•Warns influential persons against indiscriminate arrest of citizens with security personnel
By Cosmas Omegoh
Some influential persons are using the police to arrest and detain fellow citizens – sometimes for as long as they desire. Constitutional lawyer and rights activist, Mr Fred Nzeako, insists the trend impinges on the rights of victims.
In this interview, Nzeako tasks the police leadership, to end the ugly trend and undertake internal self-cleansing. Also, he highlights the danger posed to the society and democracy by failure to do so.
Some individuals now use police to arrest fellow citizens and have them detained beyond the constitutionally-stipulated 24 hours. What’s your take on this development?
It is not acceptable in civil issues such as when people have disagreement of civil matters, business relationshipor any other matter that is not criminal, for one of the parties to send the police and allege criminality and have the other person detained. And the annoying thing is that the police, which are supposed to be impartial, will take sides, even before investigation. That is what happens after they have been compromised and in most cases, they begin to do the bidding of the complainant. That has affected the dispensation of justice in Nigeria.
Some people who are languishing in prison and awaiting trial, fall into this category of people who had issues with their associates or their partners or colleagues or some other persons who ran to the police and alleged criminality. Of course a case in hand is that of the little boy, Quadri, Yusufu Alabi, who was let off the hook days ago allegedly for robbery.
The duties of the police do not include service to some selfish individuals. Therefore, they must remain impartial and look at things from both sides before taking any decision.
The idea of compromising the police through some form of inducement to make them act outside common sense, and normalcy is one thing the police authorities must curb so that there will be dignity and sanity in the system.
What is wrong in the alleged police action?
The police have no business with issues that border on civil wrong. The police can only be activated, I mean the powers of the police can only be activated when there is a crime. But when there is a business disagreement or civil disagreement, or insult to one another, the police should not be seen getting involved.
Mere disagreement that is on the realm of civil matters should not attract the attention of the police; that is what is wrong.
What is also wrong is that sometimes, policemen after some form of inducement get involved in matters that ordinarily should not be within their domain, and which is not their issue, but they often get involved simply because they want to satisfy whoever that might have brought the inducement.
Are the police overreaching themselves by doing so?
Yes, some policemen do. Unfortunately those who are in the habit of doing that are growing more in number. The very few ones who have integrity, who are ready to act with honesty, have their numbers dwindling by the day. This is because as the days go by, the unnecessary greed and aggrandisement in the society and the dog-eat-dog syndrome that we have seen in some realms, especially on the political turf, go on to erode societal morals; they also go on to erode societal dignity and respect and even the respect the average citizen ought to have not only as an individual, but for policing system and the society at large. So when that number of people who don’t care about morality grows, it becomes the signpost of the police. That is why the police authority must ensure that the bad eggs they currently have are less in number than the good ones. But when the bad eggs grow more than the good ones, then the former will tar the entire police institution with the brush of immorality. That is what we are talking about.
What does the said trend portend for a democratic society?
The beauty of democracy is that people enjoy some form of rights, especially the freedom that goes with humanity. Out of the various forms of governments we have, the one that comes closest to the natural freedom a human being should have is democracy. And that is why democracy is aptly described as the government of the people, for the people and by the people – meaning that the centric issue in democracy is the people.
But when the police act in a manner that undermines that freedom, then they are attacking the basic essence of democracy. Anything that undermines the freedom of the people, anything that undermines the justice system of the people, anything that undermines equity and fairness, naturally undermines democracy because those are the cardinal principles of democracy. So, any institution that attacks those cardinal principles obviously attacks democracy.
Therefore, if the police get so easily induced – don’t forget that they are the ones that maintain law and order in a civil environment, if they get so easily induced, then the society is in danger; democracy will be adversely affected.
Since we now see that happening, what should be done?
The critical stakeholders that should work hard to stop criminal policing in the country are number one: the policemen themselves. And when I mean the police, I mean the hierarchy of the police down to the rank and file. They have a lot of work to do. They have to be actively involved in cleansing themselves of this debased attitude of being compromised and overreaching themselves.
The authorities of the police should be the ones to start the internal cleansing of the system. This is because the fish gets rotten from the head. If the hierarchy of the police does not do what is right, for the rank and file, it will just be free for all. Everybody will keep behaving in a manner that is unquenched, unchecked and uncensored.
More importantly, the police should have a mechanism for censoring their actions, especially those of the lower level of the pyramid such that they will not only ensure that the internal mechanism works, but will be encouraged by the society to keep on doing what is right.
The society and its individuals should make efforts to increase their level of patriotism and ensure that the moral fabric of the society is maintained. Every country without morality is a danger to humanity. And it is very important that our people get to know this.
We must recognise that the society has a lot of responsibility to the nation. This is because the police do not act in isolation. Most times they act on activation by members of the society. It is members of the society who allege what is not truthful – who are giving information that is not true. They are the ones fueling the immorality and corruption in the society.
So, everyone in the society has a duty to ensure that the moral fabric of the society itself is maintained so that ours will be a society of humanity, not an animal kingdom.
How can a victim for the said ill get justice?
Those who have the capacity to approach the court should not hesitate to do so; they should do so. Those who don’t have the capacity to approach the court deserve to be protected by the society by way of provision of free legal aid so that their rights can be asserted.
But what hope is there when the police hierarchy is part of the problem?
When the police get involved in that, then the elected officials should call them to order. That is why it is often said that the buck stops at Mr President’s table. He is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces including the police. The police report to him. Every action of the hierarchy of the police ultimately ends up at Mr. President’s table; he is the chief appointer of the police leadership.
So, Mr President has a very important constitutional authority to nominate and appoint people to help him/her lead the nation to a progressive, development-oriented direction. So he/she has a duty to ensure that those he/she appoints do not go contrary to the wishes and expectations of the society.
In trying to change things, one should not expect poor members of the society – those you call the masses, to be the game changers. Their efforts will only end at the point of electing the leadership, then, the leadership takes it up from there and ensures that the lives and welfare of the people are made more meaningful and their rights protected so that our society will be one of humanity and not that of inanity. Every sane person wants a society of humanity and not a society of inanity.