Shortly before dozens of corpses were seen floating on a river in Anambra State on January 19, President Goodluck Jonathan paid the police college in Ikeja, Lagos an impromptu visit. The visit, which rattled the college authorities as much as it disconcerted the august visitor himself, followed a TV report detailing the rot at the police institution. The decay and lack were said to worry the president, who may have ordered a probe. Such an investigation will help to resolve the issues that puzzled the commander-in-chief. But it must be comprehensive enough to cover other police colleges and outfits in the country and its findings must also be made public while appropriate action is taken to punish the guilty in order to correct such situations.
Such an investigation, if conscientiously undertaken, may shed enough light on the decay in the entire police force itself, whose effectiveness continues to be hindered. Our law enforcement agents are not well kitted, equipped or housed? Nor are they adequately remunerated. The force needs retooling.
If these needs are met and the men and officers better inspired and orientated, Nigerians can count on the police to answer when they call. The country will be better for everyone. Not only will lawlessness be curtailed; even those developments that deeply mystify us will be resolved with considerable ease.
Take the floating corpses case on a river in Amansea, Anambra. Few things can rival that incident in mystery. Residents of the community near Awka, the state capital, “woke up”, to borrow a favourite local media phrase, to discover dead bodies floating on their river. In other words, when they woke up the previous day and went to the river, they saw no such thing travelling downstream.
And there the mystery began. For it was not just one corpse or two or three. One report said over 15, which is horrifying enough. Another took the tally to 30, yet another to 40. One even said there were over 50 bodies sighted on Amansea river. There are concerns, too, that there may be more bodies held down by underwater structures and were yet to bob up to the surface. There is another problem. The river, the villagers’ only source of water, is polluted.
Troubled as Amansea residents are, they have no clue as to the identities of the corpses. They are not at war with any of their neighbours. Nobody is missing in their community. So whose bodies were seen on their river? Who killed those people? Why? Where? When?
The traditional ruler is just as distressed as the state governor Peter Obi who quickly returned from his overseas trip to tackle the matter. The police authorities in Anambra are also mystified, as are their counterparts in Enugu State whose people on both sides of their common border are at peace with one another. They say they will investigate.
That is one nasty thing about mystery. It sometimes accompanies tragedies and when it does, worsens the problem and makes it hurt more. Imagine a tragic death accompanied by the fact that the corpse is not seen. The bereaved mourn the departed but are even more troubled by the fact that they cannot bury their dead. Such a situation leaves the bereaved with eternal questions. The mystery never ends.
Anambra people and Nigerians in general are in a similar situation as we await the result of police investigations. We know we have lost people but we do not know who we lost yet or how many. We suspect that those people may have died in terrible circumstances but we have no assurances. We know we are not happy about the situation but we also know we are even more confused than sad. Mystery deepens a loss. The police should sort all that out.
There is another major concern. One report initially listed the police as among those without a clue as to how to evacuate the dead. The police, local governments, ministry of health as well as the Anambra State Emergency Management Agency were said not to have facilities needed to evacuate the corpses.
That is a big problem. Our police should be equipped for such eventualities. Their effectiveness demands it.
Another account said when the police recovered the bodies from the water, a mass grave was quickly dug and the corpses buried there. Such a thing as autopsy was not heard, according to the report. That is even a bigger concern. Without an autopsy, that is, if it is not in their plans, how can any credible investigation be undertaken in the matter?
Jonathan’s reported interest in probing the rot in police colleges should be extended to help the law enforcement agency perform better.
The rot in the police, as in many other public institutions in the country, did not start during his tenure. But if he can correct the anomalies that preceded him, he will be remembered as the commander-in-chief that made history.
