Africa
Justice For Fallen Police Officers: A Long-Awaited Closure -By Kelvin Adegbenga
As the nation reflects on these challenging years, let this moment serve as a turning point, a reminder that true progress is achieved through dialogue, lawful engagement, and respect for human life.
The recent judgement of the Federal High Court of Nigeria on the case involving Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has brought a long-awaited sense of relief to the families of police officers whose lives were brutally cut short during the wave of attacks linked to IPOB and its militant wing, ESN.
For years, these families have lived with pain, unanswered questions, and the heavy silence of grief. Today, they can finally begin to find peace.
Across Lagos, Imo, Abia, Enugu, and several other states, scores of police stations were torched, patrol teams ambushed, and officers murdered in cold blood.
These were men and women who woke up each morning to protect their communities, only to be targeted and slaughtered under the guise of agitation.
It bears repeating that the Federal High Court of Nigeria has designated IPOB a terrorist organisation, and that designation remains valid and binding.
No grievance, political, ethnic, or ideological, can justify the level of violence unleashed on security personnel and innocent citizens.
The killing of police officers in the name of seeking Biafra was not just senseless; it was profoundly immoral and deeply uncalled for. It robbed families of breadwinners, children of parents, and communities of dedicated public servants. Such barbarity cannot be dressed in the garment of activism.
Nigeria’s laws are unambiguous when it comes to questions of secession or restructuring. Our Constitution provides lawful, democratic, and civil mechanisms for expressing grievances or pursuing political changes.
The wanton destruction of lives and property is not one of them. No society progresses through violence; no nation achieves justice through the blood of its own people.
The judgement delivered by Justice Omotosho stands as an affirmation that no individual or group is above the law. It reinforces the principle that accountability must prevail, regardless of political sentiment or populist rhetoric.
As the nation reflects on these challenging years, let this moment serve as a turning point, a reminder that true progress is achieved through dialogue, lawful engagement, and respect for human life.
May the families of the slain officers find solace in the fact that, at last, justice has spoken.
And may Nigeria never again witness such a needless waste of lives in the name of any cause.
Kelvin Adegbenga writes from Ikeja, Lagos. email: kelvinadegbenga@yahoo.com
