BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, MAYOWA SAMUEL and BRIGHT JACOB
About two years after the EndSARS protest that ravaged major cities of Nigeria, where citizens, mostly youths, demonstrated against police brutality, particularly the excesses of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad, some officers of the Nigeria Police Force have continued, unabatedly, the life of extortion, harassment of residents, overzealousness, brutality and extrajudicial killing of innocent citizens.
SARS, a now-disbanded police tactical unit notorious for cruelty against citizens, general issues of police brutality, including unlawful arrests, torture, and extrajudicial killings, was at centre of the agitations.
Some commercial drivers who are into inter-city transportation have revealed that the majority of the members of the banned squad have returned to their checking points where they extort and harass road users across the country.
“I can confirm to you that SARS was only disbanded on paper and scrapped. They have resumed their ugly operation with their new uniform.
Whenever I travel from Ondo-Ore to Onitsha, I still see the faces that used to wear SARS jackets and they still collect money from drivers. The only thing is that they no longer wear the jacket with SARS inscription again,” Kareem Babatunde, a commercial bus driver told our correspondent.
In Osun, there seems to be no end to the culture of extortion and harassment of citizens and lawful residents by men of the Nigeria Police Force who are being paid by the same taxpayers. Aside from the startling revelations of victims of police brutality at the Endsars panel of inquiry in the state, most residents, in recent times, have narrated sad tales of one form of harassment, brutality and even killings.
In recent times, there have been different reports from residents of Osun who have suffered one form of harassment or another from police officers who swore to protect and serve them.
Between July and December, last year, no fewer than three residents of the state died owing to extrajudicial killing by some trigger-happy police officers. None of the killer cops have been publicly prosecuted. The Osun State Police Command only announced their arrest and since then, the public has not heard anything about the affected officers.
Some stakeholders in the nation’s polity, including lawyers, security experts and civil society groups have lamented the refusal of police personnel to give up the life of extortion, harassment of innocent citizens, and extrajudicial killings across the country. They called for concerted efforts to tackle the menace.
Police now disservice to Nigeria – Lawyer
“What happened recently between Governor Sanwo-Olu and one CSP that claimed he was sent from Abuja is a constitutional problem. These governors answer Chief Security Officers by mere words of mouth. The constitutional backing is not there for them
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A legal practitioner in Osun State, J P. Jones described the police as a disservice to the nation. He lamented that the force has not learnt any lesson from the Endsars struggle adding that even when many victims of police brutality were yet to be compensated by governments, policemen kept misbehaving unabated.
Jones, in an exclusive interview with The Point, said, “Police have refused to change and their actions have been repulsive, to say the least.
The truth of the matter is that they have not learned anything in the ENDSARS demonstration against police brutality. It is as if the efforts of the youths who sacrificed their time, energy and lives to ensure there is sanity in the Police force and country at large have been brought to a total waste and disrepute.
“It all boils down to the fact that Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gunpowder waiting to be destroyed any time soon. It will get to a point where people will take up arms and take laws into their hands against the Police. If a police officer cannot even respect a governor, then who is he going to respect? So, it’s a terrible situation.
“Once the government is ready to act and check the excesses of the police, everything will be normalised. If police abnormalities are not controlled, it may return to anarchy. I stand to be corrected; all these shenanigans of the police didn’t happen when PDP held sway in government at the centre. We really need to correct the anomaly and the bulk of the blame is heaped on the government.
“Police brutality is gradually driving the nation to the military era. If Police are poised to assault big wigs in the society like the likes of Uche Nwosu and even Lagos State Governor, then the masses are not safe. The Police are now a great disservice to the nation and something urgent needs to be done,” the lawyer added.
‘Police Force is irredeemable’
Also speaking, the spokesperson of a group, Police Watch, Ayo Ologun, said police operatives have continued to harass innocent citizens saying that “The Police appears irredeemable.”
Ologun, one of the leaders of the coalition of civil society organisations against police brutality and member of the Osun EndSARS panel that was instituted by the state government, disclosed that more than five officers of the police command in Osun have been court-martialed and dismissed through their complaints and agitations, adding that the nation’s cops were yet to turn a new leave despite the alleged dismissal of erring officers.
