Constitutional locus of the Police
The
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 made the police force a
Constitutional creation.
Under
the 1999 constitution section 214 stipulated that
“there shall be a police force
for Nigeria which shall be styled the Nigeria Police Force and subject to the
provisions of this section, no other police force shall be established for the
federation or any part thereof”.
The
Nigeria Police is under the command of the Inspector-General of Police who is
appointed by the President at his discretion.
Power
of the Police
The Criminal Procedure and Criminal Procedure
Code make provisions for circumstances, where the police may use force in the
performance of their duties. In addition to the powers of arrest by police
officers, as provided for under the Criminal Procedure Act, the Criminal
Procedure Code the Police may use such force as is reasonably necessary to:
i.
Overcome any force used in
resisting arrest.
ii.
Prevent
the escape of an arrested person,
iii.
If
arrested for a felony, may kill him if he cannot by any means otherwise be arrested.
iv.
Suppress
a riot: (see the Criminal code section 276 – 278) Though the discretion is to
use “reasonably force’, the elastic nature of this phrase amounts to an open
cheque for police abuse. Obedience to higher command is clearly stipulated as a
defense for police officers who use force to quell riots but not otherwise. The
cumulative effect of these section is that “a Police Officer may use such force
as a reason necessary to prevent the commission, whether in his presence or
not, of any offence whatever.
The
Right to Life and Derogation
The Right to Life asserts the sanctity of human life. The
Nigeria Constitution by Section 33 provides:
“Every person has a right to life and no one shall be
deprived intentionally of his life save in execution of the sentence of a court
in respect of a criminal offence of which he has
been found guilty in Nigeria.
Most Constitutions provide that the right to
life may be derogated from where a sentence of death is imposed under due
process of Law. This particular exception has been touted as being the
justification for the imposition of death penalty in Nigeria.
Section 33(1) (2) (a) (b) and (c) of the
constitution clearly defines situations where the Nigeria Police could use
force and even kill in the process of trying to perform their official duty and
they will not be liable but many atimes the police do extend the scope of their
activities.
Police Excesses
Improper use of heated force obviously amounts
to “brutality”. But brutality (Lethal Force) is not limited to situations of
use of firearms. It could extend to “the deadly deployment of police batons,
police belts, police boots, gun butt, even heavy-handed blows. Noxious
substances such as “tear gas” may constitute a lethal force.
The
constitutional and statutory duty of the Police includes:
v
The
task of protecting life and property,
v
the
apprehension of offenders,
v
the
detection of crime,
v
the
preservation of Law and order,
v
enforcement
of all laws and regulations with which they are directly charged
v
performance
of such military duties within and without Nigeria as may be required of them,
see section 4 of the Police Act
v
“the
Nigeria Police is at the vanguard of protecting all the wealth that Nigeria and
Nigerians have either individually or
collectively. The capacity of the police to effectively execute its functions
is primarily hinged on the exercise of the power conferred on them. To enable
the police officers to do their job well, they are vested by the state with a
monopoly in the use of certain powers. These powers include the powers to
arrest, search, seize, and interrogate prosecute and if necessary to use lethal force.
Police are employed by society to mention order
by dealing largely with disorderly elements of the society. However, some
police officers are overzealous and this is evident in instances of police
brutality and human rights infringements. An example of a suspected case of police
brutality was recorded in South Africa. Stephen Bantie Biko also known as Steve
Biko (18 December, 1946 – 12 September, 1977) was a noted nonviolent anti-apartheid
activist in South Africa in the 1960. He was a student at the University of
Natal Medical School.
In
the aftermath of the Soweto riots, police began to target Biko. On 18 August,
1977 he was arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No. 83 of
1967. He suffered a major head injury while in police custody and was chained
to a window grille for a full day. On the 11the September, 1977 police pushed
him into the back of a car and began the 740 km drive to Pretoria. He died
shortly after the arrival in the Pretoria prison. Police claimed his death was
the result of an extended hunger strike. He was found to have massive injuries
to the head which many saw as strong evidence that he had been heavily and
brutally clubbed.
The following year on the 2nd
February, 1978, the Attorney-General of her Eastern Cape stated that he will
not prosecute any police involved in the arrest and detention of Biko.
