Opinion: Extra-judicial brutality and cover-up conspiracy

Posted by admin Headlines, Nigerian Police Sunday, February 5th, 2012

There seems to be an unwritten conspiracy among the rank and file of the nation’s security agencies that they must never admit to, or apologise for wrongs, crimes or brutalities committed by uniformed law enforcers against civilians.

This is the impression one gets every time a case of unlawful killing or brutality is said to have been committed by armed officers, as follow-up news usually points to attempts at sweeping things under the carpet.

It is a matter of concern that incidents involving armed officers, policemen and soldiers against civilians have continued unabated. In 2011, many unfortunate cases occurred and were reported from time to time. The most painful one was that of a young boy shot dead at a checkpoint by police officers in the presence of his mother in Bayelsa State.

Now, just when one thought the murderous propensities of our security officers would have 2012 has started recording more of such venality. The first reported case in early January was that of one Niyi Ehindero, a 39-year-old businessman murdered in cold blood by soldiers in Mushin area of Lagos. The deceased has been buried, but the soldiers who allegedly killed him are yet unknown. As things go with the cover-up conspiracy, the killer soldiers may never be known or fished out to face prosecution for their crime.

And the public had barely gotten over the news of that gruesome massacre when more cases occurred. During the protests against fuel subsidy removal in January, some protesters were shot dead by the police. One young man was reportedly killed in Ilorin, Kwara State. Then the news came of the senseless fatal shooting of another young man, Ademola Abiodun, by a Divisional Police Officer in Ogba area of Lagos. Recent information in a Nigerian daily is that the killer DPO may be redeployed out of Lagos and his crime buried.

If that cover-up conspiracy proves to be true, then it will be intriguing and sad indeed. It means heartless and lawless officers can always escape being punished for their crimes against humanity. It also means we can expect more killer or criminally-minded officers of the law to be inspired to assault and shoot innocent civilians at will, knowing that they will be covered up. What a shame!

Isn’t it also a sad irony that, while the Nigeria Police are sometimes deserving of commendation for efforts at combating crime the bad elements in the system keep throwing spanner in the works? Apart from incidents of terrorism, armed robbery, kidnapping and assassinations that still threaten peace and order in Nigeria, errant members of the police and military won’t stop giving Nigerians cause to worry.

Police brutality keeps assuming diverse dimensions; accidental discharge has steadily graduated to willful gunning down of unarmed people at checkpoints. Ruthless, murderous clobbering of innocent victims is also in fashion. Some uniformed officers are even occasionally caught as robbers or supporters, suppliers and protectors of bandits.

Most of the times, the victims of extra-judicial killings are the breadwinners of their families, thus leaving behind widows and orphaned children to face uncertain future.

We also hear of frequent cries for justice by some innocent inmates of our dingy, bursting prisons through human rights groups who pay them occasional visits. The innocent inmates could be those arbitrarily picked up by the police, branded as criminals, rushed to courts and herded straight to the jails as awaiting trial inmates. Who will now heed the increasing cries of the growing legion of innocent victims of police injustice who allege cover-ups?

As things are today, it has become an urgent task for the new Police IG, Abubakar, to stem his men’s continuing lawlessness.

We are supposed to be enjoying the auspicious free air of democracy, but the palpable feeling of being under a siege is always thick, due to police cruelty. It is as if the entire nation itself is still at gunpoint. And it is indeed an unconscionable act of self-degradation that an institution that enjoins civilians not to take the law into their hands is frequently seen indulging in the same violations.

On the conspiratorial culture of denials of wrongdoing by the police, it is time we stopped the practice. Every time officers of the Nigeria Police or military visit brutality or injustice on the civil populace and there are cries for justice, the service spokesmen would come out denying, and absolving policemen of any guilt, even when evidence speaks to the contrary. Does it then mean that the armed officers are so infallible that they can never admit to, or confess to misconduct; or too far above the civil society that they find it hard to offer public apology after realising their errors and deliberate infractions?

Yes, there have been some cases of the police disciplining their delinquent officers by way of orderly room trials, demotions and dismissals, but we are yet to see a humane police force that would admit guilt, publicly apologise to Nigerians and ensure that justice is seen to be done. If some other societies have law enforcement institutions that operate within the ambit of the law and serve the people with dignity, civility and humility, it is not late or impossible for Nigeria to re-orientate or evolve its own too.

Onifade, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abule Egba, Lagos vide adebiyigood@yahoo.com.

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