Inspector-General of Police Abubakar Adamu. PHOTO: BAYO OMOBORIOWO
During the 2015 face-off between members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria and the Nigerian Army, which resulted in a blood bath that snuffed the life out of several people in what was tagged Zaria Massacre by the media, the distinction between the duties of the Nigerian Police and that of their military counterparts came to question. It was a moot issue whether the police should have been called in to quell a civil insurrection in a way that disproportionate force inherent in an impasse between soldiers and civilians would be averted.
The codenaming of operations, issuing various statements and deploying soldiers in various civil disturbances have made people wonder what the actual duties of the police are in a constitutional democracy. It was clear that while the police lacked anti-riot gears to control the #EndSars rioters when ironically, they were the primary targets in the uprising, the military paraphernalia