Nigeria, Sept. 23 -- There are moments when a country loses more than a person; it loses a compass. The passing of Dr Solomon E Arase on 31 August felt like that - an abrupt dimming of a steady light that had, for years, shown what policing in Nigeria could be if guided by principle, civility, and courage. He did not simply occupy offices; he dignified them. From the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department to his years as Principal Staff Officer to IGP Sunday Ehindero, to his own tenure as Inspector-General of Police and later as Chairman of the Police Service Commission, the constant was a quiet insistence that policing is a public trust and that trust is earned by fairness practised, not proclaimed.

What distinguished...