Signals from the police suggesting a clampdown on policemen and officers who use their uniform and official weapons to commit crime are significant and could not have come at a better time. The police force exists to ensure law and order as well as to protect citizens and their property. Where policemen misuse their position against the very people they are supposed to protect, it signposts a very grave situation that should never be tolerated, as such can lead to anarchy.

It is reported that apart from general indiscipline and lack of ethics afflicting the police force, some police officers engage in outright criminality, including robbery. The Command’s Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Anthony Okon Placid, recently flagged an incident that took place in Rivers State, where 11 police officers were linked to a series of armed robberies in which victims were forced at gunpoint to transfer funds from bank accounts and cryptocurrency wallets, to the tune of N19.7 million.

Giving the details, DCP Placid said on November 3, 2025, a victim identified as Festus was stopped on Igbo Etche Road, Port Harcourt, by six officers armed with AK-47 rifles. Finding nothing incriminating on him, the policemen nonetheless abducted and assaulted their victim, stole his phones and forced him to transfer N4.5 million from his OPay account and the naira equivalent of $1,742 from his cryptocurrency wallet.

According to the Police spokesman, some of the officers were dismissed and others were declared wanted. The official sanctions should not end there. They should be prosecuted for robbing citizens while in possession of arms. Those declared wanted must be fished out for sanction too, as a strong statement the authorities need to make deliberately, to sanitise the Force.

The Police described the criminal operations of the policemen as “a grave betrayal of the trust placed in them by the people of Rivers State.” That cannot be overemphasised. Indeed, it is not just the height of betrayal; it is the height of perfidy for officers to turn their guns on taxpayers whom they swore an oath to protect. It is worse that this criminality is not a one-off malaise, but a systemic and calculated practice in the force. The Police action denouncing the illegal operation is what is expected of self-respecting police.

In February 2026, in Benin City, Edo State, the State Police Command arrested six serving rogue police officers and four civilian accomplices (including a POS operator and commercial drivers) for operating an abduction and extortion syndicate around the Teboga axis of Aduwawa. They reportedly forced their victims into vehicles to empty their bank accounts in forced POS withdrawals. The crackdown was led by the State Police Commissioner, Monday Agbonika, following victims’ repeated outcries. Again, beyond orderly room trials, the Police should prosecute the officers along with their civilian accomplices for armed robbery or other appropriate crime, apart from sacking them.

It is outrageous that instances of criminality now pervade the Force. The stories told by victims in the hands of policemen are heartrending. Sincere and wholesale reforms should be carried out to rid the Force of undesirable elements. The reforms should go beyond what individual IGs propose. It must include all segments of society, particularly those in law enforcement.

Every Inspector General of Police (IGP) comes on board with an agenda, ostensibly to reform the Police. But the integrity of the force depreciates at the end of each IGP’s tenure, mocking efforts and resources deployed to cause a change. That points to shallow reforms with no impact; more of platitudes mouthed by exuberant, newly appointed IGPs. What Nigeria need are reforms that change the behaviour of law enforcers, particularly, the rank and file. Nigerians do not need police who steal and rob citizens, instead of protecting them.

Notably, President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda contains a proposal for a robust and well-laid-out plan for the Police. It includes transitioning the Force into a world-class, intelligence-led, and citizen-centric service by aggressively upgrading training, technology, infrastructure and personnel welfare.

It is not cheering that three years into the Tinubu administration, the force still harbours criminals. The promises should not be merely documented; they should be backed by the political will and commitment to deliver. The federal government should carry out sincere and wholesale reforms to redeem the battered image of the Force. The Police are the first contact in law enforcement in the country. Criminals should not be carrying guns in an official capacity.

Former Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, was voluble on the reforms he intended for the Police. He promised to deploy technology and intelligence to pursue crime. He suggested there would be fewer boots hiding in corners to waylay unsuspecting citizens. Egbetokun promised specialised training to modernise the Force Criminal Database System and initiate quarterly ethics and professionalism training. Unfortunately, Egbetokun left behind a Police citizens can’t trust.

Inspector General of Police Tunji Disu has promised zero tolerance for impunity in the Police Force. He warned that no officer is above the law, regardless of rank. He should pursue his reform agenda with sincerity of purpose. There should be transparency in Police oversight bodies where public complaints are lodged. Let there be accountability in the management of corruption and misconduct in the Force.

In February 2025, the Senate began a probe into the disappearance of 3,907 firearms, including pistols and rifles, from Police formations across the country. In addition, there was the historical audit query of 178,459 weapons, including 88,078 AK47s, found missing from Police inventory. The probe was instigated by a 2019 Auditor-General’s Report. That is the extent of the lack of accountability in the Force. The situation propels criminality. Nigerians demand that the guns be accounted for.

The Police are reminded that the #EndSARS revolution of October 2020 was a response by Nigerian youths to the impunity, lack of trust and accountability in the Force. The Police can avert another revolution by sticking to the rules of the game. The duplication of IGP’s Special Forces and the impunity with which they operate, sometimes extra-judicially, must cease. Let there be accountability at every level of the Force. Let policing be available to all citizens, not just the elite and the political class.

Nigerians deserve a civilised policing that respects and protects them. Let the Force provide for the welfare of their men. But those who misuse their guns to rob citizens must face the full wrath of the law.