There is still a troubling rise in police brutality. The killers of Adelugba should be brought to justice
Last week, a 50-year-old female politician, Mrs Ronke Adelugba, was allegedly beaten to death in Akure, the Ondo State capital, by policemen who invaded her house in search of some suspects. According to media reports, the woman was hit, after an argument, with the butt of a gun by two of the seven policemen who came to the house. She reportedly died on the spot.
The Ondo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Isaac Eke, has confirmed the arrest of the seven policemen involved and the commencement of investigations. “What happened was that the policemen who went for that unfortunate incident stormed a hideout where criminals go to do certain activities, like smoking of Indian hemp, but unfortunately on arrival, from alleged information, some of those criminals fled the scene and they went after them. Two of the criminals traversed into premises, a woman’s house, and in the process, two of them were arrested, thereafter, the next thing that we heard, was that the woman had died”, said Eke.
While we commend the Police for their prompt response on the matter, it is important to underscore the point that the brutalisation of the Nigerian people by law enforcement agents has become a common affair. It is manifested in unprovoked attacks and illegal arrests as well as in the detention and extra-judicial execution of suspects in and out of custody. And since the security personnel that had been indicted for such offences in the past were hardly sanctioned, the brutal infringements on the rights of the Nigerian people have continued unabated. The scale of the impunity is such that right now, reparation awarded by the courts against the Nigeria Police Force has risen to as high as N25 billion.
The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, on assumption of duty promised a policing system that would assure the people of their safety, yet treat them with civility and hold their human rights sacred. He also said that any act of criminality would not be tolerated, and that perpetrators would be identified, isolated and brought to deserved justice. It is evident that the message is yet to sink in as many of his men still exhibit a warrior culture that more or less emphasises brute force over reason.
To be sure, the police have their own challenges, some of which speak to the broader issues confronting the nation. For instance, many of the officers and men in uniform are ill-trained and under-equipped while, in an era where some crimes have become so complex and complicated, there is no standard forensic laboratory which can help investigators with conclusive evidence. To compound the problem, most of the policemen are doing guard duties in the homes and offices of Nigerian big men.
However, the foregoing notwithstanding, the police will need to work harder to improve relations with the communities they serve and to do that they must understand that they are not above the law. In the instant case of Adelugba, she reportedly insisted on a court warrant before her house could be searched because the police were said to be in the habit of raiding bars and drinking joints in the area to arrest young boys who would later be asked to be bailed with huge sums of money. The effrontery in seeking to enforce her rights, as due process demands, reportedly led to her death.
The lesson our law enforcement agencies have refused to learn is that members of a community are more likely to volunteer information to officers they trust than to those they fear. That is why many of them have to stop behaving like licensed thugs. But much more importantly, the Police authorities must quickly bring a closure to the Adelugba tragedy by ensuring that those who conspired to send her to an untimely and brutal death are brought to justice.
