THE altercation between musician Seun Kuti and a policeman in uniform on the Third Mainland Bridge was one of the main dramas of the past weekend which was the talk of the town and the social media.

Enraged Seun, a son of the Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, was caught on camera hectoring the unarmed police officer who kept retreating from him. Some reports had it that Seun “slapped” the officer who offered no visible resistance or retaliation.

While we give kudos to the officer for his restraint, we wonder what would have happened if he were armed and hotblooded. The story would have been different. The unprovoked killing of Mrs. Bolanle Raheem, a lawyer who was on a Christmas Day outing with her family on December 25, 2022, is still fresh.

The public outrage that poured out against Seun’s misconduct and calls for justice for the police officer confirmed that nobody has the right to manhandle an officer of the law, least of all the Police. The Police represent the primary face of government whose primary duty is to maintain law and order for the benefit of the people and society. A slap on a Police officer, in any part of the world, is a slap on the faces of government and the people. It is never tolerated.

However, the relationship between the Police and the people in Nigeria, which has never really been rosy even back in our colonial times, has progressively worsened down the ages. The continued neglect of the Police by the political authorities in terms of their welfare and career fulfillment encouraged Police personnel to turn against the citizens.

Police brutality is an everyday story in Nigeria. Nigerians, especially the struggling youth, are routinely targeted, extorted, framed up as criminal suspects, beaten and even extra-judicially killed.

Matters boiled over when a series of protests against police brutality culminated in the Lekki Toll Gate Massacre on October 20, 2020.

The killings by soldiers deployed to the scene led to an orgy of burning, looting, destruction of police stations and killing of police officers. Till today, gunmen still routinely shoot Police officers on duty in the South-East, where hundreds of Police stations have been burnt down.

As we go into a new political era, we must comprehensively rethink our Police Force. Let’s emulate other countries and restore the dignity of the Police in Nigeria.

We must decentralise policing, giving the states and even local communities the chance to operate some form of policing in order to cover our many yawning ungoverned spaces.

While we agree that Seun should be made to answer for his indiscretion, due process and rule of engagement must be observed.

Unless we care for our Police personnel, they will not be able to serve and protect us.