By: Egbere E.F.
On December 27, 1983, at Oharisi Primary School in Ughelli, Delta State, six young men—members of the National Association of Seadogs (Pyrates Confraternity)—were brutally gunned down by officers of the Nigeria Police Force. They had gathered peacefully in line with their confraternity’s internal rites when the police stormed the venue and, without provocation or investigation, opened fire. No weapons were found. No justification was offered. No one was held accountable. This became known in NAS memory as the Umalokun Massacre—a senseless act of state violence that remains a scar on Nigeria’s conscience.
Forty-one years later, not much has changed.
On the 3rd of August 2025, after the 49th Konverge of the Pyrates Confraternity held in Owerri, a group of Seadogs returning from the national convocation were brazenly extorted by officers of the Nigerian Police on a highway checkpoint. The officers, fully armed and in uniform, forcefully took ₦2 million in cash from the travellers after subjecting them to threats, harassment, and intimidation. It was daylight robbery, carried out under the colour of law.
These two incidents—separated by decades—tell the same story. A story of how the Nigerian Police Force continues to harass, extort, and violate the rights of Nigerians, even those who have devoted their lives to the pursuit of justice, humanism, and service.
From Bloodshed to Extortion: Same Rot, Different Face
The Umalokun Six—Teddy Omakor, Princely Otaye, Aghogho Sobotie, Victor Oyailo, Joseph Uloho, and Bernard Obi—were murdered in cold blood. Their only “crime” was being part of an organisation that dared to think differently, speak out against tyranny, and uphold a higher standard of integrity. In 1983, the police were armed tools of military dictatorship. In 2025, under a democratic government, they remain unrepentant predators on the Nigerian roadways.
It is no coincidence that the victims of police violence and extortion often belong to groups and communities that represent dissent, reform, or social conscience. The Pyrates Confraternity, since its founding in 1952, has been a thorn in the side of oppression and injustice. Its members are often educators, lawyers, doctors, artists, and activists. That such a group continues to be targeted by the very institution sworn to protect Nigerians is a telling reflection of our national dysfunction.
A Dangerous Normal
What makes the recent extortion all the more troubling is that it is not unique. Every day, Nigerian citizens are subjected to illegal searches, threats, unlawful detention, and extortion by the police. The difference in this case is that the victims belong to a group with the social capital and organisational structure to speak out—and that fact alone is why any action is being considered. It reinforces the uncomfortable truth: in Nigeria, justice is still a matter of who you are.
When members of the NAS began to raise alarm over the incident, some citizens questioned why this particular case should receive attention. The answer lies in history: when we fail to connect the present to the past, we allow the cycle of impunity to continue unbroken. Umalokun was not an isolated tragedy—it was part of a pattern. The same pattern that played out on that highway in 2025.
We Remember. We Resist. We Refuse to Be Silent.
As the National Association of Seadogs commemorates the martyrs of Umalokun every year, it does so not as an act of mourning alone, but as an assertion of continuity. The values for which those young men died—justice, discipline, fair play, and the rejection of oppression—remain central to NAS identity. And in honouring them, we also shine a light on those still suffering under the weight of state impunity today.
It is not enough to remember the dead—we must also defend the living.
The Nigeria Police Force must be reformed, not with empty rhetoric, but with accountability. Officers who abuse their authority must be prosecuted. Victims must be compensated. And most of all, the culture of fear and silence must be broken.
From Umalokun to the highway, the Pyrates Confraternity has not wavered in its stand for justice. The blood of our martyrs calls not for revenge, but for a society where such sacrifices are never required again.
