Police Brutalities and Extra-judicial killings in Nigeria.

A look in to the History and Acts of Police brutality.
(Is Nigerian Police really a Friend or a dreaded Enemy ?.)

Everyone in Nigeria has experienced the failure of the police to carry out their duty to uphold the law - from the routine "dashing" money to officers at road checkpoints and failures to investigate crimes to horrifying tales of extortion and murder.

To declare that in the administration of criminal law the end justifies the means – to declare that the Government may commit crimes in order to secure conviction of a private criminal – would bring terrible retribution.Justice Louis D. Brandeis

Considering the importance of good policing in National development and the fact that an average person come in contact with police each day ,it becomes compulsory to call for the necessary sanity in this field.
So many Nigerians can re-count their experience in the hand of Nigerian Police,we want to keep track of some ,So as to call for a meaningful change and justice.

If you have a Memorable experience or worthy Solution,Bring it on.

God Bless the Nigerian Police for all their good works .


Death because of Traffic offence

Unforgiving.

Sunday, 18 March, 2001, Mr. Kalu Samuel Iroh was arrested with four others for an alleged traffic offence.The five were detained at Makoko Police Station but were later transferred to Barracks Police Station, Surulere where Kalu was "allegedly battered to death by policemen attached to the station.Kalu's death marked another instance of police brutality and extra-judicial killing of innocent Nigerians". (P.M. News, Lagos, 05.04.01).

If only we hear how and Why and what was done,But it is like the proverbial police talk "Case dismissed".

Destructiveness.

Lagos — Tragedy struck in Lagos on wednesday morning as a mobile policeman attached to a new generation bank along Ishaga road, Idi Araba, Mushin area of Lagos state, shot and killed a commercial motorcyclist, ( Okada rider.)
This is coming barely 20 days after a similar incident occurred at Adekunle in the Yaba area of the state.
Unconfirmed reports stated that the deceased, identified as Abubakar Suleiman, was having his breakfast in a nearby canteen when a stray bullet hit him, killing him instantly.
It was further gathered that immediately the policeman fired the killer shot,.Violence broke out in the area between some protesting traders and other policemen attached to the bank.

The mob, according to eye witnesses, allegedly threatened to attack the bank unless justice was meted to the trigger-happy policeman who had sought refuge within the bank's premises.
The policeman who shot the motorcyclist was attacked the bank was consequently attacked by the mob.
Confirming the incident, police spokesman, Frank Mba, was said to have expressed sincere remorse over the incident and told newsmen that the erring policeman had been placed under arrest at the hospital and would be prosecuted on discharge.(He was receiving treatment at the Lagos state University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) ,Because He was badly injured by by the angry mob who attacked the bank when they discovered that the motorcyclist had been killed.)

Result : Pending,but I believe something will be done.
I commend the past and present Leadership of Lagos state Nigerian Polce,in my judgments, they have tried.

The only sure way out of these messy mess is to have states police. It is commonsense and an act of God. You don't put the security of your life and property in the hand of someone who doesn't understand your culture and your value. Imagine a very rich sheep employing Lion as a security guard, one day he will end up in the Lion's stomach.This happen to us in the north,Our security guard burnt down our house during a crisis.

Job of policing required familarity with the community and indulgence towards the community you are policing. You can never get this from Yoruba, Hausa, Ijaw or Igbo officer being posted to police nonYoruba, non Hausa, non Ijaw or non Igbo people...impossible.

99% of extra judicial killing, accidental discharged and corruption in the Nigeria police is caused by the irresponsible national police we are operating.

Therefore, the only way out is to let each society protect (police) itself by it's own people

I hope I can add to the cases ?
Bestiality

PANDEMONIUM broke out in Osogbo, Osun State capital last Saturday evening when a trigger-happy mobile policeman shot dead a 70-year-old man on his way from the wedding of his son.

The septuagenarian simply identified as "Baba" died instantly as a result of the hot lead pumped into his head by the policeman who was said to be angered at the refusal of the old man to part with N20 bribe demanded at the checkpoint located in Ota-Efun area of the state capital.

Another occupant in the car also received injuries as a result of the gunshot, while the corpse of the deceased whose name could not be immediately ascertained, had been deposited at the mortuary of the State Hospital Asubiaro, Osogbo.

The injured person is said to be on the danger list receiving treatment.

