 |
| IGP, Adamu |
The
Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has been urged to launch
investigation in order to find those that stripped three women and dehumanized
them for allegedly being members of a ‘one-chance-gang.’
The incident occurred on June 30,
2019, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, was captured in a video,
which had since gone viral.
The video captures a mob attacking
four persons, one man and three women, accused of being members of ‘a gang of
one chance criminals’ operating in Abuja.
The video showed the stripped women
being repeatedly flogged by some men, while others watched and used their
phones to snap and video record. Ironically, the only man in their midst was
not stripped.
The National Coordinator of Rule of
Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma, urged
Adamu to identify those involved in the mob action.
Nwanguma said: “There are unverified
claims that ‘they were apprehended by SARS officers and policemen during one of
their operations and stripped on the street...’ RULAAC is yet unable to
confirm this claim as the video didn’t reveal the presence of any uniformed
police officer in the crowd. Efforts to confirm the time and location of the
incident from the police have not yielded any result yet.”
He noted that the accused persons in
the video were surrounded by a mob that beat, kicked and flogged them with
various objects.
“One of the men in the mob was seen
with a belt that resembles that of security agents. The accused persons were
forced to lie on their back with the three women stripped bare while the only
man among the alleged gang was left with his jean trousers on. One of the
female was heard pleading, that she just a passenger,” said Nwanguma.
The activist noted that while ‘One
chance’ has been a major menace in parts of Abuja, targeting mainly women, the
resort to mob action against suspects is not a lawful or civilised response to
the menace.
He said: “It is tending to fight
crime with crime. The consequences of citizens taking laws into their own hands
by resorting to mob action include the fact that often, innocent people are
victimised and sometimes, as in the case of the Aluu 4, mob action may also
result to the murder of innocent people. Even if the actual criminals were to
be arrested by citizens while in the act, the lawful step to take is to hand
them over to the police for investigation and prosecution.
“But of even more serious concern to
RULAAC is the discriminatory treatment meted to accused persons based on
gender. In this case under reference, while the mob stripped the
three accused female naked, they left the male accused member of the alleged
gang with his trousers on.”
Nwanguma argued that the dehumanizing
treatment of the three women was not an isolated case.
According to him, there was a
growing and disturbing tendency by both law enforcement agents and citizens to
subject women accused of crime to sexual abuse and violence, clearly targeting
them for being women.
He said: “The Abuja raids of night clubs
and other places during which law enforcement agents, acting based on similar
clear gender discrimination, arrested only women found at the clubs, paraded
them naked and sexually abused and exploited them. This predatory approach to
law enforcement is prevalent and has been documented many times not only in
Abuja, but also in other parts of the country, including Akwa Ibom and Lagos
recently. It is despicable and offends morality and Nigerian laws. Those
responsible, whether they are law enforcement agents or ordinary citizens,
should be made to face the legal consequences of their depraved and unlawful
actions. Women must be protected from discriminatory practices and sexual abuse
and violence.”
No comments:
Post a Comment