Lamentably, police brutality has continued to make waves across the country. In Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, callous police officers shed innocent blood for the umpteenth time last week when they dispatched Anita Akapson, 31, to her untimely grave in controversial circumstances. As is their stock in trade, police authorities instantly leapt to the defence of their officers. However, nothing justifies the police killing of the defenceless Akapson and others like her. For this reason, the officers responsible for her death must atone for it and the family compensated.
Initially, the police claimed that Akapson, who had just returned to Nigeria after studying for a degree overseas, was killed in a case of mistaken identity. A blithe statement by Force Headquarters said that an officer shot her because he thought she was an armed robber escaping from the scene of a crime. This is laughable. The police do not need to shoot at unarmed persons to make a point.
The defence of the police was, however, disputed hotly by the deceased’s family. In a petition, the family of Akapson, who was said to be the daughter of a former Minister of Finance, Nenadi Usman, alleged that she “was trailed, targeted, intercepted, her vehicle brushed, blocked and shot at close range by a police officer at Katampe District, Abuja.” This is a weighty claim, but considering the antecedents of the Nigeria Police, nothing can be put past them.
Since the era of military rule, the police have imbibed draconian tactics in their operations. They intimidate, raid houses, bus stops and relaxation joints; lock up, torture, frame innocents, and shoot indiscriminately. Since October 8, a Lagos-based politician, Abayomi Sofumade, has been receiving treatment after he was allegedly shot in the leg by a police officer in Ikorodu for daring to intervene in a minor dispute between the police and a commercial motorcyclist. This is an abuse of firearms. If the police authorities are desirous of eradicating such, this officer and his accomplices must be punished.
Unfortunately, the political will to do so is absent. On a daily basis, distressing reports of assault, illegal arrests, detention, brutality and extra-judicial killings reverberate in the media. In Abuja, where the Akapson incident occurred, a killer cop shot dead a National Youth Service Corps member, Linda Igwetu, in July. The incident occurred on the eve of her discharge from service. She had gone out with her colleagues to celebrate that epoch in her life when she was murdered. Another victim is Tunde Adeparusi, who was shot in July on his way to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. A few months after the incident, he alleged that no disciplinary action had been taken against the officers, who claimed they were chasing robbers when they shot him.
Similarly, a trader, Basirat Akinmushire, died in police custody in Lagos last month. She was arrested last September in Isolo for allegedly aiding robbers by keeping their guns. Her family, through an NGO, the Network for Police Reforms in Nigeria, petitioned the Police Service Commission, alleging that the 54-year-old woman was murdered extra-judicially.
It is clear therefore that the police have scant regard for human life. A while ago, the Divisional Police Officer attached to the Pen Cinema Police Station, Lagos, Segun Fabunmi, shot dead Ademola Daramola, as he played football on the streets in Ogba during the 2012 petrol subsidy protests that rocked Lagos. In another headline case, officers slaughtered six traders in Abuja in 2005. When the uproar over the Apo Six refused to die down, the government paid compensation to the families and arraigned six officers.
A report by a human rights body, the Civil Liberties Organisation, said 30 cases of culpable homicide arising from the reckless use of firearms by the police occurred in 2004. Between August 2015 and February 2016, the Intersociety for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, the Centre for Human Rights and Peace Advocacy and the Forum for Justice jointly estimated that over 155 Nigerians were killed extrajudicially by the police, and about 500 others maimed or detained without trial.
These violations and abuses are an aberration in a democracy, evidence that Nigeria’s democracy is weak. In contrast, the Australian Institute of Criminology says only one person was fatally shot in 2012/13 by the police. In Australia, every police shooting is subject to a mandatory coroner’s inquest. In Denmark, because of stringent engagement rules, no life was lost to police shooting in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2005. In Japan, the United Kingdom and Germany, police often go throughout a whole year without a shooting. The result is low fatalities from police operations.
But here, the police believe that they can get away with any abuse in the course of duty. To curb this primitive orientation, the police must be reformed to be accountable. With forensics, commissioners of police should institute a process to monitor the use of official firearms. The CPs should investigate cases of abuse and illegal detentions.
Complaint desks at police stations should be properly staffed and those whose rights are violated should litigate. Officers should be equipped with gadgets to record their interactions with the public, while the use of arms in civil cases should be stopped.
