₦airaland Forum

In 1986, he was a celebrated Police PRO for Lagos, 10 years later, Alozie Ogugbuaja was living in abject poverty. What was his sin?

As the powerful Public Relations Officer for the Lagos State Police Command, super cop, Alozie Ogugbuaja was a man whose star shone brightly, that everyone thought the sky was the limit for him in his career.

Then, one morning in 1986, Alozie shocked his superiors when he went to the Justice Mustafa Akanbi panel probing students disturbances in the country and spoke about what he thought was the plights of the pølice, the army and the country.

He declared that the police was incapable of protecting the citizens because it was ïll-equiped and the men poorly motivated. And for the army, he described them as indolent, self-serving, and an idle bunch whose major past time was in guzzling palmwine, beer, "pepper soup" and planning coups. That "pepper soup" theory made the government and the police uncomfortable.

Alozie was promptly suspended from the force and later transferred to Calabar. The charge against him was no longer about his testimony at the panel but an alleged illicït affair with a female youth corps member posted to his office.

But the press and the public knew the real story. Many saw it as an "attempt to silence an honest and forthright public officer."

Again in 1987, the brilliant graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka reportedly did a memo calling on the police authority to establish a Nigeria Police Union. He lost his job in 1988.

By 1996, Alozie had lost everything. He was poor and started living in a dingy hotel room in Lagos giving to him by a friend who he once helped while he was in the force. He was also living on support from his former colleagues.

Despite his challenge at the time, Alozie still believed he "spoke the truth and nothing but the truth. The system I spoke against is still in place in the country today. Are the police better equipped today?"

Currently, his whereabouts are not really known. However, his last known location was said to be Aba where he was said to be engaged in petty businesses.

ℹ️Ethnic African Stories

Many Nigerians would still remember Alozie Ogugbuaja, a former superintendent of Police of the pepper soup theory fame. In the mid 1980s, Alozie Ogugbuaja, then a Police Public Relations Officer in Nigeria, upset his superiors when he publicly stated that coup plotting was often the outcome of boredom in the barracks.

Ogugbuaja argued that idle soldiers who spend much of their time eating pepper-soup and drinking alcohol were responsible for plotting coups.

However, in that famed testimony before the Justice Mustapha Akanbi Tribunal probing students riots in Nigeria, in 1986, Alozie Ogugbuaja had, in a two-hour submission, drawn attention to the plight of the junior police officers in the Force and more.

He pointed out that the Nigerian Police officers were a neglected lot. And perhaps the Federal Military Government was deliberately starving the Nigerian Police of funds because it is not in the military's interest to have a well funded developed police Force. The nation ignored.

Again in 1987, he did a memo calling on the police authority to establish a Nigeria Police Union. Again, it remained ignored. There was a time it was a taboo to even mention police problems. This was during the military empire. The police leadership called him a liar. They claimed that Nigerian police officers were one of the highest paid and happiest humans in the world. He was vilified and crucified. Suspended from the Police Force and eventually sacked.

Like clockwork, on 22nd April 1990 Gideon Orkar mounted a near successful coup against the incumbent IBB. The pepper soup theorist was vindicated on that day

Racoon:
Igbos are always bold [/i]

Pootle:
he was unwise,

this were 48laws of power comes in handy

nairalanda1:
And he turned it into a tribalist thing at the end of the day.

That's why I don't like Nairaland. Any post about a brave Nigerian, becomes a tribal thing at the end of the day.

Sigh.

cyrusmillz:
Sorry that the people you fought for are spineless cowards. This country does not celebrate Heroes . Instead it rewards criminals, in the highest form possible.
From president
To VP
To chief of staff
To former VP
To former Governors. All are criminals and evil bunch.

nairalanda1:
And he turned it into a tribalist thing at the end of the day.

That's why I don't like Nairaland. Any post about a brave Nigerian, becomes a tribal thing at the end of the day.

Sigh.

Iceberg3:
I'm tempted but you are hardly seen or heard when we see yoruba lagba everywhere

Pootle:
he was unwise,

this were 48laws of power comes in handy.

law 38 give a perfect response to his case.

nairalanda1:
You are free to believe whatever you want to believe of me, but as far as I am concerned any yourba person doing the same is also a bigot.

Like I said, I don't like Nairaland because many achievements of Nigerians are turned into tribal things.

But like I said, you are free to believe what you like. I have no dog in the fight, as I am neither yourba or igbo, or even hausa fulani self.

TEYA:
Some of you are always quick to quote the stupïd 48 Laws of Power when something sensible is posted. A book that even the author is ashamed of. Mstchew

nairalanda1:
And he turned it into a tribalist thing at the end of the day.

That's why I don't like Nairaland. Any post about a brave Nigerian, becomes a tribal thing at the end of the day.

Sigh.

nairalanda1:
(Imma going to be controlversial here)

The only way to properly fund the police is to change the way our economy is run, and to widen the tax base.

Kobicove:
I remember this guy, at some point during his travails someone threw a hand grenade under his car, luckily for him it did not go off

TEYA:
Some of you are always quick to quote the stupïd 48 Laws of Power when something sensible is posted. A book that even the author is ashamed of. Mstchew

Pootle:
he was unwise,

this were 48laws of power comes in handy.

law 38 give a perfect response to his case.

Iceberg3:
I'm tempted but you are hardly seen or heard when we see yoruba lagba everywhere

Pootle:
he was unwise,

this were 48laws of power comes in handy.

law 38 give a perfect response to his case.

owobokiri:
He was a Police Officer whose duty is to take actions and initiatives to safeguard the people.
He was not a politician angling for power, so I don't know where your socalled "47 Laws" come in here..

Some times, in order to rescue the society, you have to speak truth to power.
That's the way it works.
You just don't have to be treacherously and cunningly involved in acts that only further your personal quest.

Racoon:
Igbos are always bold @speaking the truth to power.Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe confront Babangida on the OIC issue before resigning from military in the late 1980s. Then R.Adr Ndubuisi Kanu also told Abacha the solemn truth on the June 12 crisis

Well, it's better to loose everything and die in truth than to live in lies and die shamefully at the end all is vanity This is because "conscience is an open wound only truth can heal it." Meanwhile; "If you stand by the truth, you will stand alone" - Lucky Dube.