It was gathered that the deceased was on his way to Ikirun from Osogbo shortly after the solemnization of the wedding of his son when he was stopped by the policemen at the checkpoint.

One of the policemen who was said to be drunk allegedly fired a shot into the car when the septuagenarian was still engaged in discussion with another policeman.

Spontaneously, the entire area was thrown into pandemonium as commuters and motorists scampered for safety.

Apparently sensing danger, the policemen at the checkpoint immediately took to their heels for fear of mob attack.

In the process, they shot sporadically into the air in an attempt to scare away people. This led to heavy traffic jam in the area stretching as far as Testing ground, Omo West and Steel Rolling area of the state capital.

Contacted on phone, the Police Public Relation officer (PPRO) Clement Akinnola (ASP) said he was yet to get details of the killing as he was out of town.

It was however gathered that the trigger-happy policeman was spirited away from the checkpoint to the Mopol 39 headquarters located along Ring Road area of the state capital.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200911091280.html

Nigeria Police

Mbanu , Tofi akwa ,Nahi ,Olurun maje, Kai Allah.
Nigerian Police are very terible, heartless and wicked. You can imagine an accident where d police where near bye and could not offer help in the name that they need money to mobilise their car.

I cant allow anybody close to me to join d police force.NO WHERE!!!!!!!!!!!NO!!!!!!WAY and even those far away from me I will advise them to stay away from Nigerian Police like Plaque.

Hi ,Where is No 1-5 ?

Brutality.

On 27 March, 2001, a combined team of mobile policemen and military officers, stormed a second-hand auto-market in Lagos, shot four traders and took their money.

Result :When contacted, the Deputy Police Commissioner, Mr. Emmanuel said he was not aware of the incident.

Can you Imagine this ?.

Source:Vanguard Daily, Lagos 28.03.01

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Animality.

On 7 February 2001, a plain clothes policeman, Corporal Rabiu Bello attached to Kaduna State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) requested a young apprentice, Haliru Slau Agaba to buy a stick of cigarette for him.Haliru responded that he could not afford it.Corporal Bello "pulled out a pistol and pumped bullets into the young apprentice, who slumped"

Result :The father of young Haliru, Mallam Agaba, has ran from pillar to post to seek justice over the murder of his son to no avail.

Source:The News, Lagos, 30.04.01

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The lethal force used in the demolition and sacking of a whole village of Odi in oil-laden Bayelsa State will remain a sad monument of the Obasanjo regime ( Thank God for Timaya ,that reinstate this fact ).The more than 250,000 inhabitants of Odi are became refugees in the bus afraid of further reprisals by the security operatives.Children of school age are left to languish with neither school nor health facilities. To demonstrate the helplessness of the situation, the then Minister of Justice in Nigeria, Late Mr. Bola Ige was reported by Vanguard Daily of March 28, 2001, to have resorted to cursing the officers and men of the Nigerian police thus: "This illegal and illegitimate act, this N2,000 or N3,000 (money) you collect from innocent people, your arbitrary arrest and detention,will be used by you to bury your own children". Mr. Ige, therefore further confirmed the nefarious and illegal conduct of the police in Nigeria.

What shall we the say of Bola Ige himself who was latter assassinated with no trace of the culprits till date.

Amnesty International (AI) yesterday returned a damning verdict on the Nigeria police saying it "kills at will."

It also said the police are responsible for hundreds of behind-the-door executions that take place every year in the country. Addressing newsmen yesterday in Abuja, AI's director of Africa programmes, Erwin van der Borght said: "The Nigerian police are responsible for hundreds of unlawful killings every year.

"Police don't only kill people by shooting them; they also torture them to death, often while they are in detention. "The majority of the cases go un-investigated and the police officers responsible go unpunished. The families of the victims usually get no justice or redress. Most never even find out what happened to their loved ones," he said.

However, the police in a reaction signed by Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Emmanuel Ojukwu, accused Amnesty of bias, saying the report was meant to kill the Nigeria Police.

According to the Amnesty report, "police frequently claim that the victims of shootings were 'armed robbers' killed in 'shoot-outs' or while trying to escape custody. These claims are often highly implausible.

"Fifteen-year-old Emmanuel Egbo was killed by a police officer in Enugu in September 2008. According to witnesses, he was playing with other children in front of his uncle's house when three police officers came up to them. One officer pulled out a gun and shot the boy, claiming he was an armed robber. He was unarmed."

