By Passman Akpos/ Tarakirivoice Editorial Team
……….AN OPEN WOUND CALLED THE NIGERIA POLICE
An Editorial to the Inspector-General of Police
Inspector-General of Police,This is not a petition.
This is not a plea.
This is a cry ripped from the chest of a broken citizen standing before a broken institution.
The Nigeria Police Force, which ought to be the last shield of the common man, has increasingly become the first weapon of the powerful. A uniform once meant to protect has been reduced to a rented baton, wielded at the convenience of politicians who briefly find themselves close to power and mistake authority for divinity.What happened to me is not unique. That is the tragedy.It is systemic rot—oiled, coordinated, and normalized.
On 22nd December 2025, officers of the Nigeria Police in Bayelsa State picked me up like a criminal without a warrant, without a charge, without respect for the Constitution they swore to uphold. When I demanded the reason for my arrest, a petition was produced—authored by Chief Dennis Brutus Otuaro, PhD, Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme.Here is the irony that should shame any law-abiding police officer to silence:
That same day, a competent High Court in Yenagoa had already delivered judgment on the same matter—IN MY FAVOUR.A court had spoken.The law had settled the issue.Yet the Police chose power over principle.
Even your officers admitted it. They were handicapped by the judgment, yet they whispered the truth that has become routine in today’s Nigeria: “We are under pressure.”Pressure from whom, Inspector-General? Pressure stronger than the Constitution? Pressure heavier than a court judgment? I was forced to sign a bail bond on self-recognition—not because there was a crime, but because there was an instruction. Then came the familiar tactic: daily reporting, calculated delays, psychological exhaustion. Christmas was approaching, but the Police were preparing a different kind of celebration—one of cruelty.
On 24th December 2025, Christmas Eve, I was told that officers from Abuja had arrived. No court order. No charge. No dignity. I was bundled like contraband into a vehicle, driven to Port Harcourt Airport, flown to Abuja like a kidnapped object.
Let us talk about the insult added to injury.A return flight from Abuja to Port Harcourt was about ₦400,000 at the time. Two officers came. I made the third passenger. Public funds were freely spent—not to fight crime, but to persecute a citizen whose case had already been decided by a court of law.
Our flight was delayed. We landed on Christmas Day. And on the very day Christians celebrate peace, goodwill, and humanity, I was thrown into a cell—no statement taken, no charge filed, no explanation offered.
Inspector-General,What kind of policing is this?What kind of country allows a specialized unit like the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) to be converted into a private recovery and intimidation squad for the politically connected?The IRT was not created to relitigate concluded civil matters.
It was not created to humiliate citizens.
It was not created to enforce ego, vengeance, or political bitterness.
When police officers ignore court judgments, they do not just oppress citizens—they dismantle the state itself. When politicians deploy the Police as personal enforcers, democracy bleeds. When lawful authority bows to unlawful pressure, the uniform becomes a costume, not a symbol.This editorial is backed by law, not emotion alone.
By the Constitution, not sentiment.
By pending proceedings for the enforcement of my fundamental rights, seeking accountability, restraint, and damages for the grave abuses suffered.
But beyond my case lies a bigger question for you, Inspector-General:How many Nigerians have no lawyers, no voice, no platform—who have been crushed silently using the same playbook?History will not remember uniforms; it will remember choices.
It will remember whether the Nigeria Police stood with the Constitution or knelt before power.
Whether you reformed this rot—or managed it.The Police cannot continue to be both accuser and jailer, both servant of politicians and enemy of the people. A nation cannot survive where court judgments are optional and liberty is negotiable.
Inspector-General,This is your moment to choose the side of law over pressure, justice over instructions, and history over convenience.
Because a Police Force that loses its soul will one day lose the country it claims to protect.And that collapse will spare no one.
—not even those who think they are untouchable today.
