•In spite of efforts by authorities, police harassment of innocent citizens continues
•How policemen at checkpoint rendered me disabled – Uber driver
By Funke Busari
Over the years, there have been complaints about assault on innocent Nigerians by security agents, notably the police and men of the armed forces.
On October, 20, 2022, a peaceful protest against police harassment and brutality at Lekki toll gate in Lagos was repressed by the government. Till date, many are convinced that men of the Nigerian Army were involved in killing and maiming some youths on that fateful night.
Tagged the EndSARS protests, the situation later became violent, leading to several days of anarchy in virtually all parts of the country.
The protest at Lekki was to show the youths’ revolt against police harassment, brutality and killings. At the centre of the allegations was the police Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
Evidence abounds that this outfit was turned to revenue generation by the operatives who often get brutal to have their ways.
Also fresh in the memory of many was the brutal killing of Kolade Johnson by a police officer, Olalekan Ogunyemi. He has since been convicted.
Often times, many of these operatives abandon their core policing duties to pursue suspected cybercrime criminals also known as “Yahoo Boys” and in the process, needless casualties occur, with some fatal.
Sometimes in January 2018, a policeman was caught on camera slapping a nursing mother in Mokola area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. She had told the policemen to stop collecting N50 bribe from motorists. For that, she was publicly assaulted by the police officers.
In January 2021, one Sergeant Jude Ogudu and four others were spotted in a viral video assaulting a lady. They were arrested by the Edo State Police Command and held in the detention facilities of the State Criminal Investigation Department, where their case was investigated by the X-Squad unit of the Police Command.
On October 16, 2021, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Barnabas Isah, AP/No. 285845, Inspector Ifediegwu Godwin, Force No. 508704, Sergeant Emmanuel Ochima, Force No. 514369 Corporal Umameh Mathias, all attached to Adogo Division Kogi State Police Command, were posted for ‘stop and search’ along Adogo/Okene highway.
In the course of their duty, they stopped one Toyota Hiace, belonging to Big Joe Transport Company, and in the process, Corporal Umameh Mathias, assaulted a passenger, and it was caught in a viral video.
The officer was issued a query for lack of supervision while the inspector and others involved arrested and tried for offences of disobedience to lawful order, discreditable conduct, unlawful or unnecessary exercise of authority and corrupt practice.
Another policeman, Corporal Opeyemi Kadiri was caught on a viral video on August 3, 2022. He was searching a commuter’s phone by the road side.
The officer with Force No. 509745, attached to Dolphin Divisional Headquarters, Lagos Police Command was dismissed for gross misconduct, disobedience to lawful order, and assault on a member of the public.
This April, one Franklin Ogolo was seen being slapped and caned by policemen in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in a viral video.
Following the identification of the policemen shown in a viral video harassing and assaulting the man at a Elibrade junction, Emohua, the Rivers State Command Commissioner of Police, Okon Effiong Okon ordered the immediate arrest of the officers indicated.
The Nigerian Police Force Spokesperson, a Chief Superintendent of Police, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, gave their names as Inspector Adejoh Siaka, Inspector Friday Obaka, and Sergeant Ndiwa Kpuebari, all of the Rapid Response Squad in Rivers State.
Earlier CSP Adejobi had described their action as unethical and condemnable.
In August 2022, two officers were arrested for searching through phones under the guise of ‘stop and search’.
Prior to this incident, the Lagos Police spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, affirmed that no officer has the right to search the phones belonging to the members of public.
Motorists are also at the receiving end. They are, many a times, made to cough out their hard earned money or face the consequences.
In some cases, it was reported that victims were either forced to the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) or Point of Sale (POS) operators, to bail themselves from the grip of these officers.
Most of the officers mounting these road blocks, many of them said to be illegal, usually target the youths and search through their phones despite several counter-instructions from the police hierarchy.
Many motorists have been maimed or killed in police checkpoint-induced accidents. Some of these officers often throw caution into the wind while conducting the so-called stop and search resulting into serious consequences.
An Uber driver, 43-year-old David Adoyi, an indigene of Olamaboro Local Government Area of Kogi State, has a bitter tale to tell the public.
In an interview with Saturday Sun, he said on January 10, 2022, he set out at about 6:48a.m to ply his trade driving a Toyota-Corrolla 2005 model. the
According to him, he was heading to Victoria lsland (VI) from Ikorodu, both locations in Lagos.
When David got to the Ketu axis along the Ikorodu Road at the front of the Divisional Police Station, he said he saw three policemen standing by the road, adding that the policemen flagged him down.
He told Saturday Sun that he was asked to park at a place he felt was not appropriate.
According to him, the place was too narrow and he would be obstructing traffic. But he said the police insisted that he should do as commanded.
After parking and alighting from the car, David said the officer demanded his vehicle documents, which he said he made available to the policeman.
