Okiro

Okiro’s Readiness to Die for Yar’Adua

Hakeem Babalola

The title of a film I once watched is, “I’ll die for Mama” in which the legendary Indian Bollywood actor, Amitabh Bachchan does everything possible to fulfill a promise he had made in regard to dying for his mother if the occasion demands.

It is a film that teaches both social and spiritual moral values. I love the film because it shows a human being who understands the basic meaning of the word, promise which in universal parlance, a debt that must be paid.

So I had mixed feelings when I read in the Sun newspaper that the Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, said that he was ready to die for Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. At least, a police officer in the history of Nigeria understands what being a policeman means. It simply means: promise and fulfillment and dying in order to protect people’s lives and properties.

A police officer by virtue of the profession must fulfill the promise he had made under the oath to protect the people by all means possible, including dying for them. The police are expected to die for their people, most especially the number one man or woman.

Sir Okiro, to further show his selfless side, also urged his men in uniform to do the same. They must die for Umaru Yar’Adua whose election has recently been solidified by the election petition tribunal. The erstwhile Inspector General of Police wants to die for Yar’Adua whose case still pending at the highest court. I wonder why Sir Okiro did not make such statement before now.

But, is this also includes defying the Supreme Court order in a bid to protect or die for Yar’Adua? Sir Okiro definitely knows his mission. Is he saying categorically that no one can remove Yar’Adua while he, Okiro still alive? For, if he doesn’t know, there are many interpretations to such pronouncement.

Well, the good thing is that Nigeria has finally got the right man in the right position. We all must be proud of a police boss who knows that to die for Umaru Yar’Adua is the same as dying for the woman in the street and the country at large. I would much like to witness a situation whereby Sir Okiro’s allegiance to Yar’Adua could be tested.

The number one police officer did not disappoint me when he stated the reason why he and his men must make the supreme sacrifice. He said that Yar’Adua was a listening president, who had been granting every request of the police.

He was quoted as saying: “If someone pays you good wages and takes care of your welfare, you must be ready to die for that person. Now policemen should stop collecting N20 on the road because the president is doing his best for us and we must also be at our best”.

Although I’d have expected Sir Okiro to look at the larger picture instead of limiting his reasons based on Yar’Adua’s soft touch for his men alone, I admire the fact that he reminded his men to stop collecting N20 on the road. If they complied, he would eventually be dying for the masses as well.

One thing that I am yet to understand about Sir Okiro is whether he would also be ready to sacrifice his life for either Atiku or Buhari or even Utomi. Therefore, Sir Okiro must be speaking in tongues and I clearly understand his position.

By saying that he’s ready to die for Yar’Adua, Sir Okiro might be indirectly telling us that Yar’Adua is the chosen one irrespective of what the Supreme Court says later. He might be warning us that he and his men would not fold their arms if something otherwise is the case.

I honestly do not know whether it’s appropriate for the Inspector General of Police to declare in public that he was ready to die for Yar’Adua. Sir Okiro by such pronouncement has just enlightened me about the nature of the uniform he wears and about the office he occupies. Sir Okiro either implicitly or explicitly has succeeded in telling us the truth about the office.

It strikes me however that the Inspector General of Police prefers to die for Yar’Adua instead of you and I. I must be a compound fool (apology to our dear Baba, Obasanjo) to have thought otherwise.