On Human right Infringements in Nigeria, there
are allegation ranging from torture, cruel and inhuman treatments of persons in
police custody or arrest of friends
and relations of suspects.
One known instance worthy of mention is when the Nigeria Police used teargas on
non-violent women staging a peaceful rally on 16th December 2005 in
protest against poor air safety following a plane crash in which about 50 of
the 106 people were killed.
INVESTIGATION
TECHNIQUE
Although by section 34(3) of the Constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and other similar provision, a standard
has been enacted for police investigation and techniques. But in Nigeria,
allegation s strong that torture as a technique of investigation is common. In
some cases investigation, is often preceded by several unlawful acts. In
extreme cases the methods of torture employed may be i.e. beating with horse
whip, handcuffing, chaining hands and feet, inserting pins and broom sticks
into servitude area of the body, has once be reported against the police, but it was denied.
EXTRA
JUDICIAL KILLING
The concept of extra-judicial killing has come
to be associated with all manner of unlawful killings by the police. However,
the term is used here to mean deliberate and premeditated execution by the police
or other government agents of suspects
SUMMARY
EXECUTION OF SUSPECTS
A case that illustrates the nature of the
practice of extra-judicial execution is the newspaper report of a notorious
Oko-Oba killing. Sometimes in March 1991, the police was alleged to have
arrested seven persons “on suspicion of armed robbery”. They were to return to
the house of one of them ostensibly to recover evidence when at some point, the
suspects were all send to be lined up and shot dead at close range. The police
came up with a statement that they had only successfully eliminated a seven-man
robbery gang who fired on them whilst resisting arrest.
In the Apo traders Saga, seven traders in Abuja
in 2006 were killed by the police. The Federal Government set up a panel of
enquiry headed by a judge to investigate the circumstances of the killing of the
7 Apo Traders by the police. The police officers was subsequently charge with
murder of the traders.
REVENGE
KIILING
Police have also been accused of employing
wanton and rampaging techniques in attempt avenge the deaths of their comrades.
An accident which was reported in Patani, Delta State in February 1994 is a
picture of revenge killing. A police sergeant was killed by some robbers on 14th
February, 1994. The next day, police went into the town, randomly arrested 7
youths of the town, lined them up and executed them. The police on their part announced on Delta Radio,
Warri that
they had engaged some robbers in an exchange of
gunfire during which seven members of the gang got killed.
POLICE
CHECKPOINT KILLINGS
The ostensible purpose of roadblocks is to
facilitate security checks so as to
assist police to arrest car thieves, armed robbers, drug carrier and other
criminal suspects. It is also meant to assist in recovering arms and
ammunitions. These policemen carry arms some times in a threatening posture.
Unfortunately a number of innocent citizens have met their untimely death at the checkpoints. Example is the killing of Dele Udoh,
a Nigeria athlete based in the United State in
1981 at a checkpoint also the killing in 1992 of Colonel Israel Ringim at a
checkpoint nearly led to a confrontation between the police and the army. On
this occasion, the Federal government disbanded all check throughout the
Federation.
CROWD
CONTROL SITUATIONS
The crowd-control situations which may attract
police intervention include students protest demonstrations, or political
agitations. One of the notable incidents of police high handedness is the control
of students protest. Example is the University of Ibadan, when, during a
protest in 1977, one Kunle Adepeju was felled by police bullet. In 1981 at the
Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) eight students were killed. At Ahmadu Bello
University (ABU) in 1986, four students were shot dead by the police. Also at
the Lagos State University (LASU) in 1992, a first year student of biochemistry
was killed by the police during a demonstration.
Killing is the ultimate brutal act in dealing
with students protest. The Abisoye panel set up in 1986 recommended that police
should not use live bullets in quelling students protest; but rather, that
rubbers bullets should be introduced which would stall demonstrators but not to
kill them. The government accepted the recommendation. The panel also
recommended that mobile policemen should, never be drafted to institutions to
quell protest. The government promised to examine this recommendation forms. The
police are also called upon to quell political demonstrations; the same brutal
tactics used for students is adopted. (Mass arrest, torture examples are the
Bakolorin riot, Sokoto in 1980 and the Ogoni people Rivers state.
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