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Agents Of Oppression (1)
By Oladapo Ayinla
(oladapoayinla@yahoo.com)
As Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the year 2000 proposed an idea of
each state in Nigeria having its own Police Force. He likened it to the one practiced in the
United States of America. Bola Tinubu took his crusade to Abuja and tried without success to
lobby senators and House of Representative members in a view to gather support or adopt a
bill that would back his proposal.
This plan drew fierce criticism from various quarters, particularly from elected government
officials and other influential Nigerians thus abruptly ending Tinubu’s proposal.
If the actions of the Nigerian Police Force in recent times is to be evaluated and if the security
of every Nigerian is to be guaranteed then we need to re-examine the idea of State Police. The
present Nigerian Police Force, NPF generally lack the capacity to deal with the challenges they
face. They resort to disproportionate and illegal use of lethal force, while committing several
extra-judicial killings in the course of police operations.
In June of 2003 a tanker driver Mr. Emmanuel Okatu was shot by a mobile police officer at
the Warri refinery at Ekpan. Due to crisis stemming from irreconcilable differences over the
allocation and distribution of petroleum products, resulting in the suspension of operations at
the depot, armed police men were deployed to the depot to maintain law and order.
Apparently disturbed by the hardship experienced by the public as a result of the crisis, the
then group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC Dr. Gays
Obaseki brokered peace between the warring groups, normal operations resumed thereafter,
but in typical Nigerian police fashion, a mobile police officer opened fire on Okatu at the gate
of the depot’s haulage for arguing with the police over whose turn it was to load petroleum
products. The heavily drunk police man allegedly aimed at Okatu who was behind the wheel of
his tanker truck with registration number Edo XA 102 RRV.
The Nigerian police have shot and killed 8,000 Nigerians since 1999, with an additional 785
killings within the last 4 months in this new administration. There have been documented cases
where young men had been shot in the foot or leg whilst in police custody. A sixty year old
man lost sight in his left eye and hearing in his left ear from multiple beatings he received while
in police custody.
In March of 2003, members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of
Biafra, MASSOB, were attacked by the police during a peaceful rally held in Okigwe, Imo
State. The police stopped the large convoy of MASSOB members, threw tear gas canisters
and opened fire killing nine people and injuring over thirty people, including Mr. Jude Okeke a
forty-two year old trader. He was shot in the leg by the police as he tried to flee the scene; he
was arrested and driven to Abuja, where he was detained un-lawfully for another five months.
Police brutality towards MASSOB members started secretly during the late 90’s. Mr.
Ugwumsinachi Wogu died due to gun shot injuries he sustained at the hands of Members of
the Nigerian Police Force in 1997.
There have been confirmed reports of over 270 deaths in police custody between 2001-date.
Kano State police command is notorious for killing suspects in detention. Areas G command in
Ogba, Lagos is another dreadful place.
On March 10, 2002 a sixteen year old boy Emeka Ugwuoke and Seventeen year old
Izuchukwu Bayou were running an errand in their home town of Nsukka, when three plain
cloth detectives attempted to force them into a car. When they tried to run away they were
chased, beaten and arrested by the officers before handing them over to the Divisional Police
Officer, DPO who happens to be a superintendent of police, who drove the boys to the police
station. When their parents went to the station they were told there was no offense recorded
against the boys, but was refused bail on the explicit instruction of the DPO. On their return
the following day they found out that their sons were no longer there. All the police men,
including the DPO, denied having ever seen them. Several days later, the mutilated bodies of
Emeka and Izuchukwu were found dumped at a construction site in Nkpologwu, a nearby
town.
April 8, 2003 a bus driver was killed by a police officer who was escorting inmates to court.
The driver was shot during a scuffle in a desperate bid to purchase fuel. “According to eye
witness account there was a long line of vehicles at a petrol filling station opposite the Sio
Industries on the Benin/Asaba expressway scrambling for fuel. “But in no time a Black Maria
vehicle conveying some inmates to court was driven into the station about 9 am without
joining the line. “Argument ensued and a certain bus driver was in the process shot dead on the
spot by the police officer.” On noticing that the bus driver has slumped and died, the police
man shot himself on the arm and there was commotion all over the place. Angry mob tried to
attack the policeman but he escaped.
The mob freed unspecified number of inmates (awaiting Trial) being conveyed in the vehicle,
pushed the vehicle to the express way and set it ablaze.
It is stunning that the police have killed half as many armed robbery suspects it has managed
to arrest in the last 4 months. Police Officers routinely label individuals they kill as “armed
robbers” In August 2006, police arrested and publicly “paraded 12 armed robbery suspects in
Abia State; the 12 were later found among a pile of 16 corpses deposited near a local mortuary.
The Nigerian Police Force, NPF remains mired in deeply entrenched patterns of torture,
corruption, murder and other forms of human rights abuse.
During a two day work shop on policing and Human rights, former President of Nigeria Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo affirmed that the NPF, have committed serious abuses, such as torture and
extra-Judicial killings.
The Nigerian Police Force as we have now is an instrument of Oppression and suppression.
They instill fear, incubates anger, they are anti-people and their actions are provocative.
