There is no doubt that Nigeria is a great country that produced great people who left their mark in history; Zik of Africa, Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa and Obafemi Awolowo, just to name, but a few of our greatest contributors of nationhood building during pre-independence and the first republic.
We also had gallant military Generals who fought a three-year civil war to keep the country together and later piloted the country into the club of mordern world; Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Mohammed, Olusegun Obasanjo, Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida.
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In the ivory tower, we had great academics who left lasting legacies before some of them joined the public service and made double impact on national development; Cyprian Ekwensi, Ishaya Audu, Aliu Babs Fafunwa, Chinua Achebe, Iya Abubakar, Wole Soyinka, Jibril Aminu and Yemi Osinbajo.
We also had super-cops whose performance in the Nigeria Police service are unmatched; Muhammadu Gambo, who was Inspector General of Police under IBB regime that crushed Lawrence Aneni’s reign of terror in the South.
Upon his appointment as the head of the Nigeria Police, Gambo promised the military president and the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC), that Aneni will be dealt with in no time, and he did just that within three weeks of taking oath of office.
There was also Abubakar Tsav, who managed, as the Lagos State Commissioner of Police (CP), to address insecurity and liberated Lagos, the financial capital of the country from the shackles of cult groups, robbers and other criminals.
Nuhu Ribadu, a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), was another super-cop who caught the attention of former President Olusengun Obasanjo that later entrusted him to head the newly created Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), after an impressive stint as chairman, Petroleum Revenue Task Force and coming out from both with clean record.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, the suspended head of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) is the latest super-cop to, until now, emerge as the shining example of a good officer in the service of the Nigeria Police Force.
Despite the low morale in the force, occasioned by low pay, lack of incentive, inadequate training and working equipment, DCP Kyari is among few in the police force that tried to keep Nigeria safe with his active visibility of the wars he waged against criminals.
Sadly, like the case with many good Nigerians, they sometimes foolishly associate with society’s undesirables that in the end bring down promising future leaders and forever tarnish the good reputation that took almost a lifetime to build.
Kyari’s alleged collecting of N8m bribe from Ramon Abbas, popularly known as Husshpuppi, though yet to be proven, is however painful to fathom. It is hard to imagine how a brave and intelligent officer of good standing like him will associate with such character.
I have seen a post by Kyari himself in which he denied the allegation, explaining that he collected only N300,000 from Abbas to buy native clothes for him. However, it is typical of our law enforcement personnel and indeed, Nigerians in general to turn around and assist or become philanthropic towards people they ought not to associate with for good reason.
They sometimes become naive, eager to assist victims they sympathise with, not minding the consequence of their action, should things go awfully wrong as in this case.
I have heard stories of some people seeking the intervention of the police or military officers on unofficial basis to teach their opponents lessons as revenge or just for show of might.
Unfortunately many personnel willingly take-up the illegal task that in the end turn ugly for them.
If the investigative panel set up by the IGP comes up with a guilty verdict on the allegations of bribery by the FBI, it would be a great tragedy not only to DCP Abba Kyari or the Police force, but on the entire nation.
But for the involvement of the FBI, the case would certainly have been dismissed as just a cry of foul from a drowning criminal – which I want to believe is what it is. We all cannot be more careful, for this episode must serve as a lesson. There is, indeed, a DCP Abba Kyari in all of us – the carelessness, that is.
*Iyawa is Nigeria’s former ambassador to Mexico
