The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Police brutality

  • Police deny killing motorcyclist in Lagos

    The police in Lagos Wednesday refuted reports that an operative attached to Ago Division in Okota chased a motorcyclist to his death over alleged N100 bribe.

    A viral video on social media had alleged that the unnamed policeman described as tall, dark had chased the motorcyclist for refusing to part with N100 in front of Century Police State where the rider fell and was knocked by an oncoming vehicle.

    The incident was said to have occurred around 6am.

    But a statement by police spokesman Bala Elkana, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP) said the motorcyclist was over speeding and crashed into one of the speed breakers before he was knocked by a Toyota Camry car.

    According to Elkana, the allegation that a policeman chased the victim to his death was false and a complete misrepresentation of facts.

    He said: “The fact is that on May 8, at about 6:05am the Police at Ago Okota Station heard a loud sound few meters away from the station and rushed out to ascertain what was going on. They found a motorcyclist lying down in the pool of his own blood with his motorcycle on the ground.

    “The victim was taken to the hospital but eventually died. On inquiries from eyewitnesses around the scene, it was gathered that the motorcyclist was involved in a fatal accident with a vehicle along Ago Palace Way.

    “An eyewitness known as Mr. Adedayo Benson stated that he was standing in front of Century Hotel and saw the motorcyclist, who was riding on high speed, ran into a road bump/speed breaker.

    “He suddenly applied his break but was hit by a Camry car driving behind him. The driver of the Camry ran before the arrival of the police. Investigation into the accident is ongoing to track and apprehend the driver of the Camry vehicle with a view to bringing him to justice.”

  • Breaking: Kolade Johnson: Court extends remand order on dismissed Police Inspector

    An Ebute-Meta Magistrates’ Court, Lagos has extended till June 10, its remand order against a dismissed Police Inspector, Olalekan Ogunyemi, charged with murdering a football fan, Kolade Johnson.

    This means that Ogunyemi, 45, who has already spent 30 days in Ikoyi Prison custody following his remand by the court on April 6, will now stay in custody for 35 more days.

    Magistrate A.O. Salawu extended the remand order because the advice on the case which was expected this morning from the Office of the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), is not ready.

    Ogunyemi was also not in court.

    The suspect, of No. 17, Alhaji Ede Street, Igando, was brought before the court on April 6, on a one-count charge of murder.

    Prosecuting Inspector Kehinde Olatunde alleged that the defendant committed the offence on March 31, at about 5:10pm, at Onipetesi Estate, Idi-Mangoro, Lagos.

    He alleged that Ogunyemi, who served in the Anti Cultism Unit of Lagos State Police Command, shot Johnson, a 36-year-old father of one, to death, with his Ak47 rifle.

    The offences, the prosecutor said contravened Section 223 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

     

  • Photos: Nigerians take #ENDSARS protest to Police headquaters

     

  • Police brutality

    •The three officers dismissed must be prosecuted

    ONCE again, it is bad news about the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). On June 8, three police officers, an inspector and two sergeants, exhibited the condemnable brutality for which the police and virtually all security agencies in the country have become notorious. The errant policemen accused a citizen, Mr. Ademuwagun Temitope Solomon, of being a fraudster and sprayed him with tear-gas at the Chinese Town in Ojota area of Lagos. An asthma patient, Solomon collapsed and developed an asthmatic fit. The officers who perpetrated the act were from Area ‘H’ Command of the force in Ogudu, Lagos, and had been on a neighbourhood patrol assignment when the sad incident occurred.

    The good news, however, is that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Imohimi Edgal, acted swiftly, got the culprits identified and subjected to orderly room trial in accordance with stipulated regulatory and disciplinary procedures. Accordingly, having been found guilty as charged, the three policemen – Inspector Momoh Sulaiman, Sergeant Emmanuel Monday and Sergeant Adamu Usman, were immediately de-kitted and dismissed from the police force. We, however, hope that this will not be the end of the matter but that the dismissed officers will be duly charged to court.

    We note that the state police command has been punishing its men for various offences in its bid to sanitise the force. For instance, in the first quarter of this year, eight were dismissed, four had their ranks reduced, 28 were served a warning notice, three were severely reprimanded while five were discharged and acquitted. There is no doubt that these figures are only a tip of the iceberg and do not accurately reflect the depth of impunity, indiscipline and rampant corruption that plague the NPF. Indeed, only a minuscule number of cases of police abuse get reported although advanced Information Communication Technology (ICT), particularly the ubiquity of sophisticated mobile phones, have enabled citizens to capture policemen and officers visually as they perpetrate crimes that violate the law and the rights of the people.

