Last month, a policeman shot an African-American youth in Missouri six times and killed him. It caused an international uproar concerning racial injustice against black people in the United States.

About a week later, while trying to suppress riots in the same place, another police officer was captured on camera pointing his gun menacingly to someone and yelling, “I’ll fucking kill you!”

He was promptly fired once the video went viral.

In the same month, this journalist observed a police officer at a security post in Lagos assaulting a suspect, cock his gun and say, “I’ll shoot you now! I’ll kill you and nothing will happen. I’ll prove to you that I’ve served the police for 14 years!” On the same day, my boss also witnessed a display of police excess.

Such blatant disregard for human life and dignity might be shocking. But historically, it’s a normal part of the way policemen do their job in Nigeria.

When the Nigerian Police Force was formed in 1930, it was effectively a tool of colonial rule. They brutally enforced obedience to the colonial leadership of the time, and the same operational model was retained after independence in 1960.

Between 1960 and 1999, soldiers kicked out the civilian government two times and governed the country for about 27 years. They threw out the Constitution and imposed decrees and edicts, which often disregarded standard human rights and gave the police a lot of powers. With that in place, the police were brutal. They beat people on the streets like animals. They locked up and tortured people unjustly, and they flagrantly used firearms without respect for human life.

Nigeria has been a democracy for 15 straight years now, and though the brutality is not as widespread as it used to be, it’s still very rampant and going largely unchecked.

The Nigerian police force has tried to redeem its image and portray itself as a friend and protector of the people. But this continuous history of cruelty and oppressive behaviour has ingrained the image of the police in the minds of the masses as a group of oppressors whose intent is to harm them and take from them.

On another occasion, I observed suspects being hurled into a courtroom by police for a trial. They were manhandled, made to sit on the floor and treated without any dignity. Clearly, not one of them had been allowed to have his bath for days while in police detention.

Chapter 4, Section 34 of the Nigerian Constitution expressly states, “No persons shall be subject to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment.”

The Code of Conduct and Professional Service for Police Officers also says very clearly, “[E]very police officer will refrain from unnecessary infliction of pain or suffering and will never engage in cruel, degrading or inhuman treatment of any person.”
But evidently, a typical Nigerian police officer shows no regard for the citizen or her rights, and he treats him as if to show that he can do anything to him and get away with it. This is evident when a police officer says to a person, “I’ll shoot you and nothing will happen!” a statement I have heard policemen say several times.

ASP Oluwadare Babalola is the Police PRO, Zone 3 Command. He says, “Where everyone knows their rights, it’s difficult for someone to assault them. Police get trained on civil behaviour and respect for persons. So a policeman who acts unlawfully does so not because he hasn’t been trained to do the right thing, but because he simply chooses not to do the right thing.

“In the police force, every offence has its own disciplinary measures. Any policeman who unlawfully uses force or firearms on anyone will be dealt with according to the law.

“If a police officer commits such offence and the police finds him guilty, the police will try that person and punish him accordingly. The punitive measures range from demotion to outright dismissal, depending on the degree of the offence.”

No punishment
In January 2012, a police officer named Segun Fabunmi shot an unarmed youth in Lagos and killed him. That month, policemen shot several people to death nationwide during the subsidy protests. The officer in question, Fabunmi was fired a year later, but today, two years later, his prosecution still has not been completed.

The UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials says, “Government and law enforcement shall ensure that all law enforcement officials are selected by proper screening procedures [and] have appropriate moral, psychological and physical qualities…”
“In the training of law enforcement officials, governments and law enforcement agencies shall give special attention to issues of police ethics and human rights..”

This means that people who’re admitted to police college must not just be physically fit, but they must have the right attitude to ensure and protect the rights of all people to justice and just treatment.

It also means police colleges must have lessons on human rights and the rightful use of force and firearms incorporated in their curriculum, so that policemen who are getting trained would learn about these things. Up till this year, there were no human rights courses in the police training curriculum.

The Police Act (1943), Criminal Code Act and the Criminal Procedure Act form the legal framework by which the police discharge their duties.
The law permits the police to use excessive force when it’s “reasonable”. This gives the policeman a lot of leeway and room for abuse of power.
For instance, Section 261 of the Criminal Code Act says that in making an arrest, it’s lawful for an officer to “use such force as is reasonably necessary to overcome any force used in resisting arrest.”

Section 276 permits police to use “such force as is necessary” to suppress a riot.

Section 271 even says that if a felony suspect tries to escape arrest, an officer “may kill that person if he cannot by any other means effect an arrest.”

For this, some people have called for the reform of the legal framework for policing. A draft Bill was presented to the House of Representatives in 2006 and passed the first and second reading. But the tenure of the members of the House ended the next year when fresh elections were held. Since then, the Bill has remained on the shelf.

The police force says that one of its missions is to “build a people’s friendly Police Force that will respect and uphold the fundamental rights of all citizens.”

This is a noble thing to do, and it’s what the Nigerian people are asking for.