The Commissioner of Police in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), CP Tunji Disu, has shared a startling experience of how a retired soldier once demanded the police kill his own son, who was arrested for cultism.......CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE>>>>>
Naija News reports that Disu disclosed this in a post on his official X account on Monday, in a piece titled, “The First Lawmakers: My Reflection on Home, Discipline, and Duty.”
According to Disu, the retired soldier stormed his office in Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, furious over his son’s involvement in cultism and insisted that the police should execute him. However, just a day later, the same man returned with food, inquiring about his son’s well-being.
“When I joked, ‘So you don’t want us to kill him again?’ his eyes betrayed a truth every parent knows: anger is often the flipside of helpless love,” Disu wrote.
Years later, Disu ran into the soldier’s son in Shagamu, where he had successfully completed his education and gotten married.
Parents Outsourcing Discipline to the Police
Disu reflected on his experience as a police officer, revealing how many parents approach the police station, not to seek justice but to request discipline for their children.
“Parents arrive at stations, not with pleas for justice, but with demands for us to parent for them. ‘I want you to detain my child; I want you to discipline him.’ ‘Torture him,’ as though pain alone could rewrite a life long gone astray,” he stated.
He recounted another case where a father insisted that his drug-addicted son be locked up for weeks. However, the police refused, explaining that cells are not rehabilitation centres.
“If anything were to happen to the boy, or if he escaped, who would the father blame? The police. Yet discipline cannot be outsourced. It must be nurtured, patiently and persistently, at home.”
Disu emphasized that the real issue today is not a lack of discipline, but a lack of parental presence.
The Police boss said: “Parents once corrected their children directly, even if harshly. Some have handed that duty to strangers—teachers, police, and social workers. But no institution can replace a parent’s guidance.”
He made it clear that while the police are there to enforce the law, they cannot replace parents in raising children.
“If your son steals or your daughter vanishes, come to us. We will help. But do not confuse reporting with surrendering. When you hand us your child and say, ‘Fix them,’ you misunderstand our role. We enforce laws; we cannot replace love. We investigate crimes; we cannot teach values,” he said.
Disu highlighted that the retired soldier’s son changed not because he was jailed, but because his father chose to support him rather than abandon him.
He called on parents to take responsibility for raising their children rather than relying on institutions.
Disu said: “The police cannot replace your voice. We cannot instil the values you withhold. Our cells are not classrooms; handcuffs are not teaching tools. When you outsource parenting to the state, you gamble with life—and with the peace of communities.”
Urging parents to be more present, he concluded: “My generation’s parents were far from perfect, but they owned their role as first teachers. They scolded, they punished, and they stayed. I urge present parents to do the same—not with the harshness of the past, but with the wisdom of your own heart. Meet your children where they are. Listen. Correct and love.”
