The attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice
(AGF), Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), made this observation while delivering a
keynote address yesterday at the national dialogue on torture, extrajudicial
killings and national security, entitled, ‘Human Rights Implications’,
organised by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Abuja.
Adoke said that the federal government had noted with concern
that the police had, through the years, relied on ‘Police Force Order 237’ to
commit extrajudicial killings.
He said that the order, which allows the police to shoot any
suspect or detainees trying to escape or avoid arrest, had led to the
extrajudicial killings of 7,195 people in four years, out of which 2,500 were
detainees.
The AGF said: “A recent report by the Network on Police Report
in Nigeria (NOPRINN) said the reckless use of arms by security agents had resulted
extrajudicial deaths in four years across the country.
“More recently, the chairman of the NHRC revealed that this
approximated to the summary execution of well over 2,500 detainees.
“Although these figures have been stoutly disputed by the police,
even the most charitable defenders of the force cannot deny that some
dishonourable officers indeed have taken the law into their hands in the most
barbaric fashion, by killing suspects and innocent citizens,’’ Adoke added.
However, the acting British high commissioner, Giles Lever,
urged the federal government to continue to sustain the moratorium on death
penalty pending when it was able to enact the law to abolish death penalty in
the country
According to the Canadian high commissioner, Mr Chris Cooter,
human rights, whether in Canada or Nigeria, are not granted by the government,
but are inherent to and belong to every individual.
“That is why they are universal, as both our countries
recognise,’’ he said.
The AGF, who revealed that plans were afoot for his office to
take over from the police the power to prosecute any criminal suspect in the
courts, said the force was peopled by laymen who could not adequately prosecute
defendants in court.
He said that, henceforth, the police would only concern
themselves with investigations of criminal acts of suspects, on the grounds
that the inability to diligently prosecute offenders and the general state of
helplessness of the victims of crime to get justice had led to the resort to
self-help.
“According to a school of thought,” said Adoke, “the spate of
wanton killings and gruesome attacks on persons which has increased in recent
times and the apparent lack of will or capacity on the part of security agencies
to arrest this trend appears to fuel the incentive for self-help measures that
often manifest as acute and barbaric practices.
“There is no doubt that the rule of law has taken flight in the
society which condones a situation where citizens take the law into their hands
and summarily try and execute suspected felons.
“The apparent slow pace of the criminal justice system,
particularly the corruption that permeates the system, has been identified as
the main reason why citizens take laws into their hands.
“I have, on numerous occasions, listened to, or read, how
disenchanted victims and complainants of an offence are treated, especially
with the pervasive corruption in the police: how the police can no longer be
trusted to conduct a dispassionate enquiry into a complaint; how many
complainants suddenly find themselves behind bars in a curious travesty, and
how prosecution and trials are slowed by tardiness and ceaseless adjournments.
“There is no doubt that a holistic reform of our criminal
justice system is long overdue. In my humble view, the issue transcends the
police; the Ministry of Justice and the courts are also complicit. What we are
witnessing in the form of self-help by victims and sympathisers is really
collateral damage exerted by the rot in the system.’
Adoke further noted that these challenges had tremendous impact
on national security.
“We need to ask these questions in the light of growing concerns
about terrorist attacks and mass killings that have ravaged some parts of the
country, more so when there is palpable evidence that the escalation in the
spate of attacks by the Boko Haram group on the police and other security
installations is a probable reaction to the extra-judicial execution of the
leader of the sect, Muhammed Yusuf, while in police custody in 2009.’’
But the managing partner of the ‘Legal Resources
Consortium,’ Olawale Fapohunda, disagrees with the federal government over its
comment on the ills in the police system, saying the approach of the government
to police reform has made the agency an endangered species.
Fapohunda, however, dismissed the idea of state police on the
grounds that the solution to the problems of crime, insecurity and terrorism in
Nigeria was a question of federal or state policing, but achieving a police
service which is efficient, honest and professional to the core.
The Legal Resources Consortium, which co-sponsored the event
along with the NHRC and the National Assembly, said that rather than the
federal government implementing police reform, it had ceaselessly been setting
up reform committees without end.
“The inauguration of the Parry Osayande committee, with terms of
reference similar to previous high-level committee on police, is a clear
indication of lack of interest of the administration on police reform,” he
said, noting that instead of implementing the reports, the ministry was rather
promoting the endless culture of setting up committees. He added that the
police could not check criminality because of the lack of modern tools to carry
out its job.
“Are we aware that the police officers are today endangered
species, with more than 100 officers killed in active duty in the past three
months? How can we reasonably expect a citizens’ police given its poor level of
endowment? Can we possibly expect police to protect our rights when the right
to the dignity of a majority of its officers is violated on a daily basis?’’
Meanwhile, the NHRC boss, Professor Bem Ange, noted that with
the increased power conferred on the commission by the NHRC Act 2010, it was
now well placed to promote, protect and enforce the human rights of all persons
in Nigeria.
In the same light, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) yesterday
drew attention to the rights of the victims of bomb blast across the nation,
saying that the internal insecurity to life and was also violation of the
citizen’s fundamental human rights.
Speaking at a seminar organised to mark this year’s Human Rights
Day, the NBA president, Okey Wali, called on those who are aggrieved in any way
to come forward and table their grievances for discussion.
According to him, “One area which has witnessed serial
violations of the rights of the Nigerian people is in the area of internal
security. Thousands of persons have lost their lives on account of bombings and
destruction associated with the current insurgency in Nigeria. Thousands of
persons have been displaced and properties worth billions of Naira destroyed.
We now have more orphans and widows who cannot explain the offence their loved
ones committed that led to their death.
“Insurgents with no clearly defined mission and ideology have
unleashed mindless destruction of innocent lives and property and the situation
does not seem to be abating.”
“We call on all individuals and organisations with any form of
grievance to table those grievances for public discussion. Targeting innocent
persons and their property in a mindless orgy of violence can only create a
lawless society and can never lead to political and economic progress.
“On the other hand, hundreds of insurgents have been extra
judicially executed. Hundreds of insurgents have been detained for over one
year in various detention centres operated by the military,” he said.
Source: Leadership
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