Following an alarming and seemingly treacherous retrogression in the middle of democratic rule, Gboyega Alaka beams searchlight on the recent spate of police brutality and killings, pricking the conscience of the men in black, as it were.
Suddenly Nigeria seems to be back in those brutal days of yore. The days of the brutal murder of the Dawodu brothers by an irate policeman; when Lagos Island, the city on water, literally burnt for days with civilian protests, with the erring police suddenly at the receiving end of the people’s anger. Recall that for almost two weeks in 1987, the police became a victim of its own hubris, and practically had no place to hide. At least, not on Lagos Island.
…The days of the Alli Must Go riots of 1978, when five students were cut down in their prime by trigger-happy policemen, for an offence as simple as demonstrating over hostel and feeding arrangements. On that occasion, the police had shot and killed Akintunde Ojo of the University of Lagos in an isolated demonstration in Lagos; but rather than show remorse and sheathe their sword, they proceeded to murder four more students of Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, as the ensuing protests over the first killing engulfed the country. Even at that, nothing notable happened as a caution to the police. The Uthman Muhammad Commission of Inquiry into the matter never saw the light of day. Worse, the Commission commended the police for their “displayed restraint in the face of student provocations,” something many took as a tacit endorsement of terror by the very commission set up to come up with solutions.
Before then, the government of General Yakubu Gowon had spurned the Justice Kazeem Report that suggested that under no circumstance should live ammunitions be used in quelling students’ riots, missing a great opportunity to infuse sanity into police activities in the country. The Justice Kazeem Commission was instituted on the trail of the killing of Kunle Adepeju – the first ever independent Nigeria student killing by the police in 1971.
… The days of the ‘Kill and Go’ mobile police, that literally became the bullying Alsatian of the second republic government under President Shehu Shagari; when one dared not cough, except when permitted, else they got a visit by the ‘kill and go’ hoards, who were notoriously known for showing no mercy. It may be hard to hazard a statistics of how many Nigerians were maimed or killed in those years of terror, but stories abound. This reporter recalls how as a child, lorry-load of ‘kill and go’ policemen randomly stormed local brothels in the Ajegunle neighbourhood and had field days raping the prostitutes. The mere sight of the mobile policemen in their sky blue velvet shirt on ferociously starched khaki trousers evoked fear; and woe betide you if you did not give in to their requests at once.
Not that things have ever been perfect; nor that the country has ever had a completely police-brutality free era, as stories always abound, but recent occurrences indicate that darkness is fast encroaching on the nation’s consciousness yet again, and at a rate that calls for concern. This year alone, the media have been agog with stories of police brutality and murder. From Lagos to Ibadan, Abeokuta to Akure, Abuja to Kaduna, Enugu to Owerri, Markurdi to Maiduguri, it’s been gory murders and gruesome brutality, with the most amplified being the killing of tennis star, Beauty McLeod, who was allegedly killed by a policeman in Victoria Island, Lagos, and Mrs Comfort Idongesit Udoh, who was shot as she returned home with her family in a yellow tricycle popularly known as Marwa in Lagos last September.
Beauty Mc-Cleod who had been on a brief visit home from her base in the United Arab Emirates, was reportedly shot in the leg by a policeman for arguing with him over the manner he had treated her guest at the hotel, where she was lodged. She was said to have just returned from Ghana, where she had taken her daughter for a tennis academy, when the tragedy struck. In an attempt to save her life, Mc-Cleod was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was rejected before being admitted at St. Nicholas Hospital, where she eventually died following much loss of blood.
Mrs Udoh on her part was murdered in Ikotun area of Alimosho, Lagos because she and her husband, riding in a Lagos tricycle popularly called Marwa, with their children refused to give a policeman, Musiliu Aremu, a bribe. In a moment of madness, the policeman shot at the vehicle, which was also conveying the couple’s four children, killing Mrs Udoh instantly and inflicting bullet wounds on the husband. The bullet was said to have hit Comfort on the head, came out through the other side, and hit her husband, who was directly in her front on the shoulder. Mr. Udoh and his wife, and children were said to be coming from a prayer vigil that morning, and thus had no money to give the policeman who obviously thought he was on duty.
