THE Lagos State Attorney-General, Moyosore Onigbanjo, on Friday arraigned Drambi Vandi, 53, the Assistant Superintendent of Police accused of fatally shooting a pregnant lawyer, Omobolanle Raheem, at a checkpoint in Ajah, Lagos. The unusually swift official response; arrest, detention, and prosecution of the accused is welcomed, but it will neither bring back the dead nor assuage the agony of a citizenry traumatised by decades of extortion, violence and killings perpetrated by those paid to protect them.
From the police brass to the state government, and the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.),the authorities must resolve to stop the carnage and recreate a police force that protects the people to replace the current one that harbours their executioners.
Reflecting the state of the country and the quality of its leadership, Nigerians’ hopes that the October 2020#EndSARSprotests would put an end to extrajudicial killing and other atrocities by security operatives have been dashed. The rotten eggs in the force were restrained only for a few weeks before resuming their atrocious ways.
Raheem was only the latest among hundreds of victims venturing out of their homes on lawful trips but never returning alive after encounters with Nigerian Police personnel.
