Nigerians call for reforms to curb extra-judicial killings by police officers

The death of Kolade Johnson brought back the intense push for police reforms that had been embodied by the hashtag #EndSars.

It was another worryingly recurrent display of extrajudicial killing and police brutality. Although the Lagos State Police Command has arrested and dismissed the anticultism operatives that were involved in the killing of the youth, the big challenge of police brutality and extrajudicial killings remain.

Osas Ojigho of Amnesty International said much more needs to be done to end human rights violations, including unnecessary and excessive use of force, extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary detention, and extortion.

“Wide-ranging reforms must be carried out so that Nigerians can trust the police to protect them,” he said.

However, in a poll conducted by The Guardian, the majority of the respondents advocated reforms that include retraining of personnel, dismissing of wanting officers and an overhaul of police staff.

Of the 1474 votes in the poll conducted on Twitter and The Guardian website, 9% wanted the retraining of members of the police to vastly reduce and perhaps end human rights violation which includes extrajudicial killings and police brutality.

The Public Complaint Rapid Response Unit of the Police, in its last published report in the first quarter of 2018, received 884 complaints, resolved 750 but just two officers were dismissed despite the number of complaints. 11% of the respondents in the survey prefer more dismissals of wanting officers from the police.

More than 180 people want the overhaul of the police staff while 68% of the respondents believe the best means to end extrajudicial killings is a combination of all the above options: Retrain personnel, Dismiss wanting officer, overhaul staff.