The two cases above have also generated uproar from both the citizenry and human rights organisations, the latest being a rally led by Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, founder, Women Arise for Change Initiative penultimate Wednesday in Lagos. The rally, timed to coincide with the hearing of the case at an Ebute Metta, Lagos Magistrate Court, had men, women and children dressed in black, carrying bold placards with messages such as: ‘Stop police Brutality’, ‘Train our police to respect human rights’, ‘Justice for Idongesit’ and more, as they marched to the court.
Speaking, Dr. Odumakin said “It is time for us to take action because injustice to one is injustice to all.” She also stressed the fact that the late Comfort was shot dead because her husband refused to give a bribe to the policeman. She said it is of utmost importance that justice is served in this matter, and not swept under the carpet as in numerous other such cases in our clime. To make matters worse, she said the late Mrs Udoh was nursing a 10-month old baby, in addition to three other young children.
It is instructive to note here that the Nigeria Police’s brutality and recklessness with arms knows no bound, as the two instances above occurred at two extreme of Lagos social classification. While the MC-Cleod killing happened in highbrow Victoria Island, the Udoh murder happened in a low class suburb of Isheri-Oshun, near Ikotun in Alimosho.
Most recently
Last Sunday, another news of police brutality frittered in, first through the social media, and later in the headlines of frontline newspapers, of how a pregnant woman, Risikat Abosede Bamidele in Kemta Division of the Ogun State Police Command, literally had her pregnancy beaten out of her by an irate police officer, for making a phone call. The woman, a non-teaching staff of Catholic Comprehensive High School, Onikolobo, Abeokuta, claimed she was nine weeks pregnant when she visited the police station to check on her husband, who had been detained. Not even her plea of ignorance to the rule banning calls from the station anytime beyond 8pm or her husband’s desperate cry that she was pregnant, impressed the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, as he thereafter ordered her detention, from where she started bleeding, and eventually lost the baby.
Risikat, now recuperating at the State Hospital, Ijaiye, claimed she was phoning her brother-in-law, Vincent Olubodun, regarding her detained husband’s case, when the senior policeman started beating her and shoving her in various directions.
Blue murder in Akure
In Akure, at least a total of three people, including a 70-year old grandfather, Pa Gbenga Olomo, 50-year old single mother, Ronke Adekugba and 20 year-old Oluwatobi Badmos had been gruesomely murdered by the police. Pa Olomo, was reportedly beaten and tortured to death for daring to challenge a policeman in mufti who was causing huge traffic jam in the town; Adelugba was hit with a rifle butt after a heated argument with some policemen, while Oluwatobi was locked in a closed room and tear-gassed until he collapsed, while being tortured to confess to stealing a blackberry phone. He died, foaming from the mouth a few hours after being released on the intervention of his family’s lawyer.
Naturally, tension was beginning to build up in the city, with the people labelling the police, cruel and demanding restitution on account of the three deaths. The case of Pa Olomo almost became a scandal, forcing the police to settle out of court by paying off the family of the deceased.
Aside the remorse shown over the Pa Olomo case, the police in the state also took disciplinary actions on the three policemen involved in the deaths. The three policemen directly involved, Awodeyi Adesola, 30, Adedeji Adekunle, 32 and Adepetu Olamilekan, 27, were dismissed and put on trial for manslaughter. Instructively, Oluwatobi’s father reportedly refused to bury his son, insisting that those who murdered him should first pay for their crime.
The latest instance of police brutality in the state was the murder of a female politician and single mother Ronke Aduloju, who allegedly met her untimely death in the presence of her children. She was killed during the fracas that ensued when the police went in search of some criminals at her beer parlour. Fabunmi Oladipupo and Haruna Idris, two inspectors linked with her death have been suspended by the state command.
FCT, not left out
In Abuja, the ripples caused by the extra judicial killing of John Chukwuemeka Okoro, son of the former chairman, Senate Committee on Defence, Senator Fidelis Okoro last year is still fresh, with the ripples still circling. The Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID) in September arrested and detained ASP Mohammed Yusuf, Corporal Agada Lawrence and Agada Kenneth in connection with his killing.
The late Chukwuemeka and his friend, Sunday Markus, were said to be at Durumi District of the FCT on August 11, 2014, when a Police Patrol team said to have received a distress call of a car robbery incident stormed the vicinity. In the course of their operation, John Chukwuemeka Okoro was arrested and shot, first on the leg and on the chest by the team leader, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, ASP, leading to his death. John’s friend, Sunday Markus escaped unhurt. The deceased and his friends were said to be unharmed at the time of the incident.
The arrested officers were to undergo internal disciplinary actions after which they would be charged to court for extra-judicial killing.
In Benin, one Benson Obode was summarily killed during the process of arrest in May this year, having been named by the receiver of a stolen car. Following public outcry and protests, a petition was written to the Inspector General of Police, who promptly ordered an investigation into the matter.
Four police officers linked with the killing; Corporal Adeleke Adedeji, Corporal Abena John, Corporal Henry Shobowale and Corporal Oniyo Musa have been arrested. The officers had gone to Edo State on the 19th of May, 2015 to investigate a case of armed robbery that took place in Agege, Lagos earlier.
A no hope situation
While it may be said that the police authorities are taking punitive steps for most of the cases and dealing decisively with the erring police officers in a manner quite unprecedented, the untoward situation persists, with offenders cutting across cadres. In the past, the popular argument was that only the junior officers with poorer training get involved in such acts of brutality and extra judicial killings, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. For instance, Risikat Bamidele who lost her pregnancy after been brutally assaulted was a victim of a Divisional Police officer. In the same vein, Senator Okoro’s son was killed by the Patrol team leader, an Assistant Superintendent of Police.
Even the killing of the politician, Ronke Aduloju in Akure, was perpetrated by two police inspectors; leaving a sour taste in the mouth and clearly indicating a no-hope situation. The popular argument therefore is: if senior officers are so reckless, who would call the junior ones to order when they err?
Even as the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase has issued a stern warning that the force under his command would not tolerate extra-judicial killings, insisting that officers must show utmost regard for human rights, statements emanating from senior officers like AIG Joseph Mbu, though pronounced earlier in the year, may yet imbue some officers with recklessness. Mbu had declared in the days leading to the 2015 General Elections earlier in the year that his zone would unleash fire for fire on the politicians (citizens) if they played any pranks.
He also infamously declared that “If one of my men is killed, I shall kill twenty of them but don’t shoot first,” Mbu said. “If they shoot you, shoot back in self-defence. Anybody who fires you, fire him back in self-defence.”
With such statements coming from an AIG as recently as February this year, it probably shouldn’t be surprising that the force is literally unleashing terror on the citizenry so soon, many have argued.
Efforts by this reporter to get Lagos State police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni to comment on the ugly trend proved abortive, as he was said to be in the middle of pressing state matters. Last minute effort to get the state Police PRO, Mr Joe Offor to comment on steps the police are taking to stem this ugly trend also failed, as he neither picked his calls nor responded to a text message sent to his mobile phone.
Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 2, Bala Hassan during a visit to Lagos in October this year however gave an insight into the police’s position on the situation, when he said “Extra judicial killing is prohibited in the police force. Policemen are meant to protect citizens, not kill them. Any policeman found wanting will not be defended by the police.”
Citing the immediate dismissal and trial of Musiliu Aremu of the Mrs Udoh murder in Alimosho, he warned that any policeman found wanting in this regard would be duly prosecuted.
