The Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) has called on the national assembly to pass the Police Reform Bill pending before it in order to provide a legal framework to drive Police reform in Nigeria.
The National Coordinator of the group, Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma who made this call during a press briefing in Lagos on Thursday said that the call had become imperative as the bill addressed many of the problems highlighted and made provisions to address them.
Nwanguma advised that the police and the executive should work with the national assembly to ensure the quick passage of the bill before the end of the current legislative calendar even as he charged the civil societies and the media to lead the charge in pushing for the passage of the bill.
“The President should assent to the bill when passed, as evidence of genuine commitment to police reform”, he said.
He recalled that the BBC Media Action held a Town Hall Meeting in Lagos on Saturday, March 23, 2019 on the Nigeria Police Reform Bill saying that a cross section of Nigerians made up the audience and that there was a panel to discuss the subject.
He added that the meeting started with many participants narrating chilling accounts of their horrendous experience with officers of the Nigeria Police Force.
The stories, according to the NOPRIN boss, ranged from illegal stop and search operations which targeted mainly young people who were profiled, harassed and subjected to illegal and intrusive bodily searches- including unauthorised search on their personal items like phones, wallets, laptop and laptop bags, among others based on unfounded allegations that they were ‘Yahoo Yahoo’, cultists, kidnappers, prostitutes, among other criminalities.
He added,” We also heard of cases of what appeared more like abduction of people by police officers. When police officers fail to identify or introduce themselves as police officers and simply order people into their vehicles; how do you then distinguish police officers from kidnappers? Anti-Cultism Officers engaging in raids and indiscriminate arrest and detention of young men in the pretext of clamping down on cultism only to end up extorting money and in some cases arraigning innocent people in court on unfounded, malicious charges, for not cooperating by paying bribe for their freedom.
“Before this Town Hall, NOPRIN has been documenting reports from various states which show the prevalence of different types and forms of human rights violation. While some of the abuses are specific to particular states or geopolitical zones, others are widespread and occur in virtually every state”.
He listed some of the human rights abuses by the Police as documented by his office to include; Ubiquitous road blocks and checkpoints which he said were more prevalently in the Southeast and were no more than avenues for extortion, harassment, unlawful detention and sometimes resulting to extrajudicial killing.
He continued, “Profiling, illegal stop and search operations that violate right to privacy particularly targeting young men who are either accused by the police of being ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ (advance fee fraud) or of being cultists, sometimes simply on account of their hairstyle. Lagos, Anambra, Edo etc. Raid of public places and indiscriminate arrest, detention and extortion of innocent people by rogue police officers (reported by every state). Raid (of streets and other public places), indiscriminate arrest, unlawful detention for the purpose of extortion by rogue police officers/sometimes frame up and charge leading to false imprisonment (Anti Cultism Lagos).
“Police harassment of lawyers at police stations (Anambra, Abia, Edo). Police use of torture to extort information, confession and incriminate people (sometimes, politically motivated). Non-compliance with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act. Police extrajudicial killings and conversion of proceeds of crime and properties of criminal suspects, dispossession of their families, sexual abuse of wives of criminal suspects. IRT. Police working with touts (so-called task force) and colluding/conniving with Magistrates in the pretext of revenue drive/collection to harass, intimidate and extort/exploit citizens (Abia and Anambra States). Oppressive activities of Task Forces and Mobile Courts: contributing to unnecessary imprisonment and prison congestion. Using Mobile Courts to impose fine. Dabbling into civil cases, sometimes twisting such cases to look criminal/debt recovery. Arresting of family members or friends in place of accused or suspects
“Improper or lack of effective handling of complaints of domestic violence and rape; discriminatory practices against women /standing as bail surety. Repression of freedom of expression and clamp down on citizens embarking on peaceful demonstration, protest or rally (Southeast); Targeting of religious and ethnic self-determination groups. The use by security services of excessive force, including live ammunition, to deal with protesters and disperse demonstrators resulting in several killings. Taking sides in communal disputes or conflicts and aiding and abetting crime by one side in a conflict or dispute.
“Involvement of the military in internal security and law enforcement with its inherently tragic consequences. Use of police to carry out illegal demolitions of settlements without adequate arrangements to relocate/ resettle the residents (Lagos) and business premises sometimes in defiance of court orders (Ibadan in 2018)”.
He went on to highlight some of these violations by the Police to include the case of Peter Onyegbule arrested by the police for not paying electricity bills: the case of Yinka Badmus arrested over his hairstyle, the case of Ikenna Emmanuel arrested by the operatives of the Anti-Cultism Unit on his way home from Computer Village with his teenage cousin, shoddy handling of a case of gang rape of 15 year old girl, case of abduction, rape, procurement of illegal abortion and desertion of a pregnant 16 year old girl pending before the Gender Unit of the Lagos State Police command among others.
On why abuse and corruption had persisted in the Nigeria Police Force despite reforms, the National Coordinator said,” Among other reasons, Police Officers excuse corruption, abuse and misconduct on neglect and poor welfare conditions, poor working and living conditions. Officers injured or killed on duty are abandoned. Others see that they have no hope of being taken care of and that their families will also be abandoned to suffer if they die on duty. They then do what they can do to help themselves in the immediate and will not put in their best. When distress calls are made, they don’t want to put their lives at risk for a system that will not care for them or their families
“Reforms have not changed the inherited colonial culture of violence and corruption. People join the police with the motive to make money. They don’t see the police as a career path. Due to lack of funds for operations, officers resort to extortion to generate funds. Senior officers sending out junior officers to make money, targets are set and returns are expected.
“This explains why public complaints and internal disciplinary systems don’t function effectively because offenders are shielded by the system except in few cases when pressure comes from certain quarters and people are sacrificed just to put up a show that the police don’t condone crime and corruption”.
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