The Nation Newspaper

Tag: brutality

  • CJN on police brutality

    EMBARRASSED by the plenitude of cases before the courts concerning police misuse of power, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Walter Onnoghen, has asked the courts to take proactive steps to curb the malady. According to him, “I have observed, and received several complaints of the horrific incidents of Police brutality, inordinate arrest, detention and extortion of innocent Nigerians by police officers across the country. These incidents have assumed frightening proportions in recent times. The Magistrate Courts are currently overwhelmed with cases of such brutality, inordinate arrests and detention of Citizens.” He continues: “As we approach election year, it is imperative that we curb these excesses through the instrumentality of the statutory powers of the courts. The Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) has given Magistrates oversight functions over Police Stations in their Jurisdictions.”

    The judiciary is wading in because neither the police authorities, who are hugely distracted and stuck in Neanderthal forms of policing under a unitary system, nor the federal government, which is reluctant to give up its powers of policing and yet is unable to fund or restructure the Police Force, has proved competent in doing anything proactive about the law enforcement agency. They are satisfied reacting to cases of abuse, hauling a few erring policemen before their ineffective internal disciplinary mechanisms, and enunciating cosmetic changes. The rot is so overwhelming that it is hard not to see the tragedy the law enforcement agency has become.

    It is not certain that the judicial intervention advocated by the CJN will go very far. It is worth trying, of course, and the principle of the intervention must be saluted. But the rot is much deeper than what the judiciary can fix, and the structure of policing so archaic that no amount of tinkering can do it any good. It is perhaps only the federal government, particularly the presidency, that still lauds unitary policing. They fear that state police would be abused by autocratic governors. They do not think state police can be structured in such a way that safeguards can be built into it. Paralysed by fear, too mendicant to fund the law enforcement agency, and too lazy to even supervise it well and build a disciplined and innovative crime fighting force, the federal government has allowed the Force to decay into a brutish and extortionate agency.

    The police, like the herdsmen killings, should be a major campaign issue for the next general elections. Political parties which hope to win popular votes must discuss this grave issue and convince the electorate that they have great and implementable plans to give the country a new Police Force. Nothing else will suffice. It is time political parties earned, rather than buy, their votes.

  • Kogi groups caution against brutality

    THE Okun people of the Kogi West have called on the Federal Government to thread carefully over the lingering crisis between Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West and the police.

    The Okun Development Association (ODA) and Okun Development Initiative (ODI), while speaking on the issues, appealed to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to intervene and see to the peaceful resolution of the crises within its folds.

    National President of ODA, Mr. Femi Mokikan, in a statement yesterday, said from the account of all that has happened in the last 72 hours between the police and the embattled senator, it was obvious that the law enforcement agencies have gone beyond the bounds.

    “The Okun people of Kogi State, more than any other people, have justifiable reasons to be apprehensive at the recent ugly dimension that his encounter with the law enforcement agencies has assumed.

    “Senator Dino Malaye is like every other person with legitimate claim to any part of Okun-people local government areas, our own. Government must not deploy extra-judicial and extra-legal methods in dealing with suspects.”

    General Secretary of ODI, Apostle Olalekan Aiyenigba said: “We agree that no individual is above the law. Every alleged infraction of the law should be investigated. But in the performance of its responsibilities, the police should conform to laid down rules.

    “The assumption of innocence as guaranteed by the law must be sacrosanct in the conduct of the police in the current case of Senator Dino Melaye.”

     

  • Man cries out over police failure to pay N6.1 million damages for brutality

    A father of five, David Ehiosun, who was shot on his left leg by a trigger- happy mobile policeman in 2003 has cried out for help over the failure and continued delay of Police authorities to pay him a sum of N6.1 million awarded as damages by a Lagos High Court.

    Ehiosun said he was shot by one Inspector Sunday Omoseigho at Kingsway bus stop close to Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way because he had refused to cooperate with the later to sexually harass a 15-year- old girl.

    “He threatened to deal with me and even shoot me, so I walked away.  The next day, when I was walking pass, he was sitting and drinking with his police friend at Kingsway bus stop. When he saw me, he stopped me and accused me of disobeying him.  When I tried to explain myself he got angry and poured his drink on me.

