I am not an indigene of Ilorin, but I’ve always been mistaken as an Emirates boy because of my surname which has a little bit of semblance to the city’s style of compound name.
However, I owe a debt of gratitude to the city, because it was in Ilorin —University of Ilorin — that I was baked, buttered and bagged my BSc certificate in Quantity Surveying.
It was also in the beautiful city of Ilorin, that I met my heartrob and a coterie of loyal friends who have remained faithful and dutiful to me in my times of need. It was also in the city that I cut my teeth as a news reporter, so I am somehow an Ilorin boy, if Mai Martaba permits.
It’s said that the greatest lesson about history is that people don’t learn from it, so it would be a misnomer to have expected the men of the Nigerian police operating in Ilorin to have learnt from history.
The aftermath of the EndSARS protests against Police brutality in 2020 across the country didn’t end especially in Ilorin which is the subject of this exercise. The iconic Palms mall was looted to the ground.
Palliatives donated by NEMA which was meant for victims of fire damage that was housed in Agric in Ilorin were also looted, fertilizers were looted. In fact, corrugated roofing sheets were looted. It took the glory of God for the government house to not have been looted that day.
The Police were completely overstretched during the period of the protest. They couldn’t even be seen around as they were the major reason why the protest held in the first instance. The government had to draft in the military to restore order in the city.
So one would have expected the Police in Ilorin to be more people-friendly in their approach to policing.
But Kaka Ki O san Lara Aje, O Nfi Omo re bi Obinrin, Eiye Nyi Lu Eiye (Instead of things improving with the witch, she births female Children who will become witches in the future; vampire bird is added to vampire bead. This is said of people who go from bad to worse, or of a situation which, instead of improving, becomes more and more dangerous.
The police in Ilorin didn’t feel any remorse, they rather became more emboldened by the protest to harass innocent people, especially students of University of Ilorin and Kwara State Polytechnic, both in the heart of Ilorin.
In the last 5 months, three citizens have been killed by these blood-sucking, gun-wielding dangerous men who are meant to protect them.
In September, a trigger-happy Police officer reportedly shot dead a student of Kwara State Polytechnic, identified as Ishola Abdulqoyum, along Panat Road, a link between Sango and ShopRite in Ilorin.
The deceased’s brother, identified as Abdullah, told journalists that the victim was stopped while on the motorcycle and ordered into a waiting police patrol vehicle, where officers demanded money from him.
He said, “Before they chased him, they collected his phone and power bank, despite not finding anything incriminating on him.
“He said he hadn’t committed any offence, but they chased him and shot him on the spot.”
The officers involved have been dismissed. Case closed.
In November, a student of Kwara State University (KWASU), Sulyman Olayinka was allegedly beaten to death by some police officers in Ilorin.
The incident, it was gathered, occurred at the Tanke Bridge, Tipper Garage, Ilorin.
A witness said the victim, Sulyman Olayinka, was accosted by three police officers from the Ganmo Division, immediately after he alighted from a motorcycle.
He said they hit the deceased with a gun on the head, kicked and handcuffed him.
“It was when one of them started kicking him on his private part with boots that his eyes began to change and he asked for water. He also requested for his inhaler, which suggested he was asthmatic,” the witness said.
He said they ignored all the interventions from the people around to take him to their station and stop the beating.
According to him, the victim died on their way to the hospital after the officers sensed danger.
The Police said the officers involved have been identified and that investigation is ongoing. Case closed.
Just last week, our husbands ran mad again by acting outside their core mandate.
Section 32 (2) under Part VI (Powers of Police Officers) of the Nigerian Police Act 2020 stipulates that the police should not be involved in issues of civil wrong or breach of contract.
On numerous occasions, police officers have been warned against being involved in civil matters, including loan recovery, land, and marriage cases.
Despite the numerous warnings, police officers are still involved in civil cases.
On Friday, Jimoh Abdulquadri, a resident of Ilorin, was reportedly arrested at his residence for allegedly owing a friend N220,000.
The next day, the parents of Jimoh went to bail their son but unfortunately met a battered dead body of him.
The mother said stains of blood was on the floor, his mouth, nose and head were swollen which meant only one thing — he was tortured to death.
On Sunday, Kayode Egbetokun, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), visited the family of the deceased in Ilorin assuring the family that the circumstances that led to the death would be investigated.
With Jimoh’s death, it means three youths have been committed to Mother Earth with links to the Nigerian Police Force in Ilorin in the last three months.
Innocent people are being harassed on a daily basis. Most of my friends who have cars have now resorted to moving around on bikes and jalabs because of fear of being profiled, assaulted and eventually arrested over nothing other than using a car as a young guy.
The IGP should not only make open the investigations but also restrict the police to their stations and anyone found roaming on the streets with guys immediately dismissed.
Failure to do this, the IGP is risking another protest more spontaneous and reverberating in the manner of EndSARS which might this time around call for the end of the NPF.
I wish the families of the deceased the fortitude to bear the loss and pray that the almighty grant them succor.
Bagbansoro Uthman Olamilekan
Twitter: @TheBagbansoro
Email: Bagbansorouthman@gmail.com
Views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of WITHIN NIGERIA
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