Who Will Curb the Police?

Police effecting an arrest

There is growing public clamour for the police to exercise restraint over incessant unlawful arrests of young Nigerians
By Osamudiamen Ogbonmwan
It was just an ordinary Thursday evening penultimate week when Desmond Obomoisemwenki and his brother, Charles made their way home from a very hectic day at the University of Lagos where Desmond had gone to register as a student.
As the two brothers made their way home on a commercial motorcycle, looking forward to getting home at the earliest possible time, they were suddenly stopped by two policemen around the Ikeja under bridge bus stop close to the General hospital.
“ When we were stopped, they asked us to identify ourselves which we did by bringing out individual identity cards. I had a polytine bag with me and they demanded to see what was inside. When they checked, they saw that I had some oranges and pineapples in it. One of them held on to it as the other ordered us to enter into a waiting police Van. My brother and I tried to explain to the men that we were just from Unilag and that we were going home but they wouldn’t listen and even threatened to hit us if we do not obey their orders. My brother, the motorcyclist and I had to obey; as one of the policemen was asked to ride the motorcycle to the station”, Charles told The Source.
In the police Van as the young men were being ferried to the station, minutes after, Charles made a quick call to his brother to inform him of his predicament, his phone and that of five other men in the Van were confisticated. The Source gathered that the boys were then taken to the Ikeja Division inside the Area F Command where they were asked to take off their shoes and were detained in a dingy cell.
“Before we were thrown inside the cell, the policemen we met in the counter asked us which type of cell we will prefare. He said ‘we have American and German cells here, which one would you people prefare?’ They asked us to give them some money but because we couldn’t provide any, they threw us into what they called the German cell. It was as we stepped into the cell on bear feet that we got to know why it was called a German cell. Human feases and urine were on the floor and harden criminal suddenly surrounded us and said if we wanted to live we should give them some money. We had to give them the little money-about a thousand plus, that we had for them not to beat us,” he explained.
Charles is just a new addition to the growing list of victims of police brutality and arbitrary arrests. On countless occasions around the country- Lagos especially, the police have become sort of a menace to the populace they are supposed to protect. Illegal road blocks- especially on street corners and indiscriminate arrest of innocent people have in recent time become the force's trademark.
Peter Chukwu, a resident of Badagri recently took a breath of fresh air after spending close to two years in prison for ‘wandering’.
The Source learnt that Chukwu had only stepped out of his house to buy soap and sponge to take a bath with, when he was accosted by a police patrol team. Police's excuse for arresting Chukwu was because he had no ‘reasonable explanation’ on why he was on the road that evening. He was made to spend over a year in Badagry prison. But for the intervention of a foundation, he would still be in the prison.
Persons who had the misfortune of being present in vicinity as where a crime had been perpetrated normally either get interrogated or arrested. This was the case of Idowu Olalekan who was arrested in front of his house after robbers ran across. Olalekan, then 20-years-old, was later charged for armed robbery and unlawful procession of firearms which was not even found on him. Since 2005, he was thrown into prison without any arraignment in a competent court. Still at the Ikoyi prison, Olalekan now a 26-years-old man is wasting away just like hundreds of other young men who had been incarcerated without trial.
However some concerned citizens have taken the bull by the horn by seeking redress for victims of police over zealous.
Speaking to The Source recently, Blessing Osawaru, an attorney stated that many Nigerians find it extremely difficult to pursue a case of damages caused by wrongful arrest because of either delayed court proceedings or inability to foot legal fees. In addition, she said “In as much as these set of people have the right to collect damages from the police, how many of such persons have been able to get compensation that the court has awarded to their favour? You find a situation whereby a person has been awarded N500,000 as damages and in five years, he is still pursuing the judgement”. By law, these people have the right to collect damages from the Police but unfortunately, they get fustrated. In most cases, the Police find it difficult to obey simple court order.”
Despite these setbacks, the courts have continually ordered the Police to pay compensation to victims of Police improper incarceration. In August, the court ordered the Inspector-General of Police to pay Emeka Ebuta, a Pastor, the sum of N2.5 million as damages after he was arrested illegally and detained by the police. In Ebonyi state, a High Court ordered an Inspector and two constatables to pay N320,000 as damages to one Samuel Egbunne when he was unlawfully arrested, assaulted and detained in Abakaliki.
According to David Akintayo, another lawyer who spoke to the magazine, many Nigerians do not know their rights.
“The constitution prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention. In a situation whereby a policeman comes to your house without a warrant and says he has come to arrest you, that is against the law. He must first of all tell you on what charges he is arresting you and must be armed with a warrant. The only time the Police are empowered to make arrests is when there is a reasonable suspicion that a person had committed an offense but what do we see these days? The opposite. Would they tell us that those young men they stop randomly on roads and thrown into vehicles have been proven to be criminals? Go to our prisons today, you will find young men wasting away”, he stated.
But Ikechukwu Benjamin, a trader who said he had had an experience of Policemen coming to his shop in Oshodi to arrest him, said he had to go with them without seeing a warrant because he was afraid for his life.
Jimoh Akinsanya, a graduate of Accountancy also told The Source that because he was afraid of what the Policemen might do to him if he had not entered the Van when he was stopped at the Alagomeji area of Lagos on his way to an errand, he had to do what the police ordered.
“They had guns with them and I felt if I had resisted, they’ll shoot me and maybe tell a tale later that I was a robber they caught trying to escape”, he said
Eghosa Peter’s case was different. When the police accosted him and his friend on their way to work last year in Ogba, he demanded to know what the problem was.
“… but they wouldn’t tell me anything. Instead they asked us to identify ourselves which we did. Still they ordered us to enter into their Van which had about four other young men that had been arrested earlier. Because I refused telling them that I know my rights, two of the policemen pounced on me and started beating me; before I could do anything four others joined and pulled me into the Van. At the Area G police station in Ogba where we were taken to, the beating continued until I slumped. Thank God for my sister who had been around. She was the one who quickly took me to the hospital. Two days later after I threatened to take the case to Amnesty International, they started begging”, Peter told The Source.
Meanwhile, Charles and his brother, Desmond, were lucky enough to have an influential Aunty who quickly pulled some strings before they were released from custody, late in the night that same day along with the commercial motorcyclist. For others who are not that influential, they have often been left to languish in detention. This was exactly the fate that befell Olalekan, Chukwu and many others whose heart rending cases have remained unreported.
Osawaru cited Section 36 subsection five of the 1995 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to butress her point that anybody charged with an offenses is presumed innocent until the court finds him guilty. “In as much as the police has failed to either prosecute the matters and in some areas where you have to go into litigation, you’ll find out that there is no fact or bases for the arrest. So, I will say that most of these people are innocent,” she said.