‘Buhari should declare security emergency, assent to Police Reform Bill’

Juliana Francis

The Network on Police Reforms in Nigeria (NOPRIN), has argued that the increasing cases of police killings in Nigeria were enough to declare a safety and security emergency.

NOPRIN made this call today in Ikeja, Lagos State, while stressing that the only way to check police killings and brutality and also to hold trigger happy cops accountable was for President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the Police Reform Bill.

The National Coordinator of NOPRIN, Okechukwu Nwanguma, said that the organization had tracked more than 27 police killings within 10 months, excluding those unreported on social and traditional media. He argued that the killings were enough for any serious minded country to declare a public safety and security emergency.

His words: “NOPRIN has documented no less than 27 cases of police extrajudicial killings of citizens. This figure does not include cases that may not have come to public attention. The outrage precipitated by the killing of Ada Ifeanyi, just about two weeks after the killing of Kolade Johnson in Lagos on March 31, 2019, prompted the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to pay an unscheduled visit to Lagos State, during which he addressed policemen in the state, warning them to refrain from abuse of power and misuse of firearms. He promised to ensure that the killers were dismissed and charged to court.

“Of course, the IGP also outlined a number of measures, including psychological evaluation of the police personnel, reduction in the period of time when officers would be on duty and the introduction of the use of non-lethal weapons during police encounters with citizens as means of checking incident of police killings.

“Regrettably, after the IGP’s visit during which he made commitments to hold police officers accountable for abuse of firearms and in spite of the strict measures taken by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police against officers responsible for the killings, violations have continued; random raids and indiscriminate arrest and extortion, harassment and more killings. This means that something is fundamentally wrong and needs to be addressed radically.”

Nwanguma questioned: “Any disease that kills 27 persons in 10 months, an average killing of more than two persons in each month, will likely be declared a public health emergency. But within the same period, the police have killed more than that number; shouldn’t we therefore declare a public safety and security emergency?”

According to Nwanguma, public anger and outrage over the excesses of the police and their predatory approach to law enforcement should be directed towards demanding for genuine police reforms.

He charged: “We demand the quick passage of the Police Reform Bill and more importantly, call on the President to demonstrate his often expressed commitment to police reform by assenting to the Bill when it is transmitted to him. The passage into law of the Police Bill will provide a legal framework to drive police reform and engender a modern democratic police that is citizen-focused, service oriented, effective and accountable to the people.”