Chidi Obineche
The burst of insensate frenetic anger and bloodbath in Nigeria today may have propped up new creatures of pawn on the sacrificial dais. The Inspector General of Police IGP, Ibrahim Idris is caught deep in the bug as a chess piece in the mindless orgy. He is rocked and rolled by his employers and the people.
As blood flowed freely, he was directed to relocate to the red- hot theatre. Harried, cowered and harangued from all sides, he is finding his steps wobbling, his lips stuttering, and his mind wet as a fish. He is as they say the soul of chess being killed to save the king. He is not only creating the sketch for the whole painting, he is exposed to attack and saddled with the unpleasant duty of carrying the can as the face of security in Nigeria.
But as the singer, Bob Dylan observed “In ceremonies of the horsemen, even the pawn must hold a grudge.” And that is if that makes sense when loyalty is hard to find. If your king is under attack, you can’t be bothered about losing a pawn on the queen’s side. He may for all he cares lap it up, mindless of Charles Buxton’s dictum that “in life, as in chess, forethought wins.” And this makes no consideration for the Senate’s marching orders to fish out the killers in 14 days.
In the end, he would end up playing checkers in a dead chess game. Checkmate ends the game. Idris, a well heeled spy magnet will always shoot a strong piece. He understands the texture and colour of the game. He knows the Italian proverb that “at the end of the game, pawns and kings go back into the same box” He knows the loop on which he is held to squash the cosmic game.
And he dredges up guts to fire back: “We are very optimistic of making good progress even before 14 days.” Goodbye to the dance of the aquaria. No more the thud of the jack boots, the whiz of the khaki propelled heavy arsenals of war, the use of the sledge hammer to kill an ant. This is the moment of hide and seek, the call of the brass when iron will do. This is the moment to dine with a cop. After all, a policeman is a peacetime soldier always at war.
He can shoot at the spider- man and the spider-man will either get nicked or have great fun. The IGP is aware that a society that relegates the police must learn to make friends with its criminals. For all that is clear, Idris merely stands in the gap. He is on a race to the breaking point; on a leash bigger than himself and which by contemporary Nigerian definition outweighs his call. He is the sheepdog who lives to protect the flock and confront the wolf.
Today, he is primed to walk the hero’s path, walking into the sphere of darkness. He is on a dead run from behind the garage. He will walk among the sheep and keep the bad ones at bay. He will spell- walk and stare back at the wolf. But will he make them feel the heat? In their calculations, sometimes a wolf may lead a sheep and at other times victory in war is determined by grace. Just as a fur may be for décor, not every fight is a gun- fight. Odds are that the tough talking cop may do the job in 14 days and say farewell to the cannibal rage. This is the bone left for him to chew. To crush it or crack it will either get him more on the track or in bed.
He was born on January 15,1959 in Kutigi, Lavun in Niger State. He became the Inspector General of Police on June 21, 2016. He enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force, NPF in 1984, after graduating from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria with a Bachelors degree in Agriculture. He also holds a degree in Law from the University of Maiduguri. Apart from his formal education, he had also attended numerous other courses and training in Nigeria and overseas and equally taken part in several peace keeping missions in many countries of the world.