    Their stern verbal declarations on assumption of office notwithstanding, no Inspector-General of Police has succeeded in eradicating extortionate road blocks on our highways. Allegations of gross abuse of human rights, connivance with criminals, extra-judicial killings and even now, incidents of police officers forcing innocent victims to transfer money into their bank accounts via ATM assail us on a daily basis.

    There are at least four urgent measures that must be taken, in our view, to help transform the police into a friend of the public not just in words but in deed. First, the relevant authorities must move fast to enhance the pay and other welfare packages of men and officers. Theirs is certainly one of the most dangerous of jobs and this must be reflected in their remuneration packages.

    Secondly, the funding of the police force as an institution must be substantially improved to enable it provide its officers and men not just the requisite facilities for operational effectiveness but also a conducive environment to live and work through massive upgrading and modernisation of police stations and barracks across the country. Thirdly, the curricula of the police training schools must be overhauled to inculcate in police trainee cadets the essence of human rights and respect for the citizenry.

    Lastly, an intensive re-orientation campaign has become imperative to radically transform the mentality of the average policeman and woman. This should imbue them with a high sense of self esteem and make them realise that the honour and dignity they enjoy among Nigerians can only be a function of the respect for human rights and high sense of professionalism they exhibit in discharging their functions.

  • Lawyers march against police brutality today

    Lawyers march against police brutality today

    Members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja Branch, will today march along some streets in Ikeja to protest alleged  Police brutality against one of them, Fatai Adeyemi Abijo

    Addressing journalists on the planned protest, the Chairman of the Branch, Mr. Adesina Ogunlana said the protest match will start from the Branch Secretariat in Ikeja all the way to Lagos State Secretariat in Alausa.

    Ogunlana said they intend to present  a strong worded letter to the  State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, as well as Speaker of the Lagos State Assembly Mudasiru Obasa.

    Ogunlana said the decision to embark on the protest march was taken at the Emergency Meeting of the branch which held last Tuesday.

    According to him, the emergency meeting was held to consider the report of Adejare Kembi led Committee which investigated alleged police brutality against Abijo.

    “The emergency meeting held to consider the report of the Adejare Kembi Committee on Police Brutality vis-a-vis the Fatai Adeyemi Abijo experience. The committee was set up on the heels of the now well reported but unfortunate incident of some Lagos State Task Force men assaulting and humiliating a member of the branch, by name Fatai Adeyemi Abijo on January 30, 2018.

    He said the committee wrote its report after interacting with the Lagos State Task Force leadership echelon on the matter, including the Chairman of the Task Force, Superintendent Egbeyemi,

    “Mr. Abijo got beaten up and hand cuffed for the only reason that he remonstrated with the Task Force men to stop the assault on a motorist whose offence up till now is not known”, the NBA chairman claimed.

    Ogunlana said the march is not exclusively for members of NBA Ikeja, he called on other legal practitioners and concerned Nigerians to join in the protest march but urged participants conform to orderly and peaceful procession arrangement and plans of NBA Ikeja.

    According to Ogunlana, the Nigeria Police is an arch enemy, a horror, a nightmare, an evil, a malady, a curse, an epitome of wickedness, a disaster, a complete abomination and organisation of calamity to the average Nigerian.

    He said Police jingle of Police is your Friend draws only the derision of the Nigerian people.

    “The reaction for this perception is all too obvious. The police in the performance of their jobs are for most times, rude, crude, unreasonable, abusive, malicious, mean, unjust, dishonest, extortionate, compulsively lip, violent, barbaric, fraudulent, ungodly and murderous leading to routine maiming, killing, humiliation, degradation and extortion of innocent citizens of Nigeria and others.

    “The ugly stories of the atrocious behaviour and conduct of the Police are legion and legendary and bears no repetition. The Police most of the time behave not only contrary to the law but even above law”, he added.

  • Herdsmen crisis: Igala community seeks urgent govt intervention

    Herdsmen crisis: Igala community seeks urgent govt intervention

    Following recent invasion by herdsmen and alleged Police brutality, leader of a socio-cultural group, Network of Igala Associations (NIA), Ojile Ibrahim on Wednesday called on the Kogi State government to urgently intervene in lingering crisis in the state.

    The group asked the state government to set up judicial panel of inquiry to investigate the remote cause of crisis, stressing that Igala community in the state was facing tough time due to increasing attacks and all forms of insecurity on the people.

    According to Ibrahim, who visited The Nation office in Abuja, the invasion was caused by false allegation made by the herdsmen against Umomi community, claiming to have killed two cows belonging to the herdsmen.

    His words: “Recently, the Fulani people made a false allegation on the people of Umomi community, that two of their cows were killed by the people. Mild trouble started over the allegation which the community termed it spurious, baseless and ploy for the Fulani to foment trouble in the area.

