I can watch them all day. And it’s not because their antics amuse or entertain me. They don’t. If anything, I am disconcerted, and sometimes, anguished by what I see. I watch therefore, as a witness, or if you like, a chronicler which has always been part of my job as a journalist. Fortunately, they don’t stay all day; just about three hours. And they don’t come everyday either – just about twice or thrice a week. In fact, they were not always this regular or their stay this extended – they used to come randomly and it would be over in about an hour. There must therefore, be a shift in policy, or something in the body language of the ‘ogas at the top’ that has encouraged their more frequent outings. I am talking about the policemen who deem it necessary to mount a checkpoint on the highway opposite my home between noon and 3pm.

I have seen a lot from the vantage position of my home. I have seen drivers who try to ignore the raised arm of the officers stopping them – some succeed while those who fail are understandably, subjected to stricter scrutiny almost as punishment. I have seen people who are agitated as they glance incessantly at their watches while being interrogated – are they hiding something or just plain inconvenienced by the delay? I have seen people pace up and down in anger – I once saw a young lady come down shouting with hands intermittently in the air and on her head. I have seen some youths come down with an almost disinterested calmness as they open the four doors and the boot of their cars for inspection - as if they’ve seen it all before. I have seen people work the phones anxiously after they have been told to park. I have seen arguments. I have seen altercations. I have seen finger pointing from both sides of the divide. I have seen placid, implacable calmness on the faces of the Police Officers and slow, deliberate movements also on their part as if to say ‘calm down. Wasting your time is part of our business’. More importantly, I have seen profiling. Young men – and women – who ride elegant cars are often flagged down. It is worse if they are casually dressed (sports shirts and shorts) and wear their hair in a certain way. Then the inquisition starts. They must literally have to explain in quick minutes how they could come about such exquisite cars. Otherwise, they are told to park. Time passes without being approached. Probably for the import of the ‘arrest’ to sink in. Then a quiet ‘discussion’ ensues. After a while, the ‘detained’ bird of prey is set free. All I can think of as I watch this scene about three times a week, nearly every week, is ‘#ENDSARS loading’. Were it to happen again, ENDSARS this time would be better organized, more disruptive and possibly more violent because many of our youths, rightly or wrongly, are disillusioned and angry with the system. Very disillusioned. Very angry. This kind of profiling validates their angst against what they perceive as a marginalized and discriminatory system. Unfortunately, these ‘temperature raising’ checkpoints take place in scores of locations around Lagos and possibly elsewhere around the country.

We now have a ‘New Sheriff’ in town, fortunately. The new IGP has been lauded as a true professional. He has been favorably spoken of by different sections of the society including some known critics of this government. It is a rarity in a polarized polity like ours. It is called grace. But it also means the expectations are higher. And if he is as savvy as they say he is, then he should know that the honeymoon period will not be forever. It is the time to say the right things – he has – and then do the right things for which time will judge him. I don’t know what his predecessor did to ‘earn’ a sudden resignation barely a year to a decisive election. Especially after tenure elongation has been ‘tweaked’ in his favor. Many theories have come up. The bottom line is that he lost the trust and confidence of his boss. I had some expectations as well, when he became the IG. But he lost my own trust and confidence when I realized he played more to the politics of his office than to the professional demands of it. Granted, his, like those of his predecessors, was a political appointment. But it was based largely on his professional standing and he missed a rare opportunity to etch his footprints in the sands of time. It is a lesson for his successor and indeed all professionals who get appointed to political positions. They should never allow political exigencies overshadow obvious professional imperatives.

There will be many demands on IGP Disu in this year of elections. But he should not forget that his main job is to fight crime and maintain law and order. We want to be able to sleep at night irrespective of what corner of Nigeria we make our abode. The people, including opposition, expect fairness and even handedness from him while expecting a significant reduction in crime. It is on these premises that his tenure will be judged. He is in a unique position, being new on the job, to set professional standards and draw a line in the sand. He should work on reforming the police with welfare being a priority. With accommodation being near the top of the list – many in my age group or older, who joined the Police Force in the days of yore, were comfortably housed by the time they became SP, or even ASP. Incidentally, I was in the company of a member of the Police Service Commission (PSC) at Christmas time. I told him during our short discussion, that IGP Egbetokun should give a serious thought to what his legacy would be. Neither of us knew then that his chapter was about to be closed, leaving him probably to rue what could have been. IGP Disu should learn from this and start planning his legacy today. For me, my expectation is the professionalization of the entire Police Force. This goes beyond State policing. The Police need to earn the trust and more importantly, the respect of the populace. How that would be done will be left to him and his new team. But it won’t be done through the proliferation of tollgates as checkpoints. There has to be a more modern and less intrusive way of policing.

Officers who say ‘Your boys are here o’ are never going to earn my respect.

•Muyiwa Adetiba is a veteran journalist and publisher. He can be reached via titbits2012@yahoo.com

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