On the third of July 2018 in a rather unusual manner, the Nigerian Police Force through the FCT commissioner of police, Sadiq Bello informed the press that seven police officers were killed by gunmen at Galadimawa Junction off the international airport road in Abuja. The “sad” event as expected generated a lot of reactions from Nigerians with the senate calling for a probe of the killing. However, I think it’s high time we take a second look at the event in a bid to unravel the “mystery” by asking some necessary questions.

According to the police, seven police officers were killed by gunmen in an afternoon around Galadimawa. By all indications, Galadimawa is a popular location in Abuja which means the killings wouldn’t have taken place without witness accounts and social media reportage through pictures and videos. The sheer amount of stories that have been broken this way, prove that this has become part of the average Nigerian’s response to trauma, to document.  Rather, it was the police themselves that informed Nigerians about the “killing” of the seven officers. To show how confusing the situation is, the Police released the statement without giving the names of the officers neither did it mentioned the division the “slain” officers were attached to.

Also, as at the time of writing this story, no family in the country has announced the death of a loved one at the Abuja killings as expected. So where did the police get its facts that seven police officers were killed by gunmen? I wouldn’t want to believe the police is engaging in a sort of propaganda but it’s surely taking the shape of one. It is important the police hierarchy save itself of embarrassment by releasing the names of the affected officers and their formations if truly there was an attack on the seven officers. Failure to do this will cast a whole lot of aspersions on the already tainted image of the Nigerian Police Force.

tosin adesina