By Our Correspondent
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun has been severely criticized for failure to control the activities of law enforcement agencies, human rights abuse and the continued existence of vigilante groups all the country.
A rights activist and former National Legal Adviser, Inter Party Advisory Council of Nigeria (IPAC), Barr. Chukwudi Ezeobika while stating this stressed that the “continued existence of vigilante groups across the federation is an affirmation of state failure and ineptitude, irrelevance and ineffectiveness of the Nigeria Police Force”.
He further stated that protracted assault and inhumane treatment of Nigerian citizens resident in Anambra State under the watchful eyes of Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo is reprehensible and utterly disgraceful.
In the same vein, “the recent assault and barbaric attacks on innocent NYSC members in Anambra State, especially that on Miss. Jennifer Edema Elohor and her colleagues, have clearly demonstrated and viciously brought to light, the intolerable level of decadence, lack of control, and ineptitude on the part of the Nigeria Police Force in managing the activities and conduct of vigilante groups not only in Anambra State but across the States of the Federation.
The existence of vigilante groups ha been an oppressive tool in the hands of state governors and an avenue for proliferation of arms, particularly small arms and light weapons (SALW), to individuals or groups not authorized to possess them, the tolerance, acceptance and retention of vigilante groups by the Nigerian state portend a grave danger to the Nation’s nascent democracy hence, my demand for their immediate and outright dissolution and disbandment.
“The frequent harassment, intimidation, assault and illegal detentions of Nigerian citizens across the States of the Federation by local vigilante groups, occasioned by their deplorable levels of training, education and professionalism, call to question the legality of such groups under our laws and the ability of the Nigerian Police to regulate them and protect the rights of citizens which are provided for, guaranteed and preserved under our laws whilst living in any part of the country.
“This perhaps remains the reason why the Constitution, under section 214, prohibits the establishment of any other force for the Federation or any part thereof and clearly defines under Section 215, the appointment and roles of officers of the Force.
“The current use of vigilante groups by the Governor of Anambra State and many others in the enforcement of tax laws, debt collections, modes of dressing especially by women, paint a very dark picture of a person who has chaired an institution of government at the federal level.
“The continued existence of vigilante groups across the Federation, which remain a clear call to anarchy, clearly depicts Nigeria as a failed State as in Libya where paramilitary and local vigilante groups are left to enforce the law and further affirms the ineptitude, failure, and incapacity of the Inspector General of Police in the discharge of his duties under the law.
“The inglorious dereliction of duty by the Nigerian Police unwittingly relinquishing their responsibilities to private individuals, security guards, or vigilante groups which recently resulted in the assault on female passenger Comfort Emmanson on board Ibom Air in Lagos and the hostage incident at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja by a musician, Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, better known as K1 De Ultimate which put several lives at risk, is clear indictment on the Nigerian Police”.
He said rights abuse in Nigeria has become an ugly phenomenon which negatively affects the already battered and deplorable image of the Nation both locally and in the very eyes of the international community. The inefficiency of the Nigeria Police Force has resulted in several avoidable deaths resulting from “jungle justices” across the federation including frequent kidnappings in homes and on the roads prompting citizens to ask if the Force is under siege.
According to him, the judiciary must, as a matter of urgency, distance itself from the reckless and irresponsible conduct and activities of law enforcement agencies, which violate the fundamental rights of citizens as enshrined under sections 33, 34, 35, 36, 40 and 41 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) particularly section 34 which guarantees respect for the dignity of a person and prohibits any form of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment which has become the order of the day in Nigeria. The judiciary, by lending support to these violations, especially in reference to illegal detentions and remands of citizens whilst awaiting trial, unwittingly draws doubt on its integrity, neutrality, and independence.
He said with the current unprecedented level of youth unemployment in Nigeria, it has become expedient and incumbent on the Inspector General of Police to ensure that adequate personnel are recruited into the Force to effectively carry out their duties of ensuring the safety and security of lives and property of citizens and that thousands of police personnel attached to private individuals, companies and organisations are aggressively reduced and or withdrawn to make policing adequate and visible not only at the airports but wherever their presence may be required.
“The daily extortion of citizens by law enforcement agents on numerous checkpoints illegally mounted on our highways under the watch of the current Inspector General of Police, has become a cancer viciously ravaging both the image and reputation of the Force”, Barr. Ezeobika concluded.
