I work and live in Ibadan, leaving the city only every fortnight. I also drive, daily, on the roads of the big city. So, I can testify to the actions of motorists and the police. This is a daily story on Ibadan roads. The difference is the incomplete actions of the actors – motorists and police. On this occasion, the usually incomplete actions were concluded, albeit fatally.
The Attached Video Explains This Tragic Incident.
A father takes his children in his car to drop them off at school for examination purposes. A policeman with his team comes out for the purposes of enforcing the law, and sometimes for extortion (emphasis on extortion).
The father, a motorist, used to offensive driving, impatience, disregard for driving regulations and generally harbouring a daring negative mentality drives his car with his children in it to break the law. What a father!
The policeman, armed (even for enforcing common traffic offenses), impatient to arrest an offender, corrupt – minded, unprofessional, unethical, and crude, has his active finger on the trigger. What a policeman!
The father, used to the Nigerian way of doing things, forcefully creates an escape route for himself to avoid being caught while daringly trying to outsmart the law. What a father!
The policeman, used to his crude, lazy, unthinking and uncivilized way of apprehending offenders, empties his brian into his AK-47 riffle, so the arm could “think on its own”. He became brainless. What a policeman!
Then the father, unscrupulous, empty-headed, and illegally-determined to conclusively outsmart the law, breaks down every thing on his illegal way until his fellow idiotic and fellow empty – headed policeman empties the bullet into the body of his innocent, unsuspecting son. What a people!
So, Who Lilled the Boy?
This is the tragic story in Ibadan right now. Some misinformed protesters took the body of the slain student to the Governor’s Office, again behaving like The Father/Motorist and The Policeman, breaking into barricades like hoodlums. What a people!
The Police Command and the State Government also issued statements commiserating and blaming The Father for driving against traffic. The Police even went further to lamely argue that the shot was fired to demobilise the offending, escaping vehicle based on the suspicion of criminality. What an argument! 
I submit:
1. The action of the State Government to enforce traffic regulations is good but badly implemented. Guns are not needed to enforce traffic regulations/laws. So, using armed policemen to support the Oyo State Traffic Management Agency was ill-conceived, ill-advised. The government said the traffic management agency needed armed police backup in order to protect them from harassment. But I dare say that you don’t need the guns to protect the traffic officials who face harassment from motorists.
2. Ibadan motorists are the most unruly and stubborn I’ve seen in Nigeria, having worked and lived in some other states in this country. In my active ten working years in Oyo State, I can say that motorists here really need some iron hands to submit to the law. This is a very good reason anti – wrong way driving spikes were installed at an Ìdí Àpẹ́ junction. We don’t need maximum force to make compliance happen.
3. Pedestrians, eyewitnesses and unlookers should always study any event before taking actions that could make an already bad situation worse. Taking the slain boy’s body to the Governor’s Office was unnecessary and thoughtless. They did this because none of them considered the pre-shooting actions of irresponsible The Father. Kudos to the security officials at the Governor’s Office. If the policemen at the State Government’s Secretariat/Governor’s Office had behaved like the killer – policeman, things could have gone worse.
4. The Nigeria Police still have many grounds to cover in imparting the Rules of Engagement in the rank and file. I’m aware of a recent retraining in responsible and professional arms handling by the NPF. Kudos to the IGP, Kayode Egbetokun and the FPRO, Muyiwa Adejobi Olumuyiwa. However, more needs to be done in reigning in potentially dangerous policemen carrying arms and ammunitions.
5. May I advise that, as Nigerians, let us be more of citizens than idiots and tribesmen.
Citizens don’t break the law, idiots do.
Citizens don’t act on emotions, tribesmen do.
Citizens don’t carry fake news, idiots and tribesmen do.
Citizens don’t put children’s lives in danger, idiots do.
Citizens obey rules, regulations and the law, idiots don’t.
Citizens conclude on any matter based on good knowledge, idiots and tribesmen don’t.
Now, a reckless father has just assisted a brainless policeman to end the life of his teenage son, who is to blame? Nothing Justifies Both Actions That Killed The Student.
