An alarming alleged assault on a policewoman, Inspector Teju Moses, raised questions that have gone unanswered for too long. A viral video showed her in uniform bleeding, and seated on the floor. Perhaps this striking incident will make the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) decisively address such issues that have a bearing on its image.

Police spokesman Muyiwa Adejobi said in a statement: “Zainab Duke, an Mbaise-born activist, grievously assaulted her orderly in company of some accomplices on Tuesday 20th September, 2022 at her residence in Garki, Abuja, due to the refusal of the orderly to breach professional ethics by carrying out menial and domestic chores at her house.”

He also said “the preliminary investigation shows overwhelming evidence of culpability on the part of the professor and her domestic staff.” He added that the suspect “has no acquaintance with the police in any form as erroneously peddled on social media.”

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According to him, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, had “ordered the withdrawal of all police personnel attached to the professor,” and “directed the express prosecution of the arrested suspects.” Police are on the trail of a fleeing suspect, he stated.

The Police Service Commission (PSC) called for a review of the operations of the Special Protection Unit (SPU) of the NPF, saying “there is an urgent need to free many police officers loitering in private houses and following big men around” when the country is faced with serious security problems. The commission criticised “the abuse of police orderlies by Nigerians who now use them as status symbols or convert them to house helpers who clean, cook, or do menial jobs.”

The questions are: Who approves the placement of police protectors? Who should be given such police personnel? What are the considerations? What are the conditions?

Interestingly, these same questions came up in May 2020 when the then IGP Mohammed Adamu ordered the withdrawal of policemen protecting the chairman, Five Star Group, Emeka Okonkwo aka E-Money. At the time, a top police officer was quoted as saying the police chief “was surprised that policemen were attached to him in the first place and were being used like domestic servants, carrying umbrellas, opening doors, and doing menial jobs for him.”

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