Over the years, the Nigeria Police Force has played a significant role in maintaining law and order in the society; one will neither be mistaken nor exaggerating if he says “no police, no society”. This, in fact, calls for a collective commendation to this brave men and women, many of who lost their lives in the course of executing their duties. Recently, though, the once hailed cliché “the police is your friend” is now whispered in mockery of the force and not as an encouragement at friendship.

Constitutionally, the force was established to protect the civilian populace, maintain law and order, prevent the commission of crimes and ensure the prevalence of peace and stability in the society. In its zealousness (if one can call it that), it has turned upon the citizenry, intimidating and brutalising the people it swore to protect.

Many times, in order to get people to ‘confess’ many innocent [and even the guilty who would have spilled information were they wisely led on] people have lost their lives in the hands of the police. The Justice Initiative, a non-governmental civil organisation which released a report on the investigation it carried out on police brutality in about four hundred police stations and parastatals from 2007 to 2009 reveals that “Officers refer to suspects as ‘ram’ or ‘bush meat’ and police investigations are merely avenues to apply torture to draw out confessions from suspects. Officers drove nails into suspects’ hands, heads and even genitals, and some suspects are hung upside down,” the report claims.

On September 29,2013, another condemnable of the force emerged when a young graduate of the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Musa Murtala Aminu, was allegedly killed by a police officer in Kaduna. The bread-winner of his family, Aminu’s aged father confessed that losing his sone meant that the family would have to live by the goodwill of others.

A video footage obtained and broadcast by international news network Aljazeera during the early emergence of the Boko Haram in Maiduguri, Borno State, was described as “not only an act of extreme brutality by the Nigerian Police Force but a national disgrace”, as the incident drew the attention of international human right groups. The video showed some officers of the force carrying out extra-judicial killings. A number of unarmed civilians were forced to lie down on the street and shot at close range. One of the officers was overheard rapping his colleague for shooting unarmed civilians in the head, instead of in the chest.

Another area where brutality is freely meted out is at check-points. Ordinarily mounted to monitor the movement of people and other abnormalities, they have become points which citizens dare not approach, especially if they have ‘nothing’ to give to the officers for ‘pure water’. If a driver declines to give the stated amount, different degrees of humiliation will ensure quick compliance or deadly injuries, depending on the driver’s level of ‘compliance’.

On October 19, 2012, confusion broke out along the Niger-Kwara Road, when a trailer-driver parked his vehicle across the road, preventing movement on the other lanes. He was simply protesting against the shooting off of his tires by a police officer, because he refused to part with ‘something’.

Iliyasu, a tricycle engineer at Gwarinpa Estate, Abuja, narrated to LEADERSHIP how he was brutalised by the police in the course