“The NBA is disturbed that the Nigerian Police seems to be back to the dark days of police brutality and admonish that the lessons from the #EndSARS Protest should not be lost on any individual or authority.
Members of the NBA and Nigerians are assured that the NBA is committed to justice in this matter. In the words of the NBA President, “the NBA will not only get to the root of this incident, we will uproot it and take steps to deal with anyone found culpable in every lawful way. We will ensure that this does not happen to any citizen anymore.” – YAKUBU CHONOKO MAIKYAU, SAN, President, Nigerian Bar Association.
The NBA President could not have put it better. The Nigeria Police Force has lived below public expectations. The roles and responsibilities of the Force in Nigeria today are quite the opposite as they have taken it upon themselves to be menaces in the society, extort innocent members of the society, betrayed public trust by intimidating people, using excessive force, engaging in extra-judicial killings, serially violating people’s rights, failing to investigate matters or to prosecute offenders etc.
The Police brazenly trample on and abuse the right of the people with impunity while the rule of law is thrown to the dogs. They unleash injustice on innocent poor and law-abiding citizens of this country without resistance and woe betide you if you dare challenge them. The Police embark on these unconstitutional acts even though people are entitled to be protected by the police and respect for their fundamental rights as guaranteed by the highest law of the land. Sadly, some police officers make it a duty to deprive citizens of their rights.
Officers of the Nigeria police routinely mount road-blocks supposedly in the name of fighting crime or apprehending offenders. In reality they do very little of the stated objectives for setting up the roadblocks. The unconvertible evidence that the roadblocks are extortion centers when hapless road users are routinely subjected to harassment, intimidation, unlawful arrests, confiscation of their properties, violation of their privacy particularly when the police carry out unauthorised searches of their phones, laptops, bags, persons etc without probable cause, humiliating profiling etc. Many have also lost their lives for refusing to pay a bribe. These policemen are sometimes improperly dressed, wearing slippers, sometimes in mufti and even when in uniform they remove their name tags and service numbers from their uniforms.
It matters little to these self-professed “friends” that they inflict hardship on people, impede free-flow of traffic, harassing road users and most times rely on flimsy excuses to extort money from them. It is very easy to be framed for a non-existent offence at these road-blocks or check-points. You may even be arrested and detained for questioning them. Their mere presence, induce fear and a feeling of imminent danger as they are usually dressed to resemble thugs and hooligans. They are never friendly and seem to dress to ensure you get the message that they are not your friends. Instead of evoking a feeling of friendliness, trust and safety, they evoke a feeling of hostility and danger. These challenges have been acknowledged by successive Police leaderships and governments. All promises of reforming the Police to address these challenges have not yielded much positive results. The problems rather appear to have become hydra-headed and malignant.
These unlawful acts cost the life or Mrs Mobolanle Raheem and many others. Unless addressed, many innocent lives may still be lost.
Absence of rule of law leads to violations of human rights. The Police can only be our friends when they recognize that in carrying out its policing, certain lines cannot be crossed and that their operations must be in accordance with laws. The supremacy of laws with help in building strong institutions, foster unity, engender peace, eliminate arbitrariness, enthrone transparency, accountability in government and build trust between the Police and the citizens. It will in turn advance the timely, effective and transparent dispensation of justice, strengthen access to justice, strengthen the fight against corruption, reduce impunity and enhance civil society and public engagement in the fight against corruption, impunity, abuse of power etc and drive the justice reform process.
We need a Police Force whose personnel are indeed our friends without resort to slogans insisting that they are our friends. Their actions should leave no one in doubt that they are our friends. Like all other executive functionaries and armed services, they ought to abide by the terms of the laws which set them up as well as regulate their actions. They should discontinue acting in manners which are not encouraged in all decent societies. Acting in accordance with due process of law and international bets practices, must be a second nature to them. As an institution it must eschew all actions that are unconstitutional, illegal, unlawful or infringe on the rights of individuals.
May the soul of Mobolanle Raheem who was viciously mowed down by a Policeman on Christmas Day (25/12/22), find eternal rest in the bosom of Almighty God.