    “I asked him why he went that far and he said he would shoot me and while I was still trying to explain myself, he shot me on my left leg.  Immediately he ran away,  I was left in the pool of my own blood.  People around quickly looked for a vehicle and rushed me to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital in Ikeja.”

    A medical report issued by a consultant with the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Dr.  Mustafa I. A. made available to newsmen revealed that the victim who had since lost the use of his left leg sustained open fracture of the left tibia and fibula from which he bled profusely.

    In a bid to get justice, the 45-year- old driver, an indigene of Edo State, through the office of the Public Defender had in 2009 sued Inspector Omoseigho, the Commissioner of Police (CP) Lagos State and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) in Suit No: ID/574/2009.

    After years of prolonged adjournments, Justice Bola Ighile of the High Court of Lagos State had on October 15th, 2014, awarded the claimant the sum of N6.1 million as damages.

    Surprisingly, almost four years after the court judgment, Ehiosun is yet to be paid the damages.

    According to him, life has not been the same since the incident, as he has spent all he had on both orthodox and traditional medicine treatment.

    Ehiosun said the injury led to the loss of his job as a driver to a banker, making him a liability to his family.

    In his words, “Due to the injury I sustained from the gun shot, I can’t stand for long and can’t even walk well. I have been going in and out of hospital admission due to complications from the injury.

    “I have five children and I cannot even fend for them. Feeding daily and taking care of my bills is now a luxury I cannot afford.  Some of my children have been forced to drop out of school.  I just want the police to do the needful so that I can get my life together and give my children a better life. ”

    On the attempts made to ensure compliance on the part of the Police,  the victim said he had also written to the Lagos State Government to intervene in the matter.

    He said: “In 2017, I wrote to the office of the Lagos State Governor to come to my aid.  The governor ordered the Attorney General/ Honourable Commissioner ministry of Justice to act on my case.  But till date, nothing has been done.”

    Lamenting his ordeal, he said the police Inspector who was made to face orderly room trial and demoted to a Sergeant has  robbed him of his  happiness and good health.

    “Does it now mean that a uniformed man can do whatever he pleases with the life of a common man and only get a slap on the wrist as punishment? Or is the police now above the law that even a court judgment mean nothing to them?” he said.

  • Youths decry excessive taxation, brutality in Ebonyi

    Several youth groups and youth led organizations gathered in Abakiliki to decry excessive taxation being imposed on youth entrepreneurs.

    The youth groups met with representatives of the government from the integrated revenue department of the board of internal revenue, Mr. Esema A. Chima, and the SSA to the government on internally generated revenue, Mr. Okwuegbu Sunday, on Thursday.

    The youths have continued to endure a plethora of horrible experiences. Mr. Ukpabi of the Salt Youth Network narrated the experience of one of their skill acquisition beneficiaries, who just relocated to Abakiliki from his village to start his barbing business at a low cost location, only to be slammed with a tax of #36,000 which exceeds his rent and his business capital put together.

    The attitude of the waste management agents was not left out of this agitation as they were reported to have seized goods from traders at their business premises, insisting on annual purchase of waste bins. According to Mr. Nwogodo Vincent of Young Visioneers Association of Nigeria (YVAN), these agents also beat up citizens in the process of recovering such levies.

    As a result of this heavy tax and recovery agents’ molestation, several entrepreneurs have closed up their businesses, while some only open their shops at odd hours when the tax forces have closed for the day.

    In response, the government representatives explained the basis for the taxes and called on the youth to support the effort of the government as the dividend of their taxes can be seen in the development of the state. They however admitted that the agents responsible for the recovery are incompetent in some cases and as a result overcharged citizens. The youths suggested solutions to the problem which were documented in a communique.

    Read Also: Ebonyi tackles genital mutilation

     At the end of the engagement, the youths agreed that they are willing to work with the government in the interest of the development of the state and they are also willing to pay tax, but demanded from the government a more transparent process subject to assessment in the determination of taxes.

