIG rightly called them.
Whether for psychotic disorder or mere lawlessness, the common feature of policemen using guns purchased to protect citizens to kill or maim them, must stop.
Those found guilty after the internal disciplinary measure should also be tried under our laws, for the unlawful killing of Tiamiyu, and if they are found guilty, they should face the maximum punishment provided by law.
The public will also want to know what measures the office of the IGP has put in place to end such illegal patrols. It is also important to investigate whether those illegal patrols are sanctioned by superior officers, and if so, they too should be brought to account.
Tragically, dying unlawfully in the hands of security agencies, especially the police, has become a common feature in Nigeria. Barely a week passes without a report that a citizen has been killed by the law enforcement agencies, for one lame excuse or another.
Perhaps because of many years of military rule, security personnel see citizens as inferior humans, who can be subjected to abuse without any consequences.
The bizarre, commonest feature of such unlawful killing is known as accidental discharge, by which policemen kill citizens and blame it on the malfunctioning of their gun.
We urge the IGP to stop his men from endangering the lives of promising young Nigerians, like Tiamiyu, as the culture of impunity that uniforms and arms tend to confer on policemen and other security agencies leads to tragedy.
While we also commiserate with Tiamiyu’s parents, we note that no amount of sympathy can make up for their tragic loss. Perhaps, the police should consider offering monetary compensation to Tiamiyu’s parents to assuage their loss.
