An Officer’s Heroics -By Kene Obiezu

 Nigeria is a country struggling for heroes, proper heroes whose s achievements or towering examples set them apart not just as models of encouragement for those who aspire to  noble achievements but critically as refulgent examples to those who   strive  and those who stray.

 It was this dearth of heroes for Nigeria`s young that prompted celebrated author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to lament at the 2022 Annual General Conference of the Nigeria Bar Association in Lagos that Nigeria is a country lacking heroes.

  It was not always like this. Nigeria used to have heroes, an embarrassment of them in fact. That today, in many aspects, Africa`s most populous country and in fact the most populous Black country on earth lacks genuine heroes bespeaks just how much has gone awry for the country as the journey to progressive nationhood has proven impossibly difficult at times.

 As the hemorrhage of national values has continue profusely, practically many of the vices that were alien to the country have since gained a foothold, digging in and showing a destructive determination to drag the country down.

 Thus, in the Giant of Africa, there is an abundance of men and just as there is an abundance of men, there is also an abundance of crooks to go with them.

 As Nigeria`s leadership failures have seen the country critically left without any sense of direction, men who were previously thought to be of a different breed have fallen flat.

Men of straw

 As the artic wind of corruption and compromise have continued to blow across the country exposing the proverbial rump of the fowl, men who hitherto were thought to be made of sterner stuff have fallen disastrously to leave those who looked up to them blinded by disappointment and disillusion.

Whether it is those whose antecedents suggested they would achieve much in their new positions only to fail woefully, or those who came into different transactions with Nigeria with flawless records but have since been stained all over, Nigerians have continued to watch in horror as otherwise decent men have succumbed to what has been a deathly struggle with corruption.

 Gold in a garbage dump

 In what is surely a sign of hope for the country, a sign that all hope is not lost, an improbable feat was recently recorded in one of the Nigerian institutions that has over the years become an exhibition stand for everything Nigeria should not be and every vice Nigerian children should never learn.

 When a group of armed robbers offered Daniel Itse Amah, a Chief Superintendent of Police the humongous sum of $200,000 dollars to compromise investigations in a robbery matter reported at the Bompai Police Division in Kano State where he was DPO, his rejection of the staggering amount must have left them dumbstruck.

 In a country where the police has become synonymous with corruption and a lack of professionalism, the armed robbers must have been shocked that a moment of such startling clarity had been plucked out from what is otherwise a cesspool of official crime, connivance and corruption.

For standing out, for his conviction, the laurels have continued to pour in for the humble police officer from Plateau State who deigned to show that a Nigerian in his position could act differently for once.

From editorials of national dailies to government houses to the hearts of everyday Nigerians broken again and again by the chilling unprofessionalism of many police officers, CSP Daniel Amah has been borne aloft, having resoundingly and positively answered the question whether anything good can come out of the Nigeria Police Force.

In a country that knows nothing but shadows and chills these days, the gallant officer deserves his moment in the sun. For rejecting the atrocious advances of armed robbers and helping Nigerians move on a bit from the lamentable tragedy that went down at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20,2020, the gallant police officer deserves to eat with kings.

 For proving so conclusively that rubies can shine forth out of the refuse dump of institutional corruption in Nigeria, CSP Amah deserves the highest recognition.

 Kene Obiezu

keneobiezu@gmail.com