He said, “It is obvious that we may need to end the entity called Nigeria or be fast to restructure it. It is a clear fact that the police force is irredeemable or how else does one explain the influx of police on a land issue that the constitution of the country gives the governor control over? It is a testament to the fact that a few people using the power of the federal government have grown wings to believe they are a law unto themselves.
“The EndSars saga of 2020, though massive and showed the people’s resolve, has no hold on the Nigerian Police as they have gone from bad to worse and getting worse every passing day. The police have no respect for the law they swore to protect and have no dignity for human life or convention. It is sad but it is our reality.”
South West Govs making Amotekun poorer than Police – Expert
A security expert, Akin Adeyi argued that South West Governors have failed to carry out the original concept they designed for the establishment of the Western Nigeria Security Network, codenamed ‘Operation Amotekun’ as an alternative to the wobbling performance of the Nigeria Police.
Adeyi, in an exclusive interview with The Point, said Amotekun is becoming worse in their modus operandi than the police and noted that something urgent needed to be done to avert a situation where Nigerians would revolt against the security network.
He also said that security events across the country have shown that governors have lost the grip of their authority as Chief Security Officers of their states adding that such an appellation of CSOs is aggrandisement. Adeyi opined that there is no constitutional backing to it adding that this forms the reason why the police always flout orders of state governors whenever the Federal Government has an interest in anything happening in the state.
Adeyi called on state governors in Yoruba land to invest in Amotekun, pay the personnel hugely and provide them with enough operational vehicles and other gadgets so as to reduce reliance on the police, which he said had failed Nigerians by their excesses, notoriety in extrajudicial killing, extortion and brutality.
He advised Nigerians to develop their own security by forming neighbourhood security groups, saying that the government appeared confused, helpless and frustrated to the extent that Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari would ask citizens to buy guns and watch over themselves.
His words, “What happened recently between Governor Sanwo-Olu and one CSP that claimed he was sent from Abuja is a constitutional problem.
These governors answer Chief Security Officers by mere words of mouth. The constitutional backing is not there for them. It’s just by, maybe, aggrandisement. Someone will say that governors are the Chief Security Officers of the states and whereas, in truth, they are not anything near that. Thank God for the Magodo incident involving Sanwo-Olu, it clearly laid credence to this. The person insisted that he was sent by the IG.
“If my memory hasn’t failed me, immediately the saga of Igboho happened, governors gathered themselves, especially those of the South West, and they came to a conclusion with a MoU that on no account would the police invade the territory of any governor without the consent of that governor in whatever operation. They resolved that way and passed it to the Federal Government. And now, we have a situation where some police officers entered into Sanwo-Olu’s domain as governor and they were insisting that they were sent by the IG. Even the Lagos State Police Command was not aware of their arrival.
“If you can recollect very well, this scenario played out in Taraba where some police officers came in wanting to make an arrest and some gunmen came there and they were all killed. Even when Sanwo-Olu asked the officer that led the team there what their numerical strength was, he didn’t know. That’s the same way an IG was asked about the number of the Nigeria Police, he said he didn’t know; which means there was no data.
That’s why you will see that a police officer would be dismissed here in Osun, and he would relocate to Kano to be working in the Police Force.
He will continue with his old rank and everything. We have had cases like that. If you journalists are doing your job, follow dismissed police officers in your state; you will see that dismissed police officers are working freely in other states. It’s just a question of having money and that shows the extent of the corruption in the Nigerian Police.
“So, coming to the issue of security in the country, we had the worst of security experience in 2021 and nobody would ever pray for what we went through to repeat itself in 2022. There were so many killings and people were being slaughtered like rams and no one was doing anything.
This is 2022 and I have always said that the best form of security is the one you design and monitor for yourself. People should try as much as possible to form themselves into neighbourhood watch groups. They should never wait on this government. This government is overwhelmed, they are frustrated and it’s out of frustration that a governor will come on air to say that everybody should be allowed to carry guns. Was that part of the campaign promises? And the solution he will proffer for insecurity is for all people to carry guns. Where is the training for everyone to carry guns? That was a reckless statement.
