The report in the media that a suspected sponsor of the irresponsible organization known as Boko Haram, Alhaji Buji Foi, was summarily executed by the Police on Friday, the 31st of July, 2009 after he had been arrested and driven to the Police Headquarters in Maiduguri is a scary and embarrassing act of reckless extra-judicial killing that must be investigated until the animals responsible for it are fished out and dealt with promptly according to law. The killers of Foi do not belong in a decent society of rational people. That we licensed such maniacs to bear arms in the first place shows how careless we are as a people and how dangerous our security agencies are. How can anyone in his or her right senses kill a suspect who has been arrested in cold blood?
There is no doubt that Boko Haram has to be extirpated with as much force as the State can muster and I admit that there can be no kid gloves for the patently illegal and maniacal organization that wreaked death, and mayhem on peaceful and defenceless persons in the guise of religion. But then even in war there are acceptable and unacceptable conducts laid down in municipal and international Bills that the cold murder of Foi grisly violated. The Federal Government has to set up as a matter of urgency a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to probe this illegal and heinous incident. We cannot permit cold-blood murder in the guise of dealing with murderers like members of the sect. It is not an exaggeration to insist that the way and manner Foi was killed is similar to the irrational activities of the sect in all material particular. How are we to know if truly Foi was a sponsor or just a political opponent of some powers that be? How has his killing after
arrest helped our intelligence of the causes of the ‘religious’ madness?
Extra judicial killing is evil, irrational and unacceptable. It is of no moment that its victims are vermin that we would wish to be rid of. We must learn to do things according to law otherwise no one can feel safe in this country anymore. Of course no rational being can justify the activities of the beasts in Boko Haram, or not be pained by lives that were lost as a result, but we have to demonstrate that the State is above the animals. That has not been done with the way Foi was murdered. The government must act now. The other matter is that it was the inefficiency of the State that made it possible for Boko Haram to amass such a huge armoury undetected. I do not see how the SSS, Police and the Armed Forces can escape blame for sleeping on duty while the maniacs stockpile arms to inflict confusion on the country. Rather than accept blame for this inefficiency what we see is unacceptable cold-blood murder. I like to raise my voice to the highest pitch possible that I do not want to live in a country where the Police can kill anyhow.
If Foi had been killed in the heat of battle, of course, no one would have raised any question. The Police must polish its image by handing over the criminals who pulled the trigger on Alhaji Foi as quickly as possible.
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