The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has called on the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Adamu Mohammed to order a full scale investigation with a view to identify those behind the mob action, stripping of three women and subjecting them to inhuman and degrading treatment over allegation of being members of a gang of One Chance Criminals in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Sunday 30th June, 2019.
The Executive Director, RULAAC, Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma who made this call in a statement yesterday said that the attention of the Centre was on Monday 1st July, 2019, drawn to a video in circulation showing a mob attacking four persons- one man and three women- who were accused of being members of ‘a gang of one chance criminals’ operating at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Nwanguma noted that there were unverified claims that ‘they were apprehended by SARS officers and policemen during one of their operations and stripped naked on the street…’ even as he confirmed that RULAAC was yet unable to confirm the claim as the video didn’t reveal the presence of any uniformed police officer in the crowd.
He added that efforts to confirm the time and location of the incident from the police had not yielded any result yet.
He observed that the accused persons were seen in the video surrounded by a mob that beat, kicked and flogged them with various objects saying that one of the men in the mob was seen with a belt that resembles that of security agents.
“The accused persons were forced to lie on their back with the three women stripped bare while the only man among the alleged gang was left with his jean trousers on. One of the women was heard pleading, saying she only entered the vehicle as a passenger and not part of the gang.
“While ‘One chance’ has been a major menace in parts of Abuja targeting mainly women whose handbags, cash, mobile phones and other valuable items are often snatched at gun point by the criminals who operate in both painted and unpainted cars disguised as taxi, the resort to mob action against suspects is not a lawful or civilized response to the menace. It is tending to fight crime with crime. The consequences of citizens taking laws into their own hands by resorting to mob action include the fact that often, innocent people are victimized and sometimes, as in the case of the Aluu 4, mob action may also result to the murder of innocent people. Even if the actual criminals were to be apprehended by citizens while in the act, the lawful step to take is to hand them over to the police for investigation and prosecution.
“But of even more serious concern to RULAAC is the discriminatory treatment meted to accused persons based on gender. In this case under reference, while the mob stripped the three accused female naked, they left the male accused member of the alleged gang with his trousers on”, he said.
While acknowledging that this was not an isolated case, the Executive Director pointed out that there was a growing and disturbing tendency by both law enforcement agents and citizens to subject women accused of crime to sexual abuse and violence, clearly targeting them for being women which he said was clearly manifest during the Abuja raids of Night Clubs and other places during which law enforcement agents, acting based on similar clear gender discrimination, arrested only women found at the Night clubs, paraded them naked and sexually abused and exploited them.
“This predatory approach to law enforcement is prevalent and has been documented many times not only in Abuja, but also in other parts of the country, including Akwa Ibom and Lagos recently. It is despicable and offensive to both morality and Nigerian laws. Those responsible, whether they are law enforcement agents or ordinary citizens, should be made to face the legal consequences of their depraved and unlawful actions. Women must be protected from gender discriminatory practices and sexual abuse and violence”, he added.
He however suggested that a basic part of the training for law enforcement agents should be the provision in the Nigerian Constitution and other regional and international human rights legislation which Nigeria subscribed to stipulating that any person accused of crime shall be entitled to be presumed innocent until he or she had been proven guilty after a fair trial in a court of competent jurisdiction.
This according to him was a fundamental due process guarantee against arbitrary or abusive exercise of law enforcement powers and to protect innocent persons from being punished or made to suffer unjustly.
He therefore called on the IGP to order a prompt, impartial and exhaustive investigation with a view to unraveling those behind the recent mob action and the inhuman and degrading treatment of the accused ‘one chance criminals’ in the FCT and be brought to account; guarantee protection for women and order an end to the gender based discriminatory approach to law enforcement and treatment of women by citizens resulting to violence against women by both the police and other citizens as well as take special measures to track, apprehend and deal with the menace of ‘One Chance’ criminals terrorizing Abuja residents, especially targeting women.
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