Inspector-General of Police Tunji Disu has recounted a striking encounter from his earlier years as a Divisional Police Officer, describing how a retired soldier demanded that officers kill his own son after the young man was arrested for cultism. 

The IGP shared the story during the National Youth Leadership and Security Dialogue in Abuja, an event organised to mark International Youth Day and focused on youth responsibility, security and the rejection of violence.

The incident took place years ago in Ago Iwoye, Ogun State. The father, a retired soldier, arrived at the police station after learning his university-student son had been detained on cultism charges.

He asked where the boy was. When told the young man was in custody, the father replied that this was good. He then made a blunt demand: the police should kill him. He insisted the son should not return home.

The retired soldier remained in the office from morning until late in the day, repeating the request. Disu eventually told him the police would handle the matter and asked him to go home.

The following morning, very early, the same man began calling. He had brought food for his son and wanted to see him.

Disu delayed the meeting until the afternoon. When the father was finally admitted, he explained that he had come with a meal for the detained student.

The IGP later reflected on the contrast: what if the boy had actually been killed the previous day? That, he said, is a parent.

The story, which Disu had shared in an earlier reflection on home, discipline and duty, illustrates the complicated emotions many parents experience when a child goes astray. Anger and a desire for harsh punishment can sit alongside deep concern.

In this case the son later completed his education, married and became a father himself.

Change came not from prolonged detention but from the father’s eventual decision to support rather than abandon him.

Disu used the account to underline a broader point. Police stations receive parents who want officers to detain, discipline or even torture their children. Cells, he noted, are not rehabilitation centres. Law enforcement can enforce the law, but it cannot replace the presence, guidance and responsibility that belong first in the home.