Extra-judicial killing by law enforcement officers, particularly the police, are fast becoming the norm and no longer a one-off occurrence and this is quite disturbing.
Sadly, the ugly menace does not seem to be attracting the attention and action it should by state actors.
In 2021, the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in a report titled, ‘Nigeria Human rights Record: An assessment of the last two decades’, revealed that over a period of 10 years, from 2011 to 2021, security operatives killed over 13,000 extra-judicially in the country, while Washington DC-based NGO, Global Rights, tracked 164 extrajudicial killings between January and September 2021.
The police sparked national outrage recently with the killing of Lagos-based lawyer, Bolanle Raheem, on December 25, 2022.
A policeman identified as Drambi Vandi and attached to the Ajah Police Station in Lagos, shot and 41-year-old Raheem, who was pregnant, at the Ajah Bridge, in the presence of her husband and other family members, including children.
The incident occurred at about 11am when they were returning from an eatery and the policeman tried to stop them, while her husband was trying to make a turn under the Ajah Bridge.
Vandi was said to have shot at the vehicle, lawyer.
Raheem’s death is one of the many avoidable ones caused by the law enforcement agents in 2022 alone.
A review of newspaper reports shows that in 2022, at least 11 people were killed by trigger-happy cops.
Barely 48 hours ago, it was reported that a soldier on guard shot and killed a yet-to-be-identified motorcycle passenger around the Asokoro area of Abuja.
On December 7, 2022, a resident of Happy Estate in Ajah, Gafaru Buraimoh, was hit by a stray bullet at about 10pm while coming out of SkyMall by a police inspector attached to the police station. The police were reportedly raiding sellers of black market fuel at the Ajiwe gas station, when things got out of control with one of the sellers and the shots fired by the police in the melee, hit and killed Buraimoh.
Sometime in September 2022, one Koleosho Abayomi, a guard at the Lekki Peninsula Scheme II, Lagos,was shot by a police officer enforcing the ban on motorcycle operations in the state but he survived.
Another citizen, Godsent Obhafuoso was killed by a policeman in August 2022 at a burial ceremony in Edo State. He was reportedly recording events at the occasion when he was hit by a bullet from a shot fired by the policeman and was pronounced dead at the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital.
Also, Emeka Uwalaka, a Civil Engineering student of the Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri, Imo State, was shot on July 11, 2022, by a policeman attached to the Nekede Police Division.
According to reports, he was returning from church that Sunday afternoon when the cop shot at him around the student’s hostel (BenJen lodge) gate in Umuokomoche, Owerri West local government area of Imo State.
Similarly, Oliver Ezra Barawani, a graduate of Taraba State University, was driving with his boss, sometime in June 2022, when he was shot and killed by a cop at a checkpoint in Kpanti Napo near Jalingo, Taraba state.
A youth leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Calabar, Cross River State, Emmanuel Joseph is also one of those whose lives were cut short by the police in May 2022.
Members of the state Anti-cultism/Kidnapping, according to reports, were invited to calm two politicians engaged in a squabble and they started shooting soon as they arrived and hit Joseph on the chest, leading to his death.
Also in May 2022, a journalist, Toba Adedejia, was shot while covering a protest in Osogbo, Osun State.
Two businessmen, Igwe Odinaka and Chikere Obieche, were also shot and killed by a policeman in April 2022, at a friend’s birthday party in Gowon Estate, Lagos.
Earlier in the year, sometime in January 2022, one Paul Durowaiye was killed by a policeman in Kogi State for drinking his sachet ofwater worth N20.
Reports said Durowaiye was alleged to have taken a sachet of “pure water” belonging to the policeman from the latter’s car to drink before he met his untimely death.
There have been reports of policemen seen in beer parlours and other places with loaded guns. Citizens have met inebriated policemen at checkpoints who could barely maintain balance while standing and who reeked of alcohol.
There have also been reports of policemen who threatened to shoot citizens and nothing will happen and some of them have carried out such threats, leading to the high number of extra-judicially killed citizens.
Each time a citizen is unjustly killed by the police, people seethe with anger, statements are issued by the police authorities, rights groups, civil society and non-governmental organisations issue statements condemning the act and before long, everyone moves on, leaving the family of the deceased to walk the tortuous journey to justice.
It is instructive to note that despite assurances by the police in some cases that the killer cops would be made to face the wrath of the law, in some of the cases, the police either do not respond or do, but shielded the identity of the policemen involved.
The families of many of these people are still aggrieved and seek speedy justice.
How then will the killings end when perpetrators are not brought to book?
Government must at all times be reminded that protection of citizens’ lives is one of its core duties which it must be alive to.
There is also a need for regular training and retraining on human rights and mental evaluation of security operatives who bear arms. Psychiatric tests and examinations should form part of the entry prerequisite into the Nigeria Police.
The police authorities should also ensure that all its men and officers are acquainted with the provisions in the revised Force Order 237, a police policy manual that sets out guidelines on the use of firearms and lethal force and also prescribes instances where the use of firearms is authorised and not authorised, and individual responsibility for unauthorised use of firearms or lethal force.
The judiciary should also play its role by ensuring that the wheel of justice grinds faster, so that families of victims do not get weary and discouraged in their pursuit for justice.
There must be an end to this impunity by bringing those who are found guilty to book otherwise, these killings may continue and it doesn’t speak well of the country’s human rights record.