    “In a heated argument, the Fulanis ran to the police to make complaint over the matter. A team of policemen were detailed to the scene of the trouble area with the hope of the community to address the matter amicably.

    “However, to the surprise of the community, the police came and started using force for mass arrest which did not go down well with the people and riot broke out. People started running for their dear life and eventually two men were killed as a result of police shooting and brutality.”

    However, Ibrahim called for timely intervention and alleged injustice meted at the people. “NIA is challenging the government of Kogi state through the attorney general and the commissioner of justice of Kogi state, to set up a high powered judicial panel of Inquiry to investigate the remote causes and bring to justice the perpetuators of the dastardly acts.

    “In the same vein, the local government councils and the Kogi state government, should take proactive measure to nip in the bud, this act of terrorism by the Fulani’s before it degenerate into what looked like the cases of herdsmen attack at Agatu in Benue State, Part of Enugu states and other states, just to mention a few,” he added.

  • Police brutality: Housemaid seeks justice

    Police brutality: Housemaid seeks justice

    A police corporal attached to one Mr Aderemi Oladapo, has allegedly beaten his principal’s housemaid to coma.

    The corporal from Golden Gate Police Station accused Ms Stella Abel, 43, of stealing her boss N2 million.

    Ms Abel, it was gathered, was employed in August by Mr Oladapo’s daughter.

    Narrating her ordeal, she said: “I was employed by Madam Eniola as her father’s cook. Whenever he travels, I go to his son’s house (Mr Akinola Aderemi) to take care of their children. We were two ladies working for the family; myself and Maria Johnson who lives with my boss’s son.

    “I returned home on that day from his son’s house and I saw three police officers who asked me about some missing money. I told them that I knew nothing about the money since I don’t have access to my boss’s room. They threatened to beat me.

    “One of the policemen, the corporal, hit me on my face, kicked me on my leg and threw me on the floor. I was also sent out of the house around 11:25p.m.”

    Ms Abel said efforts to get the police officer’s identity have been futile, adding:”I know he is called Jolly, his colleague and the investigation police officer (IPO) attached to the station, Mr Tope declined to identify the officer.

    “I don’t think they lost anything; the door was not broken or tampered with. Since they did not institute any case, I think it’s false accusation,” Ms Abel said.

    Police spokesman, Joe Offor, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed the incident but denied that Ms Abel was beaten by  men attached to Golden Gate Police Station.

    “I don’t know Mr Aderemi Oladapo or men of the force attached to his company that beat Ms Abel; but I promise the matter would be investigated,” he said.

     

  • Activist escapes police brutality, flees for life

    Activist escapes police brutality, flees for life

    An activist and an investigating journalist with the Society Against Police Brutality in Nigeria (SAPBN), Victoria Odufuwa, escaped a brutal attack by assailants who were wearing police uniforms. Victoria, narrating her experience, said that men dressed in Nigerian police uniforms perceived to be hired assassins attacked her on July 8th, 2013, in Abuja.

    According to her statement this morning, she was attacked on her way to the office around 8 am along the Central Business District in Garki, Abuja.

    She noticed a strange vehicle tailing her, but unknowingly to her, they were assailants who later nearly double-crossed her car, pulled out a gun, and fired shots at her Toyota Corolla. In her words, and I quote, Jesus saved me! She was diverged out of the road, where her car came to an abrupt stop with the help of a fence.

    Luckily, they missed the opportunity to annihilate her that morning. Sympathizers who witnessed the incident rescued her, and one helped her call her office to inform the director, Mr Solomon Okoro.

    Read Also; Brutalised journalist’s whereabouts unknown

    Her assailants, according to Victoria, might be after her life following an investigation and report she wrote about the perverted rot and decay within the Nigeria police. She believes that the attack on her life may be associated with her investigation of the sudden disappearance of a certain Mr. Uche Okafor in Benin. She recapitulates that she is determined to expose the unscrupulous worms involved in the heinous crime.

    When we contacted Mr. Okoro about the incident, he assured us that all necessary steps and procedures were in place to seek justice for Miss Odufuwa. However, for security reasons, he will not comment further.

    In our interview, she said she joined the organization in August 2012 after returning from the UK. As an Activist and Investigative Journalist, she investigates corrupt practices associated with the Nigerian police, fact-checking the conduct of some corrupt sects of the Nigerian Police force accused of corrupt practices in Nigeria. She revealed that this was born out of the need to seek justice for many Nigerians who are killed needlessly over N20 bribes at unlawful checkpoints and other forms of corruption within the system.

    The protection of Journalists and preservation of press freedom are essential pillars of a democratic society, and such attacks cannot be tolerated.

    The Nigerian government needs to take quick and decisive actions to ensure the safety and security of Journali​sts dedicated to exposing injustices and upholding the principles of democracy and freedom of speech.