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…Falana cautions police against torture
By Christopher Oji
Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, has vowed that the police force would bring criminals to their knees and curb insecurity in the country in a short while.
The acting IGP spoke yesterday during his maiden visit to the Lagos State Police Command headquarters in Ikeja, where he unveiled the Complaint Response Unit (CRU), a hospital and other projects within the Lagos area.
The IGP assured the operatives that the CRU was not to witch hunt but to promote accountability and transparency.
He noted that the police force was making efforts to restore security along the Abuja-Kaduna expressway, adding that his team had already set in place plans for the establishment of a Special Intervention Squad (SIS) that would be drafted out of the Police Mobile Force (PMF); the first batch of operatives were set for deployment to pilot states.
“We have started the mobilisation to make success of it (SIS). Very soon, the SIS will become operational in the states that we have chosen as pilot states. Just give us a little more time and you will start seeing our actions delivering results,” Egbetokun said.
The IGP pledged that Nigerians would soon see police actions having positive effects in the area of security in every part of the country.
“We have been making efforts to reduce crime to the barest minimum, especially those terrorising Abuja-Kaduna road. We have embarked on establishing a new special squad and mobilized to that effect. I want Nigerians to give us time, as they would soon see our actions in every part of the country,” he said.
Egbetokun also commented on the initiative to keep the police on their toes, saying, “Today, we have launched CRU. We will be taking all these things one after the other. The CRU will promote transparency and accountability. We want to build confidence in the mind of the public. We also want to enhance public collaboration to achieve all these.
“Whoever has complaints now has a place to lodge these complaints. I want to congratulate Lagos State Police Command for being the first to launch the CRU. We are going to replicate this in the 36 states and the FCT. We want to stop police brutality.
“I want to assure Nigerians that we want to make the CRU and other parts of the command functional, and the officers that will man the unit will be professional and will be trained and updated regularly.”
Earlier, Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Mr. Idowu Owohunwa, said the establishment of the CRU in the command was in line with the provisions of Sections 131-133 of the Police Act, 2020, and in compliance with the directive of the IGP to establish the unit (SCRU) as a framework for promoting police-citizen accountability and as a centre for the receipt of complaints from the public on police officers’ service inadequacies, coordinate immediate response, facilitate investigations and disciplinary processes, where necessary, and render feedback to the citizens.
Owohunwa also said the crime profile of the state was further accentuated by the prevalence of illegal firearms proliferation and drug abuse and trafficking. He stressed that hardly does a day pass by without the operatives of the command recovering weapons and illicit drugs of various descriptions at stop-and-search points, raids on black spots and other operational engagements, with all such recoveries linked to the perfection of crimes across the state.
“For record purposes, we are proud to note that the establishment and commissioning of the Lagos State CRU positions the Lagos State Police Command as the first and, so far, the only command of the 36 states of the federation and the FCT to give effect to the provisions of the Police Act, 2020, and the directive of the IGP in this regard.
“The most worrisome in Lagos State is a noticeable trend that indicates an increasing local expertise in the fabrication of various types of firearms, including replicas of foreign-made pistols, AK47 and other assault rifles. This trend, coupled with the threat of cultism, projects a potent danger to the security space of the state, if nothing drastic is done by all strategic state actors and the citizens to complement the efforts of the police in rolling back the dangerous tide before it gets out of hand,” he said.
On his part, constitution lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, warned police officers that torture has become a serious issue now, especially where a suspect dies in police custody in the course of investigation.
Falana explained that officers involved in torture would be charged for murder, but, if the suspect survives, such policemen would be liable to 25 years imprisonment.
He said, soon, chief magistrates would visit all police stations in Nigeria and such magistrates would be empowered by the law to grant detained suspects bail.
He said, “Section 6 of the Police Act says every police station shall have a lawyer assigned to it to monitor human rights complaints. I want to assure all police officers that anybody who files complaints against them on unlawful acts, I will be there to defend you pro bono. I also want to thank the IGP for obeying court orders on cases won by some police in various courts.”
