By ‘Debo Oluwaseun
To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe. – Marilyn vos Savant
For any discerning mind, reading Bayo Oluwasanmi’s opinions must be a torrid exercise. One thing that shouts at you is the fact that he knows very little about the topics he sometimes writes upon and there is need for him to return to Evening School to brush up on his education.
His latest attempt to comment on Community Policing almost made me nauseate. His article was once again devoid of logic, facts and even common sense but more importantly, it showed that he has no knowledge of what he was writing on. Put simply, reading his article was a waste of valuable time.
The man calls for the Nigerian Police Force to be dismantled, scrapped, and proscribed. In his skewed understanding of how policing works, he proffered a solution, which is that each local and state government will set up its own police. This is ludicrous to say the least.
While leaders from all walks of life have advocated for Community Policing as a panacea to Nigeria’s security crisis, this self-styled security expert, claims the community policing initiative is a ploy, a ruse, and unnecessary distraction.
Without a shred of evidence or fact, he repeatedly labeled Community Policing as a Fulani ploy, adding that, the Fulanis hate the modern police system made up of local and state police. Here’s how he puts it, “The N13bn will be shared among the ruling thieves. At the end of the day, there will be nothing that resembles community policing. The NPF will still remain a defective, centralized, and mismanaged police outfit run by primitive Fulani IGP. As usual, the proposed community policing will end up as a ridiculous sham!”
I am not holding brief for the Nigeria Police Force and like most citizens, I agree that there is a lot of work to be done in the police force but the assertion by this incompetent fellow is in complete contrast with the reality. He vainly compares Nigeria’s police force to that of the US where despite their level of advancement and modernization, we have seen repeated assaults and shootings of civilians who are unarmed; we have seen the nationwide protests against numerous US police departments.
Community policing is a right step in the right direction. Only this morning on Channels TV’s morning show, Sunrise Daily, the DIG Research and Planning, Adeleye Oyebade explained the plans for community policing in Nigeria and how they will help the police force in intelligence gathering but I don’t expect Oluwasanmi to watch such insightful programmes.
Wadding in his ignorance, he labeled the Vice President as Pastor RUGA, another pointer that shows clearly how uneducated and uncouth he is. RUGA was sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture under Audu Ogbeh but he falsely ascribes it to the Vice President, Prof. Osinbajo who propositioned The National Livestock Transformation Plan. If only he had a 30% proficiency in the use of Google’s search engine, he would have known the difference between the two and saved himself and his entire family this humiliation.
The rest of his article was of course a rumble; he struggled to grapple at anything and everything just to take space in the article. The poorly-written and heinously scripted regurgitation only reiterated why President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesperson, Femi Adesina binned his CV when he begged desperately to work in the Buhari government.
It is safe to say he is still reeling from the expose that was Femi Adesina’s article titled, “The Scoundrel Called Bayo Oluwasanmi”. Hopefully, this article as well, would spur him to at least read a thing or two before his next horrific article. Like it’s often said in Nigeria, empty barrels make the loudest noise.
