Some people just don’t have shame. They can lie without batting an eyelid, clutching at every straw to feather their nest.

So is it with Nigeria’s immediate past Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Hafiz Ringim, who puts up the mien of a brave man but has inadvertently exposed himself as a big coward.

Shortly after his unceremonious removal from office on January 25, 2012, the loquacious Ringim disappeared from the country, quietly relocating to the UK. Since then he has not stepped foot on Nigerian soil.

Just what is going on? Well, Ringim is afraid of his shadows and is desperate to be granted asylum in the UK, claiming that he would be killed by Bokon Haram if he returns home – an exaggerated lie since his predecessors are living in Nigeria and going about their normal businesses without having been killed by Boko Haram.

“Ringim’s application for asylum is before the UK Border Agency,” Daily Sun reported this morning, adding: “The former police chief’s request is reportedly anchored on fears that Islamic militants, Boko Haram, may kill him should he return to Nigeria. Ringim reportedly told the agency that his lucky escape in the June 2011 bombing of the Force Headquarters in Abuja, by Boko Haram, a few days after he threatened in Maiduguri, Borno State, to crush the group, fuelled fears he was a prime target.

“The ex-IGP was also said to have drawn the attention of the British officials to the June 6, 2011 murder of his deputy in office, Alhaji Abubakar Ningi. Also killed in the attack were Ningi’s police orderly and driver. Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the killings. Sources said that he informed the British agency that former military chiefs have not been spared by the Islamic militants.

“He reportedly cited the November 2012 murder of a civil war combatant, General Mamman Shuwa. Ringim, under whose tenure the United Nations’ office in Abuja was bombed, reportedly told the UK officials that returning to Nigeria was akin to sending him to certain death.”

The paper quoted Ringim’s close friends and associates as disclosing that he is happier living in the UK. According to one of them: “The sleepless nights Hafiz had because of Boko Haram shot up his blood pressure. His health deteriorated so fast that some of us were relieved the moment he was asked to go. We are in constant touch and he sounds happier and more relaxed.”

And this is a man who often boasted that he was not afraid of anything, even telling friends in private: “I don’t care!”

What coward! And what hypocrite!!!

•Photo: Ex-IGP Hafiz Ringim.