Barring any information to the contrary, it would seem that a female police officer, Inspector Teju Moses was a victim of the alleged assault from an unlikely source: the person she was officially detailed to guard and protect.

But while the investigation is going on to unravel the details, her plight should be an opportunity to revisit the necessity and protocols involving attachment of police orderlies to private persons.

It is bad enough that there are not enough policemen and women to effectively secure the country’s citizens and their properties, it is unconscionable that the few available are sent to a few privileged Nigerians, some of who end up treating them with levity and sending them on errands low enough for servants but certainly undignified and unbefitting of officers of the federal republic.

In the case of Inspector Teju Moses, the police should conduct a strict investigation to find out if she was a victim of those who should protect and fight for the rights of defenceless citizens turning against them. In Nigeria, the number of citizens assaulted, violated, killed and humiliated by the persons who should protect and even fight for their rights, reminisce the ‘jackboot’ experience during the military era. This is a shame!

According to media reports that have not been controverted, Inspector Teju Moses was allegedly assaulted by her principal, Professor Zainab Abiola and her domestic staff, comprising the housemaid and a male suspect at large. If the report is true, this incident is one too many and unacceptable. Police officers should not be subjected to that kind of treatment more so by citizens they have been assigned to protect.

In other climes, it is a serious crime to assault a policeman, and it is doubly so when the assault was visited on the officer while in uniform, as was the case with Moses. Nigerians want to know who masterminded or carried out the assault on her. A trending video on social media showed the Inspector in pain, with a bloody face; Is that a reflection of the treatment that some orderlies receive from their principals but go unreported?

Reports also indicated that Moses was attacked following her refusal to carry out menial and domestic chores at the house of her principal, on the ground that doing so was against police professional ethics. Her refusal is not an act of provocation nor could it justify the attack because being a principal is not a licence for oppression and exploitation. This country is for all, and a principal should not act as a top caste above the others. Principals should realise that they are not to molest or torture their orderlies.

Whoever carried out the alleged assault on Moses engaged in an act of intimidation, violence and recklessness, which violates the dignity of the human person. It is simply a wrong show of power, wrong application of position and a desperate hang on to the memory of the oppression of the civilian class during military rule, which is at variance with democratic ideals. It is alarming that such an incident could take place under a principal described as a Professor and rights activist.

The questions flowing from this incident include: What qualifies Professor Abiola to have an orderly? Why use public resources (security officers) to service private individuals? And is there no code of conduct governing the allocation of police orderlies to anyone, such that the dignity of such orderlies and the official reverence of the police force are not violated and undermined?

As owners of the police force and the authority vested with the duty of securing Nigerians and their properties, the federal government should consider it timely to formulate a more respectable policy that will serve the interest of the larger Nigerians who are hapless; rather than a few individuals who use their wealth, sometimes ill-gotten, to commandeer the officers for their selfish interest.

Why should a single Nigerian have seven personal security staff as is the case of a Senator? Even some traditional leaders have orderlies. What about the over 200 million Nigerians left largely unprotected? How many law enforcement officers are left to secure them after posting many officers as private orderlies?

In order to stop the harassments, inhuman treatment and assaults that many defenceless Nigerians have suffered at the hands of some principals; the assault against Inspector Peju Moses should not for any reason be swept under the carpet.

Notably, the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Chief Superintendent of Police, Muyiwa Adejobi confirmed the arrest of Abiola and one of her aides; the investigative team should ensure that the fleeing suspect is also arrested.

Importantly, the Nigerian police should be alive of the sensitivity of this matter. As such, the handling of investigations, prosecution of the alleged perpetrators and justice administration must assure Nigerians that the rule of law would be fully observed; and that the Nigerian state will not tolerate the misuse of power and abuse of office, and rather, the police will protect citizens at all times.

Government has a duty to end the culture of brutality, impunity and lack of value for human rights; and free Nigerians from wanton assault and ‘terrorism’ by their superiors! Also, the need for policies to guide the use and work of orderlies, in order to curtail the assault and brutality citizens receive from some heartless principals, cannot be overemphasized, particularly in a democracy.