Comment objectively please.

@OP

what do you think?

Nigeria cannot be characterized as police state right now, even though it was dangerously approaching one during the military years of Abacha.
@OP, what prompts this question?

No, the people are allow to transact and negotiate their opinion and make choices relating to their government.

Nigeria is not a police state, in fact we couldn't be farther away from being or becoming one; you need a super autocratic and efficient intelligence service to create street level networks that allow neighbour to spy on neighbour and the intelligence services to spy on everyone. Nigeria is far from that, as crude as Buhari and Abacha were in their times, we never came close.

However, the average Nigerian is traumatised and terrorised by the structure of govt and its intruments. The man on the street is alienated from the state and many, like the area boys in Lagos and the almajiri's of the North are totally divorced off any affilation to the state; they simply exist to scrounge for food.
The life of the man on the street is little better, there is little sense of belonging and until the recent airlifts of Nigerians from troublespots (Libya, Egypt etc), there have been no gestures from the FG in the past that appretiated Nigerian lives as worth anything.

The symtoms of our societal trauma are everywhere.
A poor man can be slapped in the streets in the presence of his wife, by someone who is wealthier or in the army. The perpetrators strangely feel a mobid sense of satisfaction for acts that would see them jailed or have them referred for mental health checks in saner countries. There is an absolute lack of love anywhere you look, every journey is spiced up with unwanted primitive interjections through your car window, "do you know who I am? do you know I can jail your family?"

It is arguable that the trauma in our streets is due to our years of wretched military govts. Govts that frog-jumped fathers and mothers in the streets, jailed pressmen, burnt down newspaper offices and shot their way into office. The real problem with Nigeria is our national framework, we have got to rebuild slowly and diligently. More than anything, we need to chuck out the useless constitution that was handed down by the army. It was designed with exploitation in mind, to always keep the generals in power and their bellies full on the backs of the common man.

why the topic, is it in relation to the coats of arms?

LOL. Can you have a Police State without a Police Force? Can a Police State have the "Head Quarters of the Police Force" bombed? Do you know what a "Police State" means?

No - Its a mafia state with jungle justice to back it up.

Nigeria don't even have an educated police man on their streets talk less of being a police state monkey people

Beaf:

Nigeria is not a police state, in fact we couldn't be farther away from being or becoming one; you need a super autocratic and efficient intelligence service to create street level networks that allow neighbour to spy on neighbour and the intelligence services to spy on everyone. Nigeria is far from that, as crude as Buhari and Abacha were in their times, we never came close.

However, the average Nigerian is traumatised and terrorised by the structure of govt and its intruments. The man on the street is alienated from the state and many, like the area boys in Lagos and the almajiri's of the North are totally divorced off any affilation to the state; they simply exist to scrounge for food.
The life of the man on the street is little better, there is little sense of belonging and until the recent airlifts of Nigerians from troublespots (Libya, Egypt etc), there have been no gestures from the FG in the past that appretiated Nigerian lives as worth anything.

The symtoms of our societal trauma are everywhere.
A poor man can be slapped in the streets in the presence of his wife, by someone who is wealthier or in the army. The perpetrators strangely feel a mobid sense of satisfaction for acts that would see them jailed or have them referred for mental health checks in saner countries. There is an absolute lack of love anywhere you look, every journey is spiced up with unwanted primitive interjections through your car window, "do you know who I am? do you know I can jail your family?"

It is arguable that the trauma in our streets is due to our years of wretched military govts. Govts that frog-jumped fathers and mothers in the streets, jailed pressmen, burnt down newspaper offices and shot their way into office. The real problem with Nigeria is our national framework, we have got to rebuild slowly and diligently. More than anything, we need to chuck out the useless constitution that was handed down by the army. It was designed with exploitation in mind, to always keep the generals in power and their bellies full on the backs of the common man.

Sometimes you make a lot of sense and sometimes I just feel like wringing your neck!
If we know all these things and we know this is not how things are in "saner" societies, why are our leaders so comfortable with the status quo.

Aigbofa:

Sometimes you make a lot of sense and sometimes I just feel like wringing your neck!
If we know all these things and we know this is not how things are in "saner" societies, why are our leaders so comfortable with the status quo.

Lol! Dude, I'm well built and above 6ft tall and I always imagine you to be quite short, potbellied and thin-legged with a scraggly beard. . . You still wanna wring my neck?

On a serious note bruv, where Nigerians get it wrong is in the vehimence with which the ordinary man battles his peers. They only have to be Muslim, while he is Christian; ND, while the "enemy" is an equally downtrodden Hausa almajiri; Yoruba, while the other is Igbo. . .
Sometimes we are saying the same things, but missing the kernel of the others opinion, because we sit on "different sides of the fence." yeah, even though we suffer the same issues.

IMHO, we've got to start somewhere, even though the first steps are shaky and tentative. If we can manage to overcome our illusory boundaries and keep the national foot pointed in the direction of progress with every step, then we will reap success. The only way for the person on the street to overcome their illusory boundaries is by total cultural reorientation, as well intensive work to forge a viable citizen-state contract that will give every woman, man and child a sense of belonging and worth; a viable citizen-state contract can only be achieved by upending our current uselesss constitution. We need radical changes.

The trick we are missing is a vehicle for the total cultural reorientation of the citizenry. Chairman Mao did it for the Chinese, but his methods are not applicable to Nigeria and they were barbaric anyway.

Lol! I guess I'm derailling this topic. Apologies to the OP.

E_force:

No - Its a mafia state with jungle justice to back it up.

classic

Beaf:

The symtoms of our societal trauma are everywhere.
A poor man can be slapped in the streets in the presence of his wife, by someone who is wealthier or in the army. The perpetrators strangely feel a mobid sense of satisfaction for acts that would see them jailed or have them referred for mental health checks in saner countries. There is an absolute lack of love anywhere you look, every journey is spiced up with unwanted primitive interjections through your car window, [i[b]]"do you know who I am? do you know I can jail your family?"[/i][/b]

lol. this is funny and not funny at the same time. it is sad.

On a serious note bruv, where Nigerians get it wrong is in the vehimence with which the ordinary man battles his peers. They only have to be Muslim, while he is Christian; ND, while the "enemy" is an equally downtrodden Hausa almajiri; Yoruba, while the other is Igbo. . .
Sometimes we are saying the same things, but missing the kernel of the others opinion, because we sit on "different sides of the fence." yeah, even though we suffer the same issues.

@beaf,
hunger, hatred, wickedness and bitterness are the weapons of the federal govt against the masses knowing too well that unity among us will set their a* s* s on fire.
imagine jonathan sharing biscuits to the masses. imagine boko haram killing fellow nigerians, imagine kidnappers abducting people at will and with ease, imagine this, imagine that.
abacha had to skillfully sued nigerians for his 2 million man match. look at how skillful jonathan was about accusing Chief raymond dokpesi as the master minder of october 1, abuja bombing with the only option for the famous chief to join jonathan's camp and avoid the wrath of the federal govt. all these are tools in the hands of the FG whose crime against the masses are uncountable.
i can't imagine a normal nigerian asking if a lawless society is a police state. well, since this forum has no age bracket, the original poster could be a breast feeding baby hence i answer you - NO, IT IS NOT. if there is anything nigeria is, it is a corruption state.
it is only in nigeria that politicians come first before anybody. it is only in nigeria that those who pretended to be public servants turn themselves into gods.

do you know who i am? i can jail your whole family that is classic

No,it isnt.

Good job Beaf.

cabal state perhaps?

Police ko, Police ni!!!