“Amotekun would have been an opportunity for the state governors to prove to the Federal Government that we can do it better after the Federal Government gives their nod to Amotekun. As far as I am concerned, South West Governors have failed to exhibit what they told us would be the concept of Amotekun. Amotekun is just doing it even in a poorer way than the way the police are doing it. I am not condemning Amotekun, they are doing their best but I have issues with their concept by the governors. When you say you want to have your own police or your Amotekun, it should be a situation whereby Amotekun is paid higher than the police. It should be a situation whereby Amotekun will be made more attractive than the police. And the Federal Government can even come to you and say, you people got it better. But, what do we have, there are some Amotekun that are earning salaries that are less than N15, 000 and the police that we say are not doing well and the reason to form Amotekun, you are increasing their salaries.
“And Amotekun is taking a whole bunch of risks now. And nothing could make Amotekun more attractive than the police. It should be a situation whereby the state governors invest in Amotekun. It should be a situation whereby the state government will take care of Amotekun, the people we see doing better than the police. You see Amotekun that goes about in tattered dress, without operational vehicle, without communication gadget, without even getting paid. The pace at which they are going now would be worse than the police. Those you gave guns to, you are paying them a paltry amount, they would soon turn the gun around and face you. So, what’s the essence of asking for Amotekun if Amotekun is doing it the same way the police have been doing it?
“Thank God the Federal Government has given their nods to the establishment of Amotekun. What the governors should do would have been to take advantage of that to showcase that we know how to do it and we can do it better and it’s then that even the police would have to wake up and see that they are being relegated; maybe they would change. It’s when you are challenged by a rival with an alternative that you will improve on what you are doing.”
There are procedures for criminal arrest – Bwala
A lawyer and member of the All Progressives Congress, Daniel Bwala, said there is an act of the National Assembly that regulates the procedure for arrest called the Administration for Criminal Justice Act which was passed into law in 2015.
Bwala explained that the act provides for the procedure for criminal arrests, trials and all that, pointing out that with respect to search and arrest, that act provides two ways you can conduct a search and an arrest.
“First, to conduct a search, you will need a warrant; you will also need a warrant to arrest somebody but there are exceptions under which you can arrest without a warrant. The warrant that you need to obtain to conduct a search or an arrest is to be sure that the law enforcement officials do not take laws into their hands because that warrant they obtained by approaching the magistrate court as the case may be via motion exparte will disclose why, then the judge will have been satisfied that what they are going for is lawful. That’s why when somebody that is supposed to be arrested with a warrant but is arrested without a warrant is called an unlawful arrest,” he said.
In the case of Justice Mary Odili of the Supreme Court, Bwala said it was a concocted arrangement by unscrupulous elements under the guidance of somebody. “The magistrate gave a warrant and you can see the circumstance where a magistrate gives a warrant. But then, even when you obtain the warrant, if the address for search or arrest is different from the actual place where the person is committing the crime, you will have to go and get a fresh warrant because at the end of the day, when the person is going to be charged, the charge count is going to reflect the address and the description of the person in the warrant, so it has to be defined because the law says nobody can be tried or convicted for an offence that is not defined by law for which the punishment is prescribed in a written definition. This is the only way you can determine if somebody is performing a lawful arrest or prosecuting lawfully,” he stressed.
In the case of Uche Nwosu, Bwala made it known that facts seen in the media and public space were that he was invited.
According to him, “Uche Nwosu was invited three times, but he did not show up and despite all efforts to arrest him, he keeps dodging. He has multiple residents, so they were unable to see him. When they got the gist that he was burying his mother, they thought it wasn’t right to arrest him then. Next, he organised a thanksgiving and he invited dignitaries, so they knew that now, there is a place where he will attend and we will arrest him after service. Even that day, it was alleged that he disguised himself. So, when they finished the service and people were coming out, people told him there was unusual security outside. He knew they might be up for him, so he stayed back. But when the law enforcement agents saw that he wasn’t coming out, they also did as if they’d all gone back. As soon as he tried to come out, they arrested him.
