As former AIG, Suleiman Abba, takes the mantle as the new IGP, a non-governmental organisation, Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN), has set workable agenda for him, among which is to tackle impunity in the force, writes Senior Correspondent, ISHAYA IBRAHIM.
Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba
No sooner had the baton exchanged at the Force Headquarters in Abuja for a new police boss than stakeholders started reeling out agenda for a better policed society.
One of the stakeholders is the Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) which asked the new Inspector General of Police (IGP), Suleiman Abba, to clean up the unprofessional activities associated with the Nigerian police.
NOPRIN, a network of 46 civil society organisations spread across Nigeria, is said to be committed to promoting police accountability and respect for human rights.
Okechukwu Nwanguma, NOPRIN national coordinator, in a letter to the IGP, said the problems of the police were hinged on poor budget allocations, coupled with the fact that the money gets pilfered at various levels before reaching its final destination.
The result, he said, was a compromised and corruption-ridden recruitment process that allows misfits and criminals to find their way into the police.
“The police force continues to parade a poorly trained, ill-equipped, badly paid and ill-motivated workforce that is prone to corruption and violence,” it stated.
NOPRIN, however, observed that while the deterioration in the police is not within the control of IGPs, there still remains some space for any IGP who is genuinely committed to reform to show leadership.
One of the ways, NOPRIN noted, was for Abba to constantly remind his officers that the duties of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) are a direct consequence of the powers conferred on it by law. “It becomes mandatory that the law must regulate the performance of its duties relating to arrest, detention, search and seizure and the use of force. In other words, these duties must be exercised strictly within the limits prescribed for the police by law.”
Impunity has been the ruling behaviour in the police, the NGO observed. One instance that illustrates the point, it said, was the indefinite detention of one Chinagorom Ihejiagwa by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Awkuzu, Anambra State, in disregard of a court order.
“The Anambra State Police Command has condoned the continued unlawful detention of Ihejiagwa at Awkuzu SARS for over two months without trial and in utter disregard of a court order that he should be released or charged to court.
“SARS Awkuzu, Anambra State, has distinguished itself as one of the most notorious police stations which has continued to feature in several complaints of human rights abuse that NOPRIN receives on a daily basis.
“Chinagorom Ihejiagwa was arrested by SARS Awkuzu and has been detained since May 31, 2014. He has been denied access to his family members and his lawyers. The O/C (officer-in-charge) SARS has also refused to charge him to court.
“He was arrested by one police officer attached to Awkuzu SARS simply identified as Pele. Although Pele accused Chinagorom of buying a stolen vehicle two years ago and refused to ‘settle’ him, the O/C SARS, Awkuzu, James Nwafor, later told Chiagorom’s brother that he is a ‘confessed kidnapper’ and that ‘we will kill him’.
“NOPRIN received the complaint and inquired about it from the O/C SARS, Nwafor. Few days later, the Anambra Police Command paraded Chinagorom along with others as ‘confessed kidnappers’. More than one month after parading him, they have failed to charge him to court. Many detainees at SARS Awkuzu are framed up with false or trumped up allegations and the police often have no evidence to charge them to court and secure conviction.
“After several visits to SARS without being allowed to see Ihejiagwa, and due to police refusal to grant him bail or charge him to court, Ihejiagwa’s family members approached an Anambra High Court seeking to enforce his fundamental rights.
“The court, sitting in Otuocha in suit no. OT/MISC.106/2014 between Chiagorom Ihejiagwa and the Commissioner of Police (CP), Anambra State and Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) James Nwafor, O/C SARS, Awkuzu, Anambra State, on Monday June 30, 2014 issued an order directing the Anambra CP, Usman Gwari, and particularly CSP Nwafor, O/C SARS Awkuzu, Anambra to produce Chiagorom Ihejiagwa to the court on Monday July 7, 2014 for the hearing of the substantive application on notice for the enforcement of his fundamental human rights.
“The court also ordered the police, in the alternative, to grant him bail or arraign him before a court of law within seven days of making the order pending the determination of his substantive application.
“The Anambra CP and the O/C SARS were duly served the court order. But they have continued to ignore the order and have continued to hold Ihejiagwa in unlawful detention without allowing him access to anyone.
“The O/C SARS actually told Ihejiagwa’s brother that the court order was meaningless because the Anambra law permits the police to deal summarily and extra-judicially with ‘kidnappers’,” NOPRIN said.
NOPRIN also recalled another case that seems to have been suppressed by the Lagos State police command, the issue of sexual abuse of a female detainee by the former Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Onikan Police Station, Lagos.
“You are well aware that three months and half after the former DPO of Onikan Police Station (SUPOL Adekunle Awe) was arrested over allegations of raping a female detainee in his office and extorting her for ‘bail’. Despite overwhelming evidence, not only that the DPO committed the sexual offence, but that he had committed similar offences many times in the past, the Nigerian police authorities have kept everyone in the dark about the outcome of investigation and what disciplinary actions they have meted to the errant officer.”
NOPRIN also took a swipe at the manner the police have become partisan in the political arena. “This is easily illustrated by the role played by the police in the Rivers State crisis and in the Edo House of Assembly crisis, and even in their tendency to interfere with and breach the people’s fundamental rights to freedom of expression through peaceful demonstrations.”
It also asked the new IGP to press for better personnel welfare for the police because the current state of their salary is dismally poor.