An Open Letter To Nigeria’s Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun – By Dapo Atoki
The way and manner in which the rank-and-file of Nigeria Police at Nigeria Police Zone 2 Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos State treat Nigerians – especially Nigerian defenceless masses and the poor – is most disheartening, crude, painful as well as callous !
I write sequel to my ordeal in the hands of the rank-and-file of Nigeria Police when I visited Zone 2 of Nigeria Police at Onikan, Lagos with some Nigerian citizens on Thursday, 30th January, 2025.
With pronounced hostility, all visitors going into the Nigeria Police zone 2 Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos were asked to submit their phones at their entrance – an action which is unfathomable, questionable as well as shady !
Our attempt to know the reason for seizing our phones before we could gain entrance when we are neither suspects in any case nor criminals was met with harshness and hostility. We later learnt that all visitors must drop their phones before they can go inside. This is unjust, it is tantamount to deprivation, humiliation, harassment and negates policing globally acceptable ethics and practices.
It is on records that all visitors at Nigeria Police zone 2 Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos are always held incommunicado for commiting no crime. Why would Nigeria police strip innocent citizens of their dignity and right by seizing their phones before they can gain entrance into their premises ? This is crude, barbaric and unprofessional. It is an eloquent testimony to the fact that here, in Nigeria, the police are not friendly to the citizenry. Hence, the maxim “police are your friend” is a ruse, deceit and mere cajolery.
Can it be inferred that Nigeria police are covering up ‘something’ ? If professionalism is part of Nigeria police watchword and core values, why are they afraid to see innocent citizens at their headquarters with their phones ?
Nigerians deserve to be treated with courtesy and dignity by Nigeria Police. If the ugly situation persists, Nigerian masses will not trust Nigeria police and, as a result, will be repelled by their anti-people actions and tendencies.
It has become imperative to invite the attention of IGP to this atrocities and humiliation by his men against poor Nigeria masses. This is necessary so that our IGP can beam a searchlight into the barbarism, stop it and save innocent Nigerians from such humiliation and harassment henceforth. 
Needless to stress, Nigeria Police need to rise up, shun any form of unprofessionalism, anti-people tendencies and embrace globally acceptable policing ethics. Seizing phones from innocent citizens who have committed no offence and no crime is unethical, humiliating, undemocratic as well as barbaric. One can logically infer that there is ‘something’ which Nigeria Police is hiding or covering up in their operations, premises and dealings.
Our dear IGP, it is my fervent hope that this dissent will not be a basis for witch-hunt and trump-up charges against me as we have witnessed in recent times against dissent voices. I make bold to say that I have no other country other than Nigeria. It is therefore my obligation, like every other patriotic citizen of Nigeria, to defend the integrity of our nation, fortify our nascent democracy and speak up against any evil, indiscipline and any form of corruption that can turn Nigeria to a laughing stock among the comity of nations.
In conclusion, it is my fervent hope that you will swing into action and correct this anomaly and show to the world that professionalism is one of the core values of Nigeria Police. By doing so, you will not only unwittingly write your name with gold in the annals of Nigeria but also restore the trust and confidence of Nigerian masses in Nigeria Police and this will subsequently build a cordial mutual relationship between Nigerians and Nigeria Police – a condition which is very necessary for efficacious and result-orriented policing.
Dapo Atoki writes from Lagos. (08064172743)