Watch out for Agents of oppression 2
Oladapo Ayinla is a journalist based In Rivers State, Nigeria
By Oladapo Ayinla
(oladapoayinla@yahoo.com)
As Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the year 2000 proposed an idea of
each state in Nigeria having its own Police Force. He likened it to the one practiced in the
United States of America. Bola Tinubu took his crusade to Abuja and tried without success to
lobby senators and House of Representative members in a view to gather support or adopt a
bill that would back his proposal.
This plan drew fierce criticism from various quarters, particularly from elected government
officials and other influential Nigerians thus abruptly ending Tinubu’s proposal.
If the actions of the Nigerian Police Force in recent times is to be evaluated and if the security
of every Nigerian is to be guaranteed then we need to re-examine the idea of State Police. The
present Nigerian Police Force, NPF generally lack the capacity to deal with the challenges they
face. They resort to disproportionate and illegal use of lethal force, while committing several
extra-judicial killings in the course of police operations.
In June of 2003 a tanker driver Mr. Emmanuel Okatu was shot by a mobile police officer at
the Warri refinery at Ekpan. Due to crisis stemming from irreconcilable differences over the
allocation and distribution of petroleum products, resulting in the suspension of operations at
the depot, armed police men were deployed to the depot to maintain law and order.
Apparently disturbed by the hardship experienced by the public as a result of the crisis, the
then group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC Dr. Gays
Obaseki brokered peace between the warring groups, normal operations resumed thereafter,
but in typical Nigerian police fashion, a mobile police officer opened fire on Okatu at the gate
of the depot’s haulage for arguing with the police over whose turn it was to load petroleum
products. The heavily drunk police man allegedly aimed at Okatu who was behind the wheel of
his tanker truck with registration number Edo XA 102 RRV.
The Nigerian police have shot and killed 8,000 Nigerians since 1999, with an additional 785
killings within the last 4 months in this new administration. There have been documented cases
where young men had been shot in the foot or leg whilst in police custody. A sixty year old
man lost sight in his left eye and hearing in his left ear from multiple beatings he received while
in police custody.
In March of 2003, members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of
Biafra, MASSOB, were attacked by the police during a peaceful rally held in Okigwe, Imo
State. The police stopped the large convoy of MASSOB members, threw tear gas canisters
and opened fire killing nine people and injuring over thirty people, including Mr. Jude Okeke a
forty-two year old trader. He was shot in the leg by the police as he tried to flee the scene; he
was arrested and driven to Abuja, where he was detained un-lawfully for another five months.
Police brutality towards MASSOB members started secretly during the late 90’s. Mr.
Ugwumsinachi Wogu died due to gun shot injuries he sustained at the hands of Members of
the Nigerian Police Force in 1997.
There have been confirmed reports of over 270 deaths in police custody between 2001-date.
Kano State police command is notorious for killing suspects in detention. Areas G command in
Ogba, Lagos is another dreadful place.
On March 10, 2002 a sixteen year old boy Emeka Ugwuoke and Seventeen year old
Izuchukwu Bayou were running an errand in their home town of Nsukka, when three plain
cloth detectives attempted to force them into a car. When they tried to run away they were
chased, beaten and arrested by the officers before handing them over to the Divisional Police
Officer, DPO who happens to be a superintendent of police, who drove the boys to the police
station. When their parents went to the station they were told there was no offense recorded
against the boys, but was refused bail on the explicit instruction of the DPO. On their return
the following day they found out that their sons were no longer there. All the police men,
including the DPO, denied having ever seen them. Several days later, the mutilated bodies of
Emeka and Izuchukwu were found dumped at a construction site in Nkpologwu, a nearby
town.
April 8, 2003 a bus driver was killed by a police officer who was escorting inmates to court.
The driver was shot during a scuffle in a desperate bid to purchase fuel. “According to eye
witness account there was a long line of vehicles at a petrol filling station opposite the Sio
Industries on the Benin/Asaba expressway scrambling for fuel. “But in no time a Black Maria
vehicle conveying some inmates to court was driven into the station about 9 am without
joining the line. “Argument ensued and a certain bus driver was in the process shot dead on the
spot by the police officer.” On noticing that the bus driver has slumped and died, the police
man shot himself on the arm and there was commotion all over the place. Angry mob tried to
attack the policeman but he escaped.
The mob freed unspecified number of inmates (awaiting Trial) being conveyed in the vehicle,
pushed the vehicle to the express way and set it ablaze.
It is stunning that the police have killed half as many armed robbery suspects it has managed
to arrest in the last 4 months. Police Officers routinely label individuals they kill as “armed
robbers” In August 2006, police arrested and publicly “paraded 12 armed robbery suspects in
Abia State; the 12 were later found among a pile of 16 corpses deposited near a local mortuary.
The Nigerian Police Force, NPF remains mired in deeply entrenched patterns of torture,
corruption, murder and other forms of human rights abuse.
During a two day work shop on policing and Human rights, former President of Nigeria Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo affirmed that the NPF, have committed serious abuses, such as torture and
extra-Judicial killings.
The Nigerian Police Force as we have now is an instrument of Oppression and suppression.
They instill fear, incubates anger, they are anti-people and their actions are provocative.
Watch out for Agents of oppression 2
Oladapo Ayinla is a journalist based In Rivers State, Nigeria