He stated further that the officer told him that his Toyota Saloon 2000C (Toyota Corolla) vehicle number plate with registration number LSD 329 FS was fake, but he claimed he protested this.
He said he told the police officer that he lost the metal number plate in a flood somewhere in VI, adding that he got an affidavit and police report to that effect.
After these procedures, he said he got a plastic one pending the time he would be able to afford a metal one.
He said this however was the beginning of his ordeal, as the officer according to David was enraged accusing him of “teaching him his job.”
After the encounter, he said the police officer got into his car and directed him to drive to the station. In the course of the argument, he stated that something happened that left him in a state of despair.
“While forcing me to enter my car, the other police officer flagged down a Coaster bus driver. The bus driver was coming behind me. My car was parked with double hazard lights on, and I had hoped that the bus would stop for the policeman. I opened my door, and the bus driver rammed into it and smashed my fingers with my door. My fingers cut off and fell to the ground,” he recalled.
He narrated further that the officers arrested the bus driver, but while he was still writhing in pain, he claimed the police released the bus driver while the officers were also planning on leaving the scene of the incident.
“I then managed and stood up and picked my finger from the ground in an handkerchief and ran after the officer,” he said.
He said a police woman advised him to go and seek medical attention, since he was losing blood.
From there, he said he was rushed to the Lagos State Accident and Emergency Centre by Seven UP premises at the toll gate, where paramedics stitched the finger. He said he was later referred to the General hospital, Ikorodu.
Upon his discharge from the hospital he said he went back to the police station and met the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) who he narrated the incident to.
He said the DPO’s intervention could not produce the officer responsible for his ordeal but the DPO gave him N20,000 for further medical treatment, through one David Ajoe.
But the health workers’ strike denied him further treatment at the General Hospital, Ikorodu. He said he later opted for another treatment at a Catholic hospital. But during the medical intervention, he got another shock when he was informed that he had lost the second index finger and the doctor recommended that it should be amputated.
“So I left that place on Thursday to another hospital at Sango-Ota called Faith Specialist Hospital,” he said. At the place, he met the Orthopaedic surgeon “who told me that the finger was dead already.” But he said he got a promise that the first index could be salvaged.
But he was charged N750,000, excluding feeding throughout the admission period.
This forced him to report the case at the Police Command headquarters in Ikeja. That effort, he said, got him about N650,000 which was however not enough for his treatment. He said his life has since then been very difficult, having lost his means of livelihood. He’s currently living in a state of near paralysis.
Efforts to reach the Lagos State Police Command Headquarters handling investigations into cases of allegations against its officers, particularly about David’s case through the police spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin, was not successful.
Meanwhile, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, Olufunmilayo Oke, the DPO of Ketu Police Division who said he remembered his case declined further comment.
Countless Nigerians have suffered various forms of abuse, harassment and brutality by those paid to protect them.
Despite several interventions by human rights communities, these incidents are still recurring.
Speaking on police harassment, Okechukwu Nwanguma, Executive Director, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), told this reporter that he is saddened by the recurrence of harassment of Nigerians by the Police.
He expressed concern that serious lessons have not been learned from the events of EndSARS by the police, the government and also the agencies that have the powers of oversight.
According to him, “We thought that the public anger that was expressed through the EndSARS 2020 against police brutality and the aftermaths would have led to reforms of the police, measures to checkmate police harassment, brutality and misconduct. But unfortunately, it doesn’t seem anything is seriously changing.”
He insisted that incidents of harassment, arbitrary detention, torture, extra-judicial killing and disappearance of Nigeria citizens have continued to hold sway.
Referencing unresolved allegations of some deaths in custody, organ harvesting and sales against some police officers, Nwanguma informed that the investigation ordered by the Inspector General of Police has not yielded any positive outcome.
He claimed that the officers accused of the allegations are still at their duty post, stating they are committing more human rights violations.
He was of the opinion that but for social media exposures, many infractions of police officers against Nigerians at bus stops and checkpoints in recent times would have gone unnoticed.
He acknowledged that in some instances, the police boss ordered the arrest and subjection of some officers to disciplinary measures for harassing and molesting its citizens.
He said that not even the judicial panel of inquiry set up in various states to receive complaints of police brutality and investigate erring officers yielded much positive result in terms of accountability and justice for victims.
The human rights activist frowned at the impunities by enforcement agents, arguing that those who commit violations believe that there would be no consequence.
However, he recommended entrenchment of a new policing culture in Nigeria, noting that there should be an end to the continued practice of colonial culture of violence and brutality.
He held that unless government commits to genuine reforms, the harassment or other forms of abuse on citizens will continue.
Besides punishing the erring officers, he said compensation for victims is important.
He said people are victimised every day, noting that they get detained in police cells simply because they don’t have money to pay for bail