‘Police is your friend’ so goes the mantra. But for both the accused and other citizens, the fear of SCIID Panti, Lagos, is the beginning of wisdom, ALBERT UBA reports.
The Lagos State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos, struggling to weed itself off the notoriety of human rights abuses, is currently returning to its old frenetic posture.
Recently, visitors to Panti have complained of high handedness on the part of police officers, who they said had turned the unit to a money-making centre, while the environment is belittling of such an important arm of Lagos Police Command.
Before Olayinka Balogun, a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) and lawyer, was posted to head the department, Panti was feared by all, due to the ruthless and unprofessional nature of officers deployed to the unit.
In Yoruba parlance, it means a dunghill, a site where refuse is dumped. SCIID Panti, literally translates to a place where those judged to be enemies of the society, or persons of questionable character are ‘dumped.’
For instance, the officer in charge of homicide must have basic knowledge of criminology, what constitutes murder, manslaughter and of course, culpable homicide, while the Commander Raiders, who is head of the anti-robbery unit of the department, must be a crime fighter par excellence.
Like his colleague, he must be vast in psychology and must know where to capture criminals.
As a matter of fact, it was the Raider Unit of the SCIID that instilled fear in the citizenry, with the way they handle investigations and criminals.
The department is headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), imbued with investigative skills and impeccable record of proven investigation.
This is why various unresolved cases of crime, especially armed robbery and murder are transferred to the SCIID for further investigations.
People dreaded going to the SCIID office to visit detained relatives or even clients, for fear of being detained or implicated.
There were cases where lawyers, who came for their clients, were detained for touting their bail unlawfully. To police officers working at the SCIID, every other civilian is a suspect and should be treated as such.
Visitors to the police SCIID are greeted by putrid stench emanating from human faeces, and suspects who do not have the luxury of using the bathroom.
The passages to nearly all the offices, including the DCP’s and charge rooms are in complete darkness. That was the scenario at the unit, until Balogun, an apostle of community policing, changed the outlook of the unit to a modern department, where both suspects and complainants are treated equally.
To him, a suspect remains one until proven otherwise by a court of competent jurisdiction.
First, he got the services of night-soil men to clear the human faeces in the cells. Modern toilets were built and the walls painted. The suspects were regularly brought out to suntan on the open ground because most of them hadn’t seen the sun for months.
He cleared the junkyard, erected more modern buildings and carved out various offices, including conference hall, legal department and turned the entire premises to a near Scotland Yard Police Department.
On the wall outside the premises, he imprinted his personal numbers with the letter, “call these numbers if you think your cases are not well investigated.”
The department under Balogun became a Mecca of some sorts with well kept lawns, toilets for visitors, a place where policemen and women began to fall over themselves to be redeployed to.
However, a few years after Balogun exited, the department began to slide into its old infamous status, where human and people’s rights had taken flight.
Presently, the department can best be described as anti-people, while the road leading to the department has been reduced to a mere footpath because of two Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) positioned at the entrance of the road.
The entire street has been blocked and can no longer be driven through by tenants who live on the street. Shops and stalls adorn both left and right of the street and investigation revealed that the owners pay yearly tenement to the Department.
Recently, a lawyer, O.O. Nwani, raised the alarm over inhumane treatments accused persons, who are in detention, are subjected to in Panti.
The lawyer, who shared his experience while on a visit to the department to secure a client’s bail, accused the police of running a criminal enterprise at the department.
“What we saw was a total state of nature, where the obsessed policemen, laden with corrupt monies, claimed to have the power to detain any suspect ad infinitum without any recourse to the extant laws of the land.
“What happened to Section 36 (1)-4) of ACJA/ ACJL, which stipulates that Magistrates and High Court Judges should visit Police detention facilities at least once in a month?” he queried.
Nwani said magistrates and judges, who, according to the newly adopted Lagos State Criminal Justice Act, ought to be paying frequent inspection visits to detention centres, are not doing so.
He explained how he was almost harassed by the police officers at the SCIID, despite being a counsel.
“I applied for bail for my client, and even though he’s not the suspect and was arrested in lieu, the police demanded N1 million for bail.
“Even if my client had been the real suspect who was arrested for stealing, it is still a bailable offence. It is either they arraign him in court or grant administrative bail,” he stated.
Nwani explained how frustrated he became when he was prevented from expressing himself by the police.
“What I saw there was horrible. There were pregnant women and minor girls in detention as well. They detained people on bailable offences. One of the policemen even mocked me by saying I earn peanuts as a lawyer. He also boasted to have built houses from the profession,” the lawyer said.
Nwani’s client was also not spared. According to the lawyer, he had suffered skin rashes from spending a few days in detention and was willing to pay any amount to secure bail.
“I was there till about 8:00 pm and it looked like these people were operating autonomously. Nobody is talking about Panti, Yaba and what is going on there,” Nwani lamented.
Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Muyiwa Adejobi, however reacted to Nwani’s tweet, saying the force would address the issue he raised.
“Wow, we will address that. We will ask Ben (Benjamin Hundeyin, Lagos PPRO) to release the numbers of all DPOs, Area Commanders and HODs in Lagos to the public. This must be done as urgently as possible,” Adejobi wrote.
More recently, another victim, Robert Akpan, whose younger brother, Henry Akpan, was arrested and detained at SCIID Panti for alleged murder, said he had ugly experience.
According to him, Henry’s journey started after his wife, Anita Ekpe, died while giving birth, and her relatives wrote a fictitious petition alleging that he killed his wife.
He lamented that rather than investigate the matter, the officers turned into a murder case and detained his brother for a month.
Akpan said: “To grant him bail, officers attached to the Homicide section were demanding N500,000. It was after I started writing about my brother that he was released.
“The D4 Section nicknamed Homicide of the SCIID needs total overhauling. You receive a fictitious petition alleging murder, as a police officer, you have to investigate the authenticity of the petition, rather, they simply came, arrested and detained my brother.
“For one month, my brother was grieving over his wife’s death. The anger of the petitioner was that my brother didn’t pay the normal bride price. Rather than investigate the murder case, they simply detained my brother. Panti is no longer what it used to be. It has become an ATM Gallery. While in detention, my brother witnessed a lot of atrocities.
“Autopsy is part of police investigations, but they collected N250,000 from us. I called the DCP severally to let him know that the man in detention is my brother, but he initially didn’t take it serious until the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO) Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Muyiwa Adejobi called him, before he ordered the release of my brother.
“This is no longer police work; they are no longer investigating any matter at the SCIID. In fairness, the DC may not know everything that is happening, but he has to have a firm grip of his officers and men while avoiding collecting kickback from them,” he added.
In June, a case among neighbours in Ajao Estate, Lagos, was turned into
Cyber-bullying, where two of the neigbours were also detained in Panti, and asked to bail themselves with N200, 000 to regain their freedom.
It took the intervention of a journalist to secure their release.
Leadership is critical
A police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said except urgent and far reaching measures were taken by the Police High Command, the rot will continue.
“There is therefore, dire need to post a DCP, who had been tutored on community police model to head the Department.
“He will in turn, educate the personnel on the ideals of the present Inspector-General of Police. He should not be a purse-serving officer who sees every civilian in his office as a potential prey. Anything short of this, is a back-pedal to the inglorious days of the SCIID Panti,” he added.
Retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police ( DIG) Leye Oyebade, who once headed SCIID Panti, as a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), was piqued with the dismal turn of events of the unit.
He stressed the need to put the right peg in the right hole in the unit, adding that the state of the department depends on what the person heading the unit wants.
According to him, there is a popular Chinese proverb about rotten fish, which says when the fish is rotten from the head, it becomes difficult to consume. This, he said, can be done in all the SCIIDs across the country, not only Panti.
“In every organisation, leadership is very critical. I am not talking about the DC alone, but all the Sectional heads, from homicide to legal, from raiders to the counter and what have you, have to be occupied by professionals.
“The idea of not allowing money to control you is key in investigation, that way you can do your work properly. The moment members of the public are assured of justice, they are ready to give you information needed for your job.
“Panti is supposed to be a correctional centre not a place where suspects are detained perpetually. The importance of SCIID is that if a police post, Division or Area Command has a serious matter, depending on the discretion of the Commissioner of Police, it is referred to the Unit.
“When it comes to heinous crimes like murder where a life has been lost, arson, and such cases of high magnitude, they are referred to as the SCIID. Investigation is a skill and it is developed over time. After training and retraining the officers both within and outside the country, they are well equipped and committed to their job. Apart from that, the personality of an officer handling any case also matters. What we did when we came on board was to generally overhaul all the sections,” he said.
A security expert and certified Protection Officer, Dr Frank Oshanugo, expressed discomfort with the present posture of the SCIID, especially on the issue of human rights.
He said: “Recently, I was at the Unit to secure the bail of a detained relation and I must say that I do not feel good the way and manner I was treated. Investigation and intelligence, which the Unit is known for, had taken flight.”
When contacted Benjamin Hundeyin, said there is need to avoid generalisation.
According to him, it is important that victims take advantage of all the boldly written numbers on the walls of the SCIID to bring this to the attention of the head of the department.
On demand for money, he said: “Monetising bail is totally wrong and unprofessional. The particular case where money was asked for bail should be brought to my attention so that we can take it up.”
