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Humans cherish freedom. They abhor being caged or restricted. It is in the nature of human beings to want to be as free as air.Freedom is arguably nature’s greatest gift to man. No wonder, the philosopher, Aesop, in his immortal quote argued that “Lean Freedom Is Better Than Fat Slavery”. This quote, of course, emphasizes the value of independence and self-sufficiency, even if it means a challenging life, over a life of abundance that restricts one’s freedom. Aesop posits that a life of freedom, though potentially difficult, is ultimately more fulfilling than one of comfort under oppression.Restricting one’s freedom is therefore, the same as curtailing one’s liberty which is his or her free gift from nature and ineliable right.
Caging a person is not natural to humans. Animals and birds can cope with it, although they will likely prefer freedom if they have a choicie. Man is naturally a free being with liberty to move around at will.
However, the modern human society has developed a constitution, a kind of set of laws or rules guiding human behaviour and activities and with that came some limitations to man’s freedom.
The argument is that institutions, rules and checks are necessary to regulate man’s actions with the aim to prevent chaos and injustice in the society, and to also ensure that man’s liberty is not excessive and not expressed in dangerous ways. One of the agencies of government tasked with maintaining law and order is the police.
Over the years, detention has been one of lawful tools used by the police to carry out investigations, control people or protect suspects from harm( in the case of protective custody). However, in Nigeria, rather than apply it legally to serve the above purposes, the police oftentimes turn detention into a tool of intimidation and oppression.
Crime suspects in the custody of the Nigerian police are often not treated with dignity inline with the provisions of the constitution.
Misapplication of detention as one of the tools of investigation is very worrisome, especially when Gestapo-like tactics is applied. For example, the Police Act (Recovery of debts) and Financial Malpractices in Banks Act do not empower the police to recover debts. Often times, however, suspects, who in many cases turn out later to be innocent, are detained, maltreated and money extorted from them, all in the name of investigating allegations or petitions against them.
My experience as a former head of the award-winning police security newspaper, The DAWN, and also as the Media Adviser to an Inspector-General of Police exposed me to what should be the best practices for the police. But recently I witnessed a flagrant police misbehavior at the Gender section of the Force Criminal Investigation Department in Abuja in a case involving suspect, a business man who had secured a loan of N5million from his bank.
What the said suspect experienced in the hands of the police was not only harsh but brutal, shameful and dehumanizing. The behaviour of the police officer involved was unethical, malicious, full of hatred and parochialism.Police and security personnel are expected to rise above such nauseating behaviour. If, for example, an investigating officer is from the northern part of the country and the suspect is from the Southeastern part, suspicion and eyebrow ought not be raised or ethnic motive suspected if investigations are conducted professionally according to the law.
However, sadly, in the case of the businessman, it was not so.Here is the full meat of the matter: The suspect, a Lagos- based businessman had approached a bank for a N5 million loan, which was approved and released to him. He used his car as a collateral. While he was still transacting the business for which he took the loan, he had an emergency health problem in his family. His son was diagnosed of kidney problem. He sold his car in the process, but he did not repudiate his loan. After the car had been sold and re-sold to different people, somehow the bank got to know that the car that was used as a collateral had been sold, so they wrote a complaint to the police in Abuja, not in Lagos where the man lives and where he obtained the loan.
The police did not handle the case in Lagos, although they have the famous Federal Criminal Investigation Department at Alagbon. As a digression, let me state here that, had there been a state police in operation, or good coordination of police operations in a federal system, the huge amount both suspects and complainants spend travelling to Abuja from Lagos wouldn’t have been wasted. As it turned out, it was not even when the man sold his car that the bank reported to the police. It was after the initial buyer of the car had sold it to another person who lives in Abuja. It was after this that the Gender Department at the Force CID commenced investigation, and the investigation police officer (IPO) travelled to Lagos from Abuja and arrested the sister to the main suspect and whisked her away to Abuja to enable them to reach the main suspect who was also resident in Lagos.
The business man at the centre of the matter, on learning that his sister was arrested and taken to Abuja, traveled to Abuja and reported himself. There in Abuja, he learnt from the second buyer of the car that the Police had alleged that the car was a stolen vehicle and that it was bought by the person who sold it to him as a stolen car. That was how the police traced the car to its current owner in Abuja and detained him for two days. The poor man had the particulars of the car complete and intact.
The person he bought the car from was not denying that he sold the car to him and none of the persons in the line of the transaction denied their parts in the car transaction. However, the Police insisted that it was a stolen vehicle. That allegation was necessary to extort from the owner of the car. The Police accused both the first and second buyers of the vehicle of having stolen it. Even when the original owner of the car who sold it paid off his debt to the bank for which he used his car as collateral, and clearly stated that it was originally his car and that he sold it to solve a personal problem, the police still insisted that the later buyers of the vehicle stole it.
The police continued to extort the men. Anyone who ever bought the car at any point was detained. The IPO involved was even said to have encouraged the lawyer to the original owner of the vehicle, the man who took loan from the bank that he had repaid, to cooperate with her to also detain the buyer, so that some money can also be extorted from him. But the vehicle in question was never stolen. The bank that wrote the complaint when it feared that with the vehicle used as collateral sold, its money may not be paid, had got its money and moved on. It was now the IPO that was making business out of the whole thing.
When the later buyers of the car realized through the evidence of the initial owner of the vehicle that the vehicle was never stolen at any point, they vowed to sue the Police to ask for damages. How far can they go with seeking redress in our society of this day? This is a billion dollar question.
In all of this, the police used the instrument of detention to intimidate all the suspects. This is illegal and contrary to the Police Act. Nauseating situation as this also take in many police stations across the country. The question is, should the investigative department of the police not be decentralized? Why should cases from Lagos be transferred to Abuja when there is an investigation department in Alagbon, Lagos?. It is to avoid cases like this that many are clamouring for establishment of state police. At least, that will save citizens the cost of taking flight from Lagos or other parts of the country to Abuja for any case, whether big or small, given that a return ticket is now almost N500,000 plus hotel and other costs.
Nigerians need to be saved from such exploitative tendencies of some police officers. State police which will be decentralization of police activities, has become necessary now. It will help bring policing closer to the people. It will also enhance and simplify investigation for police personnel. These are some of the reasons many are clamouring for state police. Decentralization of the police system is very necessary in this day and time. It would make operational activity of policing to be closer to the people. It would also enhance and simplify investigations for police personnel.
State police is operational in most countries of the world, especially those with federal arrangements as us, so why can’t it work here?. State Police reduces complication in policing as obtained in Nigeria. In fact, it is an answer to the insecurity pervading the country today. It would also help to decentralize the investigative arm of the police by having the FCID Department in Abuja, Lagos, Enugu, Port Harcourt and Kano for better and easy investigations. If the police are truly the friend of the citizens, why is it that only bad news is that often emanate from the police, largely unsavoury experiences of the citizens at the hand of police personnel? The truth is that many investigative officers are not friendly at all. Nowadays, many of them are money-conscious. They are harsh, brutal and ethno-religious bigots. Since these inelegant policing activities are attributed to junior investigative officers, I’m of the view that such juinor officers be sent back to the Police College for retraining and re-orientation. Nigerians are still waiting for the true police of their dream! May God help us.
Security Tips:
When parking your car along the road or any public car park, ensure that you hide your bag, files or any important item either in the pigeon hole or under the seat
•Don’t leave any space between your window glass that would allow any free access into your car
•Ensure that all the boot and doors are securely locked
•Many car owners and drivers have paid dearly for costly mistake and carelessness. Avoid them.
Security file wishes our reader’s all-round safety