It may not be a standard procedure for the police to go to a church, that’s why sometimes; you have to weigh public policy. That’s why sometimes when they want to arrest someone but they see that it might create a scenario where they will be compelled to shoot, they will leave the person. What happened that day was when the police were dragging him, the people around were trying to engage them for him not to be arrested, that’s why they were shooting to scare them away.”
‘We’re in a general state of recklessness’
“It is a general state of recklessness. What the police did in Imo State cannot happen in some parts of the country, and I wouldn’t want to mention North or South. Nobody dares enter a mosque to say he is effecting an arrest. It’s a desecration of the temple of God no matter the crime
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Reacting to these developments, another legal practitioner, Fred Aigbadumah, said the high-handedness of the police was not just peculiar to the police but was the general state of recklessness in the country that had degenerated to a “state of anomie”.
According to Aigbadumah, “It is a general state of recklessness. What the police did in Imo State cannot happen in some parts of the country, and I wouldn’t want to mention North or South. Nobody dares enter a mosque to say he is effecting an arrest. It’s a desecration of the temple of God no matter the crime.”
“We are not even sure if there was a warrant of arrest which Uche Nwosu is entitled to under the constitution or under the law, or even in the Police Act,” he added.
Continuing, Aigbadumah said that even if there was a warrant of arrest, it wasn’t enough for them to desecrate the house of God and that they could have waited for him after the service, maybe at the gate, and even if there were two gates there, they could have mounted surveillance and arrested him when necessary.
He further stated that what the police had done was against Nwosu’s constitutional rights and that of others, i.e., freedom of association, and even his (Nwosu’s) right of choice of religion of where to worship, because they (police) had invaded the place he was worshipping in a Gestapo manner which is highly condemnable. He buttressed the situation by saying that one was not surprised because we were under a civilian regime that was more or less a military regime.
On the incidents that transpired in Magodo, Aigbadumah said, “What is playing out in Lagos State is still part of the defect in the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, notwithstanding the amendments upon amendments that have been there; there is still much to be done especially the issue of state police.”
“The governor is supposed to be the chief security officer in the state, but where a Chief Superintendent of Police will differ and say he cannot obey a governor because he had orders from the IG or AG, we begin to see the irony of some of the provisions of our constitution, which smirks of the pseudo-federalism we practice in Nigeria,” he added.
Concerning the action of Hakeem Odumosu at the Brooks Estate in Magodo, Aigbadumah stated that though the police Commissioner had a right to enter the estate, but “two wrongs don’t make a right”.
“In the first place, Odumosu wasn’t going on official duty. He said that he wanted to attend or greet a friend in the estate. Accepted, the security guards didn’t do the right thing because every citizen has a right and freedom of movement, like I pointed out before, under the constitution, and he (Odumosu) has a right of “egress and ingress” to check crime anywhere within the state as the commissioner of police. So, the guards, supposing they denied him access, were wrong.
“However, two wrongs don’t make a right. If the people there were wrong, the commissioner should have been mature enough and said if that is the case, let me withdraw so that I can determine the next thing to do, by drawing the attention of the governor or IG to the matter.”
Aigbadumah further stated that the commissioner had no right to shut down any place, and that the residents could go to court against the police on that since their freedom of movement was infringed upon to a large extent.
On his part, the General Secretary of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, Anderson Ezeibe, while citing the actions of the police during the arrest of Nwosu, said that most of the actions of the security agencies have been politicised. He, thereafter, advocated for the insulation of security agencies from all political influences and interference.
Ezeibe said, “The Uche Nwosu matter is more politised than real crime-fighting. The whole thing was merely politics playing out, and we should find a way of insulating our crime-fighting agencies against political interference, whether it is the Nigerian police, or whether it’s EFCC or ICPC.”
According to Ezeibe, “In order to address all the police high-handedness and brutality being reported almost on a daily basis against the police, we must insulate them, and that is the only way we can extract the right level of professionalism from these organisations, both in terms of conduct and recruitment of officers, too.
“If we can also detach their funding from the powers that be, they will be on the right path to fighting crimes, the right path to professionalism and they won’t have any kind of political allegiance to any political powers that be at any time, the same thing with the Magodo incidents, too,” he concluded.
