CSP Elemide Akinkunmi Bishop: An Officer And Indeed A Gentleman By Victor Olusegun Oluwole

Everywhere you look, wherever you go, there’s always something condemnable about the men and women in police uniform for all the crazy nonsense some of them actually do.

The truth is our police force in Nigeria and some other forces across the world, even in the developed nations are irredeemably and incorrigibly corrupt. We have all seen this, we all have stories of police officers in Nigeria going far and beyond to get whatever they can off you on the roads and everywhere.

We have seen racist police officers summarily murdering black men in the US and other places. Recently, just about a week ago, the Police were falsely alerted and invited to a secondary school in the UK where officers inexplicably went ahead and horrendously strip-searched a fifteen-year-old girl to her sanitary pad without any of her responsible adult relatives being present on suspicion of drug possession. Guess what, they found no drugs. This has naturally caused serious outrage.

My experience since late last year and this year so far with the Nigeria police has however been rather curiously and shocking far away from that stereotype depicted above. This observation, I have decided to write about today was actually provoked by a couple of factors as it has turned out to be a very difficult time even for some of the most respected police forces in the world.

Individuals, previously thought to have had exemplary police careers are suddenly being exposed and accused of unimaginable crimes. The case of Nigeria’s supposed “Supercop” who is now in court telling a judge all he knows about an alleged drug trafficking conspiracy and of course possible extradition to the United States for money laundering.

Only yesterday, a committee investigating the Met Police corruption in the UK published a rather shocking and equally damning report about its operations and personnel. Let’s just mention a couple of the major shocking facts they found :

1. Over a 100 officers were recruited despite having criminal convictions or criminal connections, their offences include apparently, handling of stolen goods, possession of drugs, assault and theft.
2. Hundreds of exhibits including drugs and cash had gone missing from police custody and the system designed to keep these items safe has been described as “dire”.

My grandmother, Mama Alice and her mother before her Mama Ologiri (God rest their souls) when they find a situation rather shocking, their usual reaction was always to conclude that “ibi gbogbo lati n ko ediye ale” in other words, free-range chickens are always gathered and brought indoors for safety irrespective of where in the world they are. The report on the Met Police is just a revelation that proves there’s no perfect system, no perfect police force anywhere in the world.

Yes, there isn’t a perfect police force anywhere in the world but while some are charging and probing themselves towards perfection, elsewhere, it’s almost a free for all considering the level of reports of corruption and brutality being meted out to people these same officers ought to be protecting elsewhere.

We must, however, not perpetuate and promote a culture of unreasonable and blind condemnation of the police and forget the amazing work they sometimes do. In my line of work, I am constantly in close contact with Met Police officers, a couple of these officers actually work with a section of the team I work with and these are amazing individuals. Their dedication and commitment to high professional standards is impeccable.

Late last year, Boxing day to be precise, I had a reason to visit the DPO of police stationed in Sagamu my home town. He had a very tricky and sensitive matter before him and it didn’t take him beyond a meeting with the parties involved in his office to totally resolve the matter. I was in the room and let me just say, that the DPO has perfected the act and art of community policing. His professionalism and actions lay credence to the fact that you should and can only police a community effectively and efficiently when you have fully integrated yourself into that community.

Fast forward to 4th January this year when I also had a scheduled appointment/meeting with the Commissioner of Police Special Fraud Unit in Ikoyi Lagos. This meeting involved an ongoing investigation into very serious allegations of fraud and a very serious petition submitted to the SFU by a group I will for now only say I am part of. Between the above-stated date and subsequently 7th January 2022, the commissioner had given my group and others involved not less than ten precious hours of his highly sought after time. We sat in his office through those hours of sometimes very gruelling arguments and discussions.

The passion, care, commitment and concern he expressed about the case brought before him was written all over his demeanour. You could sense his empathy, sensitivity, unconditional sincerity and genuineness about the matter. He was so concerned, he demanded a subsequent meeting on 7th January 2022 issuing very stern warnings that persons accused return home to make necessary amends or risk very serious consequences including criminal charges should that effort fail.

Let’s just say I was utterly shocked that within a space of ten days, I had witnessed such amazing levels of commendable standards by these senior police officers. It gets you thinking, where do those officers you meet on the roads in Nigeria come from?

Now, the fine Nigerian police gentleman whose picture you see here was a very popular face on your TV screens a couple of decades ago now. You may recall the TV Show Beatmasters which he co-anchored on OGTV with Ife Akinbode who is today a Special Adviser on Media strategies to Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun state. Akinkunmi Bishop Elemide surprisingly joined the Nigeria Police after we graduated. As trained broadcasters, some of us couldn’t just come to terms with that career choice considering the not quite impressive image of the Nigeria Police.

I was The Editor of Corporate Mirror Magazine and Akin was my Managing Editor, together with an amazing team put together by our Public relations lecturer Alhaji Dr. Sulaiman Osho, we produced one of the best editions of that annual student public relations magazine. The only publication of its kind by any Mass Communication department in Nigeria at the time. Every aspect of the production was done by us with Dr. Osho keeping only an eagle eye to ensure quality and standard.

I am proud today to write that Akin is in the news for the right reasons only, despite such a damning time for police officers the world over. My pride is boundless to report that this was what we envisaged growing up, that my generation has been equipped to heal our nation Nigeria.

We were brought up well and this ought to reflect in our character everywhere we go and in every endeavour to which we are attached. I had the opportunity of visiting Akin’s Aunt several times in Abeokuta and also went to Ogere Remo with the family for a funeral where we spent a couple of days whilst in school with Akin’s relatives. He on the other hand came over to Sagamu a few times too to meet my family and all I can say is that “Bibi re o se f’owo ra” -you cannot buy being born into a good family, simple! It will always reflect in your character irrespective of the times.

Yesterday, the Inspector General of the Nigeria police force made glowing remarks about Akin who is now a CSP with the Nigeria Police Force. He is Head of Operations at the police radio services. His account was mistakenly credited with N600,000 almost a thousand pounds which he remitted back to the Nigeria Police Cooperative Society Treasury.

Let’s just say I am not surprised at all here but I am pleased and extremely proud of him. Our mates with whom we share a platform on WhatsApp have been showing trucks load of praise on Akin and expressing how proud they are of his exemplary act of honesty. I am very proud too.