OMOTAYO, J. A.    Lagos, NIGERIA    May 14, 2012

There is nothing wrong praising an officer or an individual for a positive contribution to the society. What is wrong lies in distorting history to suit the salient objectived of misleading the populace for parochial and or pecuniary interest. The IG has done a good job on the dismantling of road blocks. But he was not the first to make such an attempt.

During Mr. Ibrahim Babangida's regime, road blocks were dismantled all over the federation after a police officer on duty at a check point gunned down an army officer in mufti. During the late Mr. Sani Abacha era, police road blocks were dismantled nationwide just as the federal police patrol teams were launched.

In fact, the patrol teams had no specific locations, took no bribe from motorists, and would beat up and arrest all other police officers mounting illegal check points. During Mr. Obasanjo's civilian administration, the issue resurfaced and road blocks were similarly dismantled, I think, twice.

The point here is that the dismantling of police check points is not new. The IG has not performed a feat until he is able to sustain it throughout his administration. All others before him were unable to sustain the tempo. Let the IG make the sustainability of the policy his challenge during and after his tenure. God save Nigeria.