FOLLOWING the recent killing of a Lagos football fan, Mr. Kolade Johnson, by stray bullets fired by policemen in pursuit of suspected cultists, spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command, Mr. Bala Elkanah, gave a controversial insight into why many youths are falling victim to police harassment which sometimes turns fatal.
Elkanah, in an interview with the BBC Pidgin Service was quoted as saying: “Tattoos and dreadlocks are strange to our culture, especially for Nigeria. Most times when you arrest cultists many of them have signs on them.”
As much as this candid assertion explains why policemen sometimes act strangely in their pursuit of alleged criminals, we consider it not only ridiculous but also a totally unfounded claim.
The rank and file of the Nigerian Police, with the upgraded educational requirements for their recruitment, should know better than that.
In the first place, tattoos and dreadlocks are parts of the Nigerian and African culture. A lot of people wearing…