"In August 2009, his family discovered his body had disappeared from the mortuary. As of November 2009, the body is still missing," he added.

The report also blasted the police for seeing "the killings of 'armed robbers' in detention as acceptable practice.

"In June 2009, the organisation visited the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) detention centre in Abuja, which is located in a disused abattoir outside the city.

"Suspects are held in a vast warehouse previously used for slaughtering cattle. Chains are still hanging from the ceiling. When Amnesty delegates visited the building, about 15 people were held in cells. Amnesty delegates counted at least 30 empty bullet cases scattered on the ground.

"Unofficially, a policeman told Amnesty that many 'armed robbers' are taken there and shot," he stated.

The human right watchdog however put blame on the development on 'Nigeria Police Force Order 237' under which, it said, police officers are allowed to shoot suspects and detainees who attempt to escape or avoid arrest - whether or not they pose a threat to life.

"Force Order 237 is so impermissibly broad. It simply gives police officers permission to shoot people. It is against international standards, and is being abused by police officers to commit, justify and cover up illegal killings.

"The government must repeal Force Order 237 and publicly announce that the use of lethal force is only allowed when strictly unavoidable to protect life. This simple step could make a big difference to the number of unlawful police killings we are seeing in Nigeria," he added.

The report further read: "Enforced disappearances in Nigeria are rife. Typically, in the first days or weeks following arrest, families are allowed to visit their relatives in detention. Later on, police tell them their loved ones have been "transferred to Abuja".

According to the police, "as a responsible institution, the Nigeria Police Force is daily striving to deal with the myriad of challenges associated with policing a developing economy. We are cognisant of our antecedents and recent history, particularly when located in the milieu of many years of colonialism and military rule.

God dey

Kenneth bailed himself out with N2000 and was let go,Baldwin could not and was beaten to coma.

On August 24 ,Mr. Baldwin Umunna, a retired NIPOST staff battled to save the life of his son, Kenneth, who was allegedly tortured to coma by the Special Police Squad in Kaduna.

An eye-witness, who pleaded anonymity, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that Kenneth allegedly fought with his co-tenant, Mr. Monday Igwe, on Aug. 16, over an undisclosed matter.

NAN learnt that the landlord, one Alhaji Ahmadu Gari, invited the Police after efforts to separate his two tenants failed.

“Igwe and Umunna carried dangerous weapons but they never used such on themselves,” the eye-witness said.

When contacted, the landlord said that he had to invite the police because of the dangerous weapons his tenants were brandishing.

“All I did was to invite the police because Umunna threatened to burn down my house and he had earlier threatened my life but that case is already in court.

“I never asked the police to beat Umunna, I was only trying to protect my property,” Gari said.

In his own account, Igwe told NAN that he never used any dangerous weapon on Umanna, yet, the police came and picked them to Gabasawa Police Station in the city.

“This is not the first time Kenneth and I engaged in a fight but no one was wounded because we never used weapons on each other.

“We were invited by the police and when we got there, they asked me to make a statement, I did that and later I bailed my self with N2, 000 and I left for church.

“I never knew what happened to Umunna until now that you people came to tell me,” Igwe told the newsmen who visited the scene of the incident.

NAN learnt that Umunna was taken to the CID’s torture room and after one hour, the police called his father to come and take his son to the hospital because he had developed fever and was vomiting blood.

The victim’s father, who confirmed the incident, alleged that his son was beaten to a point of coma by the police whom “we consider as our friends”.

“A boy, who walked with his legs to the state’s CID, climbed the staircase but within one hour, they sent for me to come and carry the boy that he has started vomiting in the cell.

“The police said that they were suspecting may be the boy became feverish because of malaria. They were virtually begging me to come and carry him to a hospital, and by the time I got to the police office, I called this boy, he couldn’t answer me. He was only rolling his eyeballs from left to right.

“May be trying to see the person calling him, maybe he recognised my voice, I couldn’t say,” he said.

“When I called him, he did not answer me, and by the time we moved him from there, he could not walk.

“We took him to Alba Clinic where he was given first aid, a sort of medical attention, and later they referred us to Army 44 Reference Hospital.

“But they could not accept him. We went to another hospital, Yusuf Dantsoho Hospital at Tudun Wada, they rejected him because there was no police report.

“In fact, when I went back to get a police report, all the offices at the CID were locked; I couldn’t find any of the policemen.

