Editorial

The NDLEA/police clash over marijuana in Kogi

INTER-AGENCY squabbles at official and unofficial levels among the security operatives in the country are a common phenomenon. They signpost gross indiscipline on the part of the supposedly regimented entities which are ironically saddled with the responsibility of law enforcement. It is even more disturbing to note that some of these frequent face-offs transcend the usual but needless rivalry and unwarranted show of superiority and involve orchestrated schemes to condone and prevent exposure of criminality, like it happened at a police station in Lokoja, Kogi State, few days ago. The narrative is that some operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) engaged in a physical tussle over the arrest of a police Inspector’s wife allegedly caught with a bag of cannabis sativa and other illicit drugs.

The wife of the Inspector was allegedly distributing the illicit drugs opposite the police station using the husband’s car as the store for the consignments! Obviously, some of her clients could have been police personnel and the criminals in police custody. It is also not unlikely that illicit drug users and hoodlums were coming to buy drugs from her in a supposed safe haven. That is the extent to which the society has degenerated. Those that have the responsibility to uphold the law are the ones facilitating its outright breach in a most daring fashion. It is really saddening.

Apparently, the wife of the Inspector latched onto her husband’s status as a police officer to commit crime. If the allegation against her is proven, then her husband has a case to answer. What is yet confounding is how the sale of the illicit drug was conducted in the open without the knowledge of the officers at the station. Was the Inspector not aware of his wife’s articles of trade? Could it be that he was actually in cahoots with his wife in the illegal trade? And how would this Inspector have handled cases involving his wife’s customers if they had come before him? Why would anyone have the effrontery to sell contrabands to law enforcement agents opposite the police station? Or could it be that the authorities of the police station willfully condoned this egregious illegality?

And to think that the misguided police operatives at this station actually engaged the NDLEA operatives in fisticuffs, apparently to prevent the arrest of the wife of their colleague who is a suspected drug dealer! It shows the extent to which some security agents can go not just to protect outlaws but also to act in cahoots with them to subvert law and order in the society. It is becoming increasingly unequivocal that the country has been sold to the dogs with no values or ethics underpinning human behaviour. Or what does anyone make of a situation whereby those expected to be in charge of maintaining order are the ones actively undermining and voiding them?

It must be stated– and the relevant authorities, especially the police, are invited to take note– that the country will hopelessly go down if it is allowed to unravel and implode, as it will surely do if impunity is not urgently arrested. In the final analysis, the degeneration into anarchy is not to the advantage of anybody. It is better to prevent such a development, and the way this particular case is handled by the authorities will reflect what to expect going forward under the present circumstances.

The Commissioner of Police, Kogi State, is urged to show more than a passing interest in this matter.

In particular, the public would like to know how this security breach right under the nose of the leadership of the police station escaped its radar until the NDLEA intervened.

It is, nonetheless, gladdening to know that the Inspector, the husband of the audacious drug dealer, have been arrested. We urge the police to set aside esprit de corps and investigate the extent of his complicity in the illicit trade. Ultimately, we recommend that the law be applied in its maximum extent in punishing all those implicated in the ignoble clash.

READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE