27th June, 2013
By Prince Mukaila Apata Akinsemoyin
At the risk of and discomfort of my life, I will courageously tell the truth to any government or organisation when it is relevant to do so. I will praise openly when tremendous achievements are made likewise I would also condemn vocally and promptly when mistakes are made.
I want Police Service Commission to investigate the current killings of seven members of kidnapping syndicate alleged to be operating in Lagos and Ogun states and make their findings public. The seven members of the gang were killed in a gun duel with operative of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of Lagos State Police Command. These gang members were said to be responsible for the kidnapping of a Lagos Council Chairman, Kehinde Bamigbetan and a Lagos high Court judge.
From the look of things, the killing of those seven suspects appeared like a cover-up and I am calling on well-meaning Nigerians and the government or Police Service Commission to order a thorough investigation into the circumstances that led to the shoot-out resulting in the death of the seven men while only two were arrested alive. Police have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that killing is the last resort and that no reasonable alternative was possible. Clear and convincing evidence is absolutely necessary in this matter.
Dead men don’t talk. In this circumstance every intelligent Nigerian will agree with me that it would be very difficult to completely rely on whatever those two surviving suspects might say in their statement to the police. It might be series of falsehood invented by the police.
We should exercise caution before relying upon the statements made by the police on this matter. But in view of what has happened so far, both as to when the kidnaping took place, and as to what happened immediately after the kidnapping of those personalities, it could be that the extra-judicial killing was premeditated.
I am of the opinion that if those guys were not killed, Nigerians would have been treated once again to another episode similar to what happened during the time of Lawrence Anini, Monday Osunbor and DSP Iyamu.
As for kidnapping and armed robbery, government must first trail its guns on the police. The officers and men of Nigeria police force are openly and severely dealt with for their active complicity with criminals through which many of them had amassed wealth.
Extra-judicial killing means the killing done in contravention of due process of law or carried out without legal authority. These illegalities are being carried out routinely by the police with egregious impunity to the extent that the police have developed elaborate protocols to cover-up summary execution and death of the detainees in police custody.
Such killing are sometimes administered as reprisals for perceived infraction against police personnel or during alleged crime control measures and in most cases during the investigation of armed robbery incidents, land disputes, kidnapping, and also as a cover-up with intent to suppress vital information regarding the involvement of police personnel in criminal activities.
Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of innocent persons have been killed by the police after lying that the victims attempted to escape from lawful custody, or trying to escape in the course of investigation, whereas they are actually taken out of custody to remote area and executed.
As a result, many policemen/women today belong to a class which may be defined not as the criminally insane, but as the insanely criminal. I also, know that there are other senior officers who find in that disorder a convenient means for lining their own pockets. There is no doubt that a good number of senior police officers today are intensely corrupted, conscienceless and very dishonourable.
The operations of the police, the DSS and or other security agencies are governed by domestic laws and regulations, as well as international treaties and legal norms. In practice, however, the actual operations of our security agencies especially the law enforcement ones do not meet the requirements set by these domestic and international standards.
Investigating, arresting, charging, and trying suspected offenders are regulated by the law of criminal procedure. The paradigm case of a crime lies in the proof, beyond reasonable doubt, that a person is guilty of two things: First, the accused must commit an act which is deemed by society to be criminal; second, the accused must have the requisite malicious intent to carry out a criminal act.
It makes me feel ill to read newspapers day after day and hear details of extra-judicial killings and the appalling injuries caused in the shooting, and torture of the victims, often wholly innocent, by the police Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and other police formations.
The important point is that officers should not deprive a citizen of his liberty unless the officer can point to specific facts and circumstances and inferences therefrom that would amount to a reasonable suspicion. The officer must be prepared to establish that criminal activity was a logical explanation for what he perceived.
Sadly, many today intentionally victimise others. They take advantage of the lowly and the poor, and they influence the police or other security agencies to act corruptly as well. In other words, policemen attached to SARS are tools in the hands of more influential persons and this is why we have thousands of innocent persons in the custody of SARS nationwide with severe injuries being inflicted on their body either during interrogation or just to deal with them simply because of disputes arising from business transactions or land matters, and in some cases some of the detainees are maimed for life.
Unfortunately, it has become an accepted practice for things to go wrong with nothing happening to those tasked with ensuring that things are done properly. An example of an organization where these illegalities used to occur frequently is the police force. This is how the police as presently constituted: The root is dead, the stalk is dry, the leaves withered and the fruit rotten. The police authorities should urgently get rid of armed robbers, rapist, thieves, murderers, kidnappers, extortionists and psychiatric patients in their fold. These are the dregs discrediting the few upright members of the force.
Police must stop arresting innocent persons in large numbers and framing them up as armed robbers. This has been happening on daily basis at different police formations, in precisely the same manner, and for precisely the same purpose, namely to swindle the innocent accused persons. Cases of this kind are becoming far too frequent in different parts of the country. Justice will have to be administered with a heavier hand, if necessary, to stop this very unconstitutional form of law enforcement.
Nigerian police authorities should demonstrate a zero tolerance for corruption and human rights violations. These unpleasant happenings call for great reforms.
We continue to allow the activities of some of these policemen/women to continue unchecked, if not we will be heading for a very big trouble in future and in fact, the Boko Haram menace will be a child’s play.
•Akinsemoyin wrote from Lagos.