By Okechukwu Nwanguma
These recent developments clearly indicate how much threat the police pose to
2015 and democracy.
The only way to prevent this threat is for the National
Assembly to now, support and pass into law, civil society's bill presented
since 2006 for the amendment of the Police Act and relevant sections of the
Constitution to, among others, remove operational control from the president
and make the police accountable to multiple constituencies.
These same Nigeria
police personnel who have proved very capable at harassing and intimidating
opposition and exploiting ordinary law abiding citizens have proved grossly
incompetent when it comes to professional police duties.
It is the same federal
government that deliberately denies them the funding, training, equipment and
motivation which they require to effectively discharge their professional
functions and operations that still uses them to do their dirty jobs which are
outside their constitutional and operational mandate.
We call on President Jonathan to exercise restraint, prioritise national
security and the progress and development of Nigeria over his personal
political ambition.
He needs to demonstrate a modicum of sensitivity, beyond
rhetoric, that he is genuinely concerned and perturbed by the plight of
millions of Nigerians who are maimed, killed and/or displaced on daily basis by
insecurity.
The President must imbibe tolerance and other democratic principles and stop
deploying security agencies as instruments of harassment, intimidation and
oppression against citizens and political opponents
The President should allow security agencies to serve the interest of Nigerians
and not the interest of an individual or of a narrow group.
The president
should therefore, restrain the police and the SSS and ensure that they stay out
of politics.
The police should protect Nigerians against insecurity and not constitute a
threat to security.
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