The group said that the charge was not just
reckless, irresponsible, but was also inciting.
The national coordinator of NOPRIN, Mr. Okechukw
Nwanguma said: “ NOPRIN condemns, without reservation, the statement credited
to Mr. Mbu Joseph Mbu, Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2 comprising
Lagos and Ogun on
Thursday in which he threatened , 'We’ll Kill 20 for Each Police
Life Lost During Elections'. This is a very reckless and irresponsible
statement amounting to an incitement of the police to shoot citizens at
will, hiding under the ruse of 'self defence. Mbu has simply handed a
blank cheque to police officers within the zone, already notorious for
extrajudicial killing, to kill more citizens.”
Nwanguma further said that Mbu's directive to police officers that 'If they shoot you, shoot back in self-defence. Anybody who fires you, fire him back in self-defence…' could easily be exploited by the police and politicians who control them to target political opponents.
The group noted that in the the first place, it was not the case that citizens often shoot at the police, adding that on the contrary, it had always been the police shooting citizens on daily basis, often for no justifiable cause and without redress and accountability.
“We’ve often condemned the high casualty rate among police officers in the course of combating armed bandits. The work of the police is difficult and dangerous and demands the highest level of responsibility and professionalism,” said Nwanguma. “The primary duty of the police is to serve and protect, not to kill the citizens, as Mbu is now inciting the police under his command to do.”
NOPRIN opined that this incendiary statement and directive by Mbu on the police to kill must be viewed very seriously as it represented a very dangerous development and a foreboding of tragic things to expect in the days to come under Mbu.
Nwanguma further said that Mbu's directive to police officers that 'If they shoot you, shoot back in self-defence. Anybody who fires you, fire him back in self-defence…' could easily be exploited by the police and politicians who control them to target political opponents.
The group noted that in the the first place, it was not the case that citizens often shoot at the police, adding that on the contrary, it had always been the police shooting citizens on daily basis, often for no justifiable cause and without redress and accountability.
“We’ve often condemned the high casualty rate among police officers in the course of combating armed bandits. The work of the police is difficult and dangerous and demands the highest level of responsibility and professionalism,” said Nwanguma. “The primary duty of the police is to serve and protect, not to kill the citizens, as Mbu is now inciting the police under his command to do.”
NOPRIN opined that this incendiary statement and directive by Mbu on the police to kill must be viewed very seriously as it represented a very dangerous development and a foreboding of tragic things to expect in the days to come under Mbu.
Nwanguma said: “We hope it is not Mbu's mission to
cause more controversies in Zone 2 as he did in Rivers and the FCT as
Commissioner of Police. It’ll make no sense to call on the IGP to call Mbu to
order or to direct him to retract his dangerous directive to the police
to kill for whatsoever reason. Mbu is irredeemable. We call for his immediate
removal! There must be an end to this never ending Mbu controversy as it is
doing very serious damage to the image of the police and the country at large.”
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