“I had to appeal to Alba Clinic medical staff again because they refused to admit him since there was no police report, I pleaded with them, and reluctantly, out of compassion, they provided their vehicle to assist us back to the police office.

When NAN visited Alba Clinic, the victim was seen lying in a state of coma with blood stains and swollen body.

When contacted, the Kaduna State Police Commissioner, Mr. Tambari Yabo Mohammad, denied the allegations, saying that “policemen are not beasts’’ and that the matter was a simple case that did not require much force.

“There was a report that two youths were fighting with knives and when Police reached the scene, they invited them.

“By the time they were brought to the station, there was sand all over his body. This is not an armed robbery matter.

“This is not a matter that somebody has to squeeze someone to bring out the fact. It is very, very simple matter.

“In fact, it is a simple offence. Two people fighting, it is a simple offence. There is no reason for any policeman to start beating…because we are beast or what? Are we beast?

“I have cause to believe that a matter like that went to Magajin-Gari Police Station four or six weeks ago, the same people fought, I’ve to intervene and asked them to live in peace, after all they are all Igbo people.

“Let’s wait for the hospital to say police beat him. It is not for you members of the press to say police did it. I know that is what is in your mind that the police had beaten him,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Umunna has been transferred to the Ahmadu Bello Teaching Hospital, Shika, where he had been placed on oxygen to save his life.

source: click here

I know you will observe ,it has been a long time ,I have been here (On the forum). It all happened as Friends and I went into a Cafe in Ibadan to check a post JAMB result,no sooner have we enter we saw boys jumping out and some Police men surrounded us with Guns ,threatening that they will shoot us,They packed us into their van ,raided another cafe and pack some people ,old and young,We were taking to their head office and we were beaten mercilessly,They said any one that want to call some one for bail should at N20 Thousand naira,A lot were left out but I could not because My uncle was out of the town and the small money I have in my account was unreachable,They use Cutlass to beat us and they said after 3 days ,If nobody come to bail the remaining of us ,they will shoot us and give our corpses mass burial.Which offence did we commit ;Going to the cafe ,to check Post-Jamb Result.
God Finally have mercy on us as the price was reduced to N10 Thousand and the Father of one of the boys arrested with me bail me out ,to pay latter.
Not only that our laptops were confisticated to be released after paying a negotiable amount.
They said that we are armed robbers,But I wonder why an armed robber will be in cafe at broad daylight.They leave armed robbers daily on Lagos -Ibadan road and they are arresting Jambites and people hustling to live.
GOD PASS DEM.

e kpelle..Sorry.
That is how they hinder progress,Yet they said Police is your friend".I will never keep Nigerian police as friend.

Devility
Yesterday.
A commercial bus driver in Enugu, Mr. Chijioke Ugwu, was shot and killed by a Police Inspector attached to Enugu State Police Command, Mr. Pius Agbo on Saturday for allegedly refusing to give the bribe demanded by the policeman.

The late Ugwu, who hailed from Amagunze in Nkanu East Local Government Area, was shot dead by the trigger-happy policeman during a heated argument over payment of a certain amount of money as bribe.


An eyewitness said Ugwu, driver of an L-300 Mitsubishi bus with plate number, AA 756 AYB, refused to give money at the police check point, insisting he had paid earlier but the Police Inspector, who was provoked by his explanation pulled his trigger suddenly and shot him.

The driver was said to have died on the spot.

Confirming the incident, the State Police Public Relation Officer, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu described the incident, which occurred at Awkunanaw area of the coal city as unfortunate.

Amaraizu said Inspector Agbo had since been arrested and was facing "orderly room trial" at the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Command.


He said Agbo would be dismissed and charged to court to face the full weight of the law if found guilty as charged.

Citing Force Order 237, the command's spokesman said every policeman was trained on how and when to use the gun as well as the implications of being careless with it.

The PPRO said, "this matter is really unfortunate because the said Ugwu is dead. But we are not taking the matter lightly. Agbo already knows what he is in for. Investigation is on-going in the matter and by Monday (today), you know what next.

"It is sad that such an incident is coming now that the police is doing everything possible to restore people's confidence in the Force. We will keep the fight on because there is a tremendous change," Amaraizu said.

Sad storie of a sad Nation.I really think the Nigerian Police need a total Overhaul.There is no intergrity any where,Neither is there any reasonabl service.