    The aggrieved stakeholders made it clear that the right to freedom of expression has been denied them since anyone who reports or makes any statement against the government becomes a victim of attack. Journalists such as Mr. Charles Otu and Mr. Chika Nwoba were reported to have been arrested and brutalized, as a result.

    One of the victims is a journalist; Mr. Chika, whose head was broken in the course of a recent attack and placed under critical condition, is currently in a struggle for his life at the Federal Medical Centre, Abakiliki. Mr. Charles Otu was also rescued through external intervention.

    They reported that opposition parties are not free to host party meetings as it is unacceptable to the government of the day.

    South Saharan Social Development Organization, a non-governmental organization has come out to condemn the attack, upholding the fundamental human rights of Ebonyi state citizens.

    Speaking to our correspondent, Nwachukwu Onyinyechi, the program manager of South Saharan Social Development Organization said:

    “The Government of Ebonyi State should address the menace of brutalization by its tax collection agents. As much as it is important to increase the State IGR, it is imperative to secure the lives and rights of the citizens who are the tax payers.

    “The right of expression and association are constitutionally enshrined in the fundamental human rights and should not be denied any individual, group or community.”

  • Extreme brutality

    •Policemen who dragged driver on the street in Edo deserve to be punished 

    The well-known slogan used to be “Police brutality,” but that must change now to police bestiality. For the correct description of the report emanating from Benin City, Edo State, can only be beastly. Of course the bad behaviour of some men of the police  force manifests routinely, but this one takes the prize.

    As the story goes, last Sunday, policemen from the Esigie Division of the Edo State Police Command had handcuffed a commercial bus driver to their patrol truck and dragged him on the street along Sokponba Road junction. It took the intervention of residents of the neighbourhood who could not condone the sight of the brutality anymore to secure the release of the victim.

    According to reports, the residents who saw the hapless victim being dragged down the street accosted the policemen said to be in mufti. The policemen, it was reported, molested the intercessors, threatening to shoot them and even hit them with gun butt. Indeed, they were handcuffed and were about to be bundled into their truck when more residents gathered and surrounded them.

    The policemen called for reinforcement and it was the new team that brought commonsense to bear on a situation that was poised to be a bloody afternoon on a Benin street.

    The new team members who were reportedly in uniform eased off the heedless gang and later unshackled all the people who had been cuffed, setting them free. But not before the sordid scene had been videoed and uploaded by a resident. This fellow too was picked up and detained for days.

    If the men on patrol misbehaved, the Edo State Police Command’s reaction has been reprehensible. Effort by The Punch reporter to speak with the command’s public relations officer was said to have been crudely rebuffed. Four days after the incident, there was no official comment from the command.

    Residents noted that the police of the Esigie Division are notorious for intimidating and extorting commercial bus drivers.

    Though this matter may have gone beyond the limits, the police have been in the news recently and even more frequently for all manner of misdemeanor and very unprofessional conducts. In Ibadan recently, a photographer was apparently bludgeoned to death by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the state’s command. Even after the autopsy has shown that the victim, Kola Aderogba, died of bruises and fractures, the officer in charge insisted that the late Aderogba was mentally imbalanced.

    Just last week in Lagos, policemen of ‘Area M’ Command, Idimu, were accused of robbing a medical doctor who was supposedly returning from a late night call with his wife. According to the report, after the doctor and his wife were detained for hours, they were led to the nearest ATM point where they were made to withdraw N45,000 to obtain freedom. The doctor noted that four other motorists were apprehended along with him and they were made to pay varying sums as well.

    The Lagos State Police Command is thereabout now, concluding the prosecution of the Divisional Police Officer of the Ijeshatedo Police Division who allegedly shot dead a tailor apprentice, Jamiu Ayoade.

    There are numerous cases like all the above across the country and quite a number go unreported. What this suggests is that the Nigeria police is in need of a comprehensive reform: right from the recruitment process, training, orientation, disciplinary measures and welfare. Particularly important is the need to expose the officers and men to well established commands across the world. Decentralisation is also key as it is the practice in other parts of the world.

    We have no claim to development and progress if we still live with a beastly police force. Meanwhile, let the Edo State Police Command fish out the culprits of Esigie Division and punish them pronto.

