WHY DO NIGERIA “VIPS” (“BIG MEN”) DEMEAN OUR POLICE FORCE?
I had a spare moment in traffic earlier today and decided to spend a few minutes to see what’s been happening on https://nairaland.com. One headline attracted me; it was about a Big Brother Nigeria housemate. It attracted me primarily because we have all been compelled (against the wishes of many), to consciously or unconsciously follow what is happening. The news about them and the house ongoing activities follow us everywhere we turn to on the social media. Back to the headline, what I saw was just for me to gloss over, but it did more than that. The headline was; “Kidd Waya Steps Out in Style with His Security Team”
The picture shared along with this post has the security team. I was pissed when I saw that what was referred to as Security Team were our policemen. Seeing that they were policemen wasn’t enough to piss me off but the fact that I saw one of them opening the door of the car for the lad to alight was enough to get me crazy for a moment.
To be clear, I do not have anything against the young man nor the show that propped him into popularity. I have a fair view of these things, Big Brother Nigeria is a multi-billion naira enterprise, it created many jobs and provided meals in several homes, so for everyone that wishes to dislike the show, in order not to be a hypocrite, you have to dislike the positive economic impact alongside.
Back to the matter, seeing a policeman open the door of the car for the now “celebrity” so pissed me off, but I got back to my consciousness that this happens every time. It is first, an unnecessary big man ego for a boy that is not yet 30 years of age to wait for a policeman to open the door for him. For me, it is not a bad thing to want to have such ego, c’mon, it’s a choice, so finance it don’t use tax payers money to do it. There are private security outfits, hire them!
For us to appreciate what was wrong with it, a police man is trained from the purse of the government of the federation, the uniform he is wearing was bought by the government, his kits, boots and gears were bought by the government. They were carrying guns, the rifle, which should be in the range of N200,000.00 to N400,000.00 a piece was bought by the government. Essentially, we the people of Nigeria have financed the ego of Kidd Waya, can we clap for ourselves? If you like, you may also see it as a diversion of resources; some people are in Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto living under the fear of bandits attack. So sorry to know that many policemen that should have been protecting them are on duty tour of elevation of big man ego.
It is time this is stopped, it is not fair. Nigeria big man, please finance your ego by yourself, employ the services of companies offering personal protection services. Dangote, yes Aliko Dangote uses the services of Halogen Securities. Small million in the pocket, big man is already calling Area Commander to send “5 boys” to him. If you are big, show that you are big, pay for your ego.
Related to this is the habit of riding in convoys and expecting other road users to leave the road for them to pass. Dear Nigeria big man, your right to use the road is not higher than that of the other person, road tax (vehicle licence) is at the same rate. Well, except I see from my mirror that the siren blaring vehicles are for a President, Governor, Military/Police/Paramilitary Commander or some emergency services like Fire, Ambulance and the rest, I do not move away from my lane and trust me, sometimes, some of them get it. You cannot be taking oga to the airport and be making the assumption that I have no where to go, so I should leave the road for you, oga, find road for the other lane I beg. And to the Nigerians that give way so that you can quickly trail such siren blaring vehicles, you have only shown that you actually do not detest oppression, your problem is that you’re not the one oppressing the other.
In Lagos these days, just buy a Toyota Hilux, paint it navy blue, turn the number plate over and then put some “kpor kpor” sounding horn and small siren. Once you get into small traffic, just keep pressing the “kpor kpor” and keep the siren on, it won’t matter if you were going to buy a bag of rice at Daleko market, cars will start giving way, most times so that they can put on their hazard light and trail you immediately. Mot times, I wonder if those people think we are silly. When I want to have fun, I get in their way an slow down to compel them to stop being silly on the road. This is the effect of big man ego on small man who has only been waiting for his own turn for the opportunity to oppress.
From Kidd Waya to demeaning of Nigeria Policemen by big men to big men using their convoys to harass others, just another angle to make us see that bad leadership is not always the issue with us.
