There was no limit to what i could see in those days. Growing up in the military Barracks exposed me to an array of events which as a child were accepted as normal. An example is the public execution of criminals.

It was the days of the military rule where a fire arm tribunal was introduced to cater for every crime involving armed robbery and murder. I remember how convicted criminals were conveyed with the "Black-maria" to the Barracks. And how they were tied to the stake and shot to shred. Apart from the horrific scenes of how bullets were used to scramble the body of humans, the aftermath where Blood-bathed corps were transported on the back of a truck en route to the cemetery was more impacting.

Although i witnessed their last days, but what exactly they did to deserve condemnation from a society that holds life to an esteem was elusive. What i knew was that, they were simply thieves. But as the years went by, i became conscious of the actual did that warrant the death penalty. Although, i lived in a military Barracks that shielded me from any direct encounter, the days of a dreaded armed gang came where i was privilege to hear on news their activities. After several years of impunity, they were eventually smashed with the lives of at least fifty people taken in the course of their criminal campaign. The reason became clear when it was their turn to be tied to the stake.

It seemed like crime control was more effective in those days because the complexity that is the practice of today is outrageous. I do not know where to start from. Cultism is on the rampant. Its tentacles are dispersed into Drug trafficking, Female trafficking, Armed robbery, Assassination, Murder and a lot more. Teenage gangs are diffused so that you wake up in the morning to find corps on the streets. Military-like armed robbers numbering hundreds are a nightmare that routinely besiege banks defiling the ill-equip police force.

The patronage by politicians have complicated the situation. Criminals can hide behind a sincere agitations of the deprived to engage in kidnapping, oil bunkers, Bank robbery, Political thuggery, Assassination, and a lot. When caught, the culprits becomes heroes. To a large extent, their political connections screens them from arrest. Some may even summon some verses in their religion book to back the reason for raising arms against a harmless man. From north to south, west to east, are all sorts of discriminatory criminal groups .

The crime situation is fortified by a rather group of people that claim to have supernatural powers. They are Native doctors, Ma lams, prophets. They are the courage behind every crime in the society. That an armed robber will take the risk of engaging in a robbery, is because he is given a charm that has made him a superman. A politician cannot contest an election without having one by his side. With 10kg of cocaine, you can beat security at the airport. On the door of your house, is the possibility of a robbers-repellent.

Today, the police is making use of the tool of routine execution of those caught in the act. But the present situation is the result of its illicit activities where simple surveillance cannot be used. Only those who could not pay are left behind bars. That an individual can order the police to arrest a chief security officer of a state-even though the constitution guarantees his immunity-is unheard of. The judiciary is either too slow or ineffective. And the present situation drags me back to those days when policemen were charged with conspiracy and publicly executed with criminals. At this extreme situation, extreme measures must be adopted. When law and order is established, civility may be adopted.