  • Contractor accuses police of brutality

    Contractor accuses police of brutality

    A Contractor, Jide Fowotade, has accused the police of knocking out two of his teeth during an assault in Ketu, Lagos. The incident was said to have happened, barely 48 hours after a community leader Musbau Agbodemun, claimed that he was brutalised by Special Anti-Robbery Sqaud (SARS), Ikeja, operatives.
    Fowotade, was said to have been beaten up by two policemen who accused him of attempting to knock them down with his vehicle.
    The policemen allegedly removed two of his teeth before dragging him to their station.
    The bike riding policemen were said to have accused him of attempting to run them over when he abruptly applied the brakes to avoid hitting a tricycle that veered off its lane.
    One of them identified as Ayo was said to have head-butted the contractor, removing his front teeth.
    A relative who refused to be named said: “My uncle was returning home after picking up his wife from her shop when the incident happened. His wife was in the car with him. As he was driving, he noticed a tricyclist running towards him and immediately applied the brakes to avoid an accident.
    “A motorcycle with two policemen was beside his vehicle but wasn’t affected. They came down to attack him that he wanted to injure them but my uncle explained to them that the tricycle was the reason why he had to apply the brakes abruptly.
    “One of the policemen named Ayo knocked him with his head, which made two of his front teeth to fall off immediately. He was beaten up in the presence of his wife and was dragged inside the police station. “He has been subjected to severe pain since the incident. I’ll like the police authority to investigate and get us justice.”
    Last Thursday, Agbodemun was allegedly brutalised for exposing an operative who demanded money for the bail of some arrested persons.
    He claimed that he was stripped naked at the SARS office and beaten, adding that his attackers took photographs of the act and also recorded it.
    Agbodemun said: “They pounced on me and asked why I exposed them. They said since I was a vigilante member, why did I go to press? After beating me, they released the other four detainees to me. Those who tortured me are Supol Biola, Babalawo and nine others. They tore my trousers, removed my local charm.”
    Contacted, Police Commissioner Fatai Owoseni urged the victims to lodge complaint.

  • How I lost my eye to police brutality, by 42-yr-old woman

    How I lost my eye to police brutality, by 42-yr-old woman

    A 42-year-old woman, Mrs. Sola Aregbesola, who resides in Ilawe-Ekiti, is now crying for justice over alleged beating she received inside a police station in the community.

    The mother of five claimed that she has lost one of her eyes as a result of the alleged brutality she suffered in the hands of men of Mushin Police Station, who she also accused of almost stripping her naked while in custody.

    The woman alleged that she was arrested and detained at the station on the order of a woman she identified as her husband’s mistress.

    According to her, she was arrested at her medicine shop on May 5 by policemen brought by her rival who insisted that she must leave the community.

    The case has since been taken up by the Ekiti State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development who are working to ensure that Mrs. Aregbesola gets justice.

    Mrs. Aregbesola said: “My husband’s mistress and her mother came to visit my shop on Thursday, May 5 at about 4pm. They asked me to leave the community for them, so she can have my husband for herself only.

    “One of my daughters, who was angered by their effrontery, confronted them but I calmed her down and asked her to steer clear of the matter.But before they left, they threatened to deal with me in such a way I would never forget but I took their threat with a pinch of salt. They left and came back to arrest me with some policemen from Mushin Police Post in Ilawe-Ekiti.

    “The policeman who followed them said I was wanted at the station to tell my side of the story. He said the women had alleged that I came to their house to assault them. When we got to the station, my husband’s mistress, her mother and some of her relatives were already there and they were raining curses at me.

    “It took about an hour before the police officer in charge of the case asked me to explain myself and I told him all that had happened earlier at my shop. I told them I didn’t assault anybody and urged the police to investigate the matter. But the police officer ordered his subordinates to detain me and boasted that he would make sure that I spend four days in detention before any investigation is carried out.

    “When it was about 8 pm that day, I began to plead with the police officer that he should allow my people to secure my bail because I’m an asthma patient and that I also have ulcer. I even begged him to allow me call one of my children so they could bring my drugs for me. But while I was about to dial my son’s number on my cell phone, the officer snatched my phone and threw it away.

    “He then demanded for N30,000 as a bribe for him to release me and boasted that he could kill me in the detention and no one would question him. He said he is an employee of the Federal Government and not of the state government and that the only family he regards in Ilawe-Ekiti is the family of the people who reported to him that I assaulted them.

    “When it was around 9pm, I went to kneel down before him and begged him to allow me call my child who was in my shop so she could bring the money I was having inside the shop for him.

    “He asked if the money was up to N30,000 and I said it would not be up to that and that the money was meant for one of my children’s examination fee. I begged him to accept the money and let me go but he said he would not accept it unless it was up to N30,000.

    “I continued to beg him to collect the money and he got angry at a point and slapped me. He then hit me with his shoes and later ordered his junior officers to chain me to one of the tables in the office before I was later dragged into the cell.

    “They tore my clothes and slapped me severally. While I was being assaulted by the policemen, my son who had gone to see a lawyer came to the police station. He told the senior police officer that a lawyer who had taken up my case wanted to speak to him on phone and request that I be granted bail so that he (the lawyer) could bring me back to the station the next morning.

    “Instead of taking the phone from my son, the senior police officer ordered his junior officer to deal with my son and they beat him also and even chained him. The evidence of all this was recorded on that my son’s phone.

    “While all this was happening, God brought a very senior police officer from Igbara-Odo to the station. I can’t recall his name but he told me he was representing Igbara-Odo Police Station. He had gone to the station to see the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) who was not around then.

    “It was that senior officer who, on seeing me drenched in my own blood, asked the officers at the police station if I was an armed robber that made them treat me so badly, and they told him about the allegation levelled against me.

    “It was that time the senior officer, who is not a Yoruba man, called the station’s DPO and informed him about the ill-treatment his men were giving me. The DPO then demanded to speak with me on phone and I explained all that happened. That made the DPO to order his junior officers to release me, saying that I should report at the station the next day.

    “The next day, the DPO called all of us and in a very good and humane way settled the matter. I didn’t pay any money. I just thank God that the senior officer, who is not a Yoruba man, got to the station on time, the officers would have finished me at the station. Now, I’ve lost my left eye to the assault from the policemen at Mushin Police Station in Ilawe-Ekiti and the aggrieved woman”.

    Ekiti State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Olayinka Ogundayomi vowed that the ministry will ensure justice for Mrs. Aregbesola.

    The commissioner said: “It would be an unfortunate development if indeed it is true that the policemen assaulted this woman like this. There are laws against such alleged crimes and the perpetrators cannot go unpunished.

    “We have contacted the appropriate quarters and once our investigations confirmed her allegations. We will ensure that with the help of the law, we deal with the perpetrators of this alleged inhuman act to a woman.

    “We also use this medium to appeal to our women to end the culture of silence where they keep quiet after being assaulted like this. They will get protection and justice if they cry out and report to us.”

    But the state spokesman, Mr. Alberto Adeyemi, denied the allegation of assault levelled against the junior police officers at Mushin Police Station in Ilawe-Ekiti.

    Adeyemi said: “The woman (Aregbesola) couldn’t have said the truth. We investigated the matter and what we gathered from the Mushin Police Station in Ilawe-Ekiti is that Mrs. Aregbesola allegedly went to assault a woman said to be a mistress of her husband and the woman’s mother and that led to some free-for-all or street fight.

    “She got seriously injured in the ensuing crisis and later reported the matter to the Mushin Police Station where she was attended to. We can’t now understand how she would then take on the police and alleged that she was assaulted by us when indeed it was the people she fought who actually assaulted her.

    “We challenge her to prove her allegation because this is what almost everyone in Ekiti do; they just like to blackmail the police when a case turns against them.”

  • Soldiers’ show of shame

    SIR: The brutality of ordinary citizens that pervaded public sphere under the military junta in Nigeria made a return in Lagos last Friday. And by the time the “Khaki boys” were through with the highly embarrassing action, properties worth millions of naira laid waste, while innocent citizens groaned in pains.

    Apparently on a revenge mission over the reported death of one of their colleagues, allegedly knocked down by a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) along Ikorodu Road Lagos, the soldiers threw caution to the wind, descending on BRT buses vandalising and setting same on fire. Though the Army, through its spokesman for the 81 Division, Lt Col OA Ochagwub, has absolved its members from the shameful act, placing the blame on the doorsteps of the street urchins, popularly known as Area Boys, it remains to be seen how such denial will stick, especially in the light of the almost live coverage given to the fracas by both the traditional and social media.

    To put it mildly, it is a shame that the soldiers have continuously gone berserk in public on a slightest provocation. It appears the military is yet to learn from its past ugly public shows. It also does appear that little or no action has been taken against its men found culpable in the previous acts by army’s to hierarchy, that is, if those involved were ever investigated. For whatever reason, the action of the soldiers were completely uncalled for, reprehensible and outrightly disgraceful. It was not for them to take laws into their hands assuming their colleague was actually killed. They should learn to follow the due process of law in ventilating their grievances. Imagine that every bereaved of an accident goes wild and violent in this manner? Of course, such can only lead the country to the Thomas Hobbes’ own society where life is short, nasty and brutish!

    In a time like this when Nigeria is passing through security challenges, the least the country needs is such a bully attitude by the soldiers, who ordinarily should be courting the support of the populace . Without the public support and confidence, there is little or nothing the army would achieve in terms of tackling the present insecurity in our nation. It goes without saying that such support and confidence cannot be earned by harassment and brutality. If for anything, the soldiers need be reminded that constant harassment of the members of the public is itself a recipe for more insecurity and violence.

    It is high time the soldiers recognised other Nigerians as equal stakeholders in the project Nigeria. But above all, the Friday’s fracas must be investigated and action(s) duly taken against the perpetrators.

     

    Barrister Okoro Gabriel,

    Ebonyi

     

  • Youths protest police brutality in Anyim’s home town

    Youths protest police brutality in Anyim’s home town

    Vehicular and human movement was yesterday disrupted for about two hours along Afikpo- Okigwe Expressway as over 5000 youths from three different communities in Ishiagu Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State staged a peaceful protest against what they described as indiscriminate arrest and prosecution of youths of the community by a team of policemen from Ebonyi State Command.

    The youths carried placards with inscriptions: “IGP, save us from police brutality”, “We are peaceful people”, “Anyim Puis Anyim should stop using police to intimidate us”, “Free our youths from police custody, they are innocent”, among others.

    The youths, who are between the ages of 18 to 35 years and all dressed in black, marched through the Afikpo-Okigwe Express road, chanting songs and called on the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Abubarka Mohammed, their state governor, Chief Martin Elechi to intervene in the incident.

    Speaking to journalists, one of the spokespersons of the group, Mr.Emmanuel Chukwu, said they decided to stage the peaceful protest to alert the public on the continuous police brutality and intimidation of their innocent kinsmen.

    When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer PPRO, DSP Sylvester Igbo, stated that the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the Area had not briefed him on the issue, adding that immediately he is back from his journey he would make further inquiry into the matter.

  • Community petition IGP, Elechi over Police brutality

    Community leaders of Izzikworo Clan in Ezza South Local Government Area of Ebonyi State has petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Abubakar Mohammed and the Ebonyi State Governor, Chief Martin Elechi, over alleged police harassment, intimidation and indiscriminate arrest of youths of the community.

    Briefing journalists in Abakaliki, the community leaders alleged that police officers from the Force Headquarters and the Ebonyi State Police Command, working on the orders of one Mr. Sampson Ugbo, a loyalist of the Chairman, Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Senator Igwe Nwagu, invaded the community and arrested over 40 youths of the community.

    The spokesperson of the community, Chief Cajetan Nweke, said that on the 25th of October 2012, Mr. Ugbo petitioned the police command, alleging that some of our youths are kidnappers and armed robbers, which led to the undue arrest of 40 youths of the community who were detained for eight days at the Force Headquarters, Abuja.

    The community noted that on interrogation by men of the Police Force both in Abakaliki and Abuja, nothing was found on the youths arrested, adding that the petition was aimed at creating confusion and causing crisis in the area.