In this piece, Dr Soyombo Ayomikun highlights the importance of psychiatric evaluation for would-be security personnel.
1. To protect us
To guard our walls
To keep our roads safe
And our streets sane
Reasons why in their hands
Rifles are placed
2. But then
We keep hearing the story
Of a policeman
Gone berserk
Of a law enforcement agent
Gone wild
3. We hear the story
Of an innocent man
Who won’t give bribe
Who won’t bow to a swindler
Being shot in a rendition of madness
From the lips
Of a supposed
Law enforcer
Making one ask-
Who gave them the guns?
4. We hear the story
Of a man
Struggling
To make ends meet
That his family
May thrive
Sadly being stopped
By a trigger-happy soul
We hear the story
Of how his wife
Right before him
Was silenced,
A saint
Murdered like a sinner
By one
Who should be bleeding
For us
Making one again ask-
Who gave them the guns?
5. All these
Call to question
The sanity
Of some of our security men
Because
Who kills a harmless
Innocent civilian
If not one
With a split mind
Who discharges his or her rifle
Without questioning
Thrice?
6. A mentally unstable
Law enforcement agent
Is definitely a murderer
Let loose
To unleash horror
On the innocent,
Is definitely
A loose cannon
That will explode
Drawing tears
From the eyes of many,
Is definitely
A preventable disaster
That shouldn’t
Have smelt the rifle…
Not in this world
Nor the next
7. So many security operatives
With anxiety disorders
With depression
With sleep disorders
Carrying guns
Daily
On our streets,
How will these
Not discharge their guns
Accidentally
How will they
Not murder a mother
Right before her family
How?
8. Without a thorough
Mental State Examination
Government should please
Not kit a soul,
We don’t want kitted monsters
Guarding us,
We don’t want serial killers
Parading our alleys
As Policemen
Or otherwise.
We have so much sorrows
In our world already
Than to be setting up a security personnel
To become another
Agent of doom!