Curbing menace of police brutality in Nigeria

Police brutality in Nigeria has assumed an epidemic proportion. So, there is need for urgent and far-reaching measures to curb the menace. 

The passage of the Police Reform Bill by the Senate is commendable. The expectation is that the House of Representatives will toe the line of the upper chamber while the President will also be swift in assenting the bill to provide a legal framework to regulate the police in modern democracy.

In the more recent case, the police officer was reported to have shot the young man. Believing he was dead, and in an apparent bid to cover up his heinous crime of murder also shot, killing the victim’s female partner who was with him in the vehicle.

What stuff are these guys made of? Are they not human? Don’t they have families? How would they feel if life is so wantonly and gratuitously snuffed out of their loved ones?

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, as in the case of Johnson, quickly paid a condolence visit to the family of the latest victims.

The CP commiserated with the families and assured them and the public of the police’s non- tolerance of abuse of police powers and committed to ensuring that the perpetrators are appropriately punished according to the law.

The CP promptly ordered the immediate arrest of the police officers responsible for the killings of Johnson and Adaobi. The police declared wanted one of the officers in the team who fled immediately after the killing.

Those arrested have been subjected to internal disciplinary measures and handed over for prosecution for murder. They are currently undergoing trial and it is expected that their trial must be pursued to logical conclusion until they are convicted and sentenced to appropriate punishment.

This is necessary to send a clear message to other police officers of their ilk that abuse of police powers and human rights violations will no longer be tolerated and that perpetrators would not escape justice.

The promptness and decisiveness with which the CP of Lagos and the Lagos State Police PRO have responded to cases of police killings are commendable and exemplary. 

The Inspector General of Police has also demonstrated uncommon empathy, leadership and seriousness to tackle human rights violations and curb the excesses of some police officers.

His decision to visit Lagos State to address officers of the Lagos State Command over the spate of killings in the state, has stood him out as an IGP who is genuinely concerned and determined to tackle police brutality.

So far, IGP Adamu’s demonstration of empathy and firmness is refreshing.

In the past, cases have been swept under the carpet after public outrage dies down. But the CP Lagos and the IGP have both expressed determination to see to the logical resolution of these cases to ensure justice and check impunity.

But I find it perplexing that the police officers who carried out the latest killings were not deterred by the prompt and decisive disciplinary action taken against their colleagues by the Lagos State Police authorities for killing Kolade Johnson. 

Sanctions ought to deter further infractions. This then takes me to the question as to what will prompt a police officer to wantonly open fire on unarmed citizens? Were they under any drug or alcohol influence? 

Does this speak to the quality of personnel that populate the junior rank of the Nigeria Police and by extension the recruitment process that brought them into the Nigeria Police in the first place?

When Abayomi Shogunle says that citizens should address Police officers in pidgin English, was he unwittingly admitting the low quality of personnel who populate the NPF? There is evidence that majority of Police officers, especially among the junior ranks, are unfit and represent threat to safety and security of citizens.

No doubt, many police officers feel protected by the reign of impunity enthroned by failure to appropriately punish previous killings. No single Police killing, which happened under Idris, received the level of attention and action being witnessed under the current IGP. This is a refreshing departure from the days of woeful incompetence.

A necessary step to bringing an end to these spate of Police killings is to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to account.

Investigations must be transparent and effective, and the perpetrators subjected to criminal trial. The victims’ families are also entitled to adequate remedies.

The IGP seems serious about dealing with police killings. He deserves public support.

• Nwanguma is the National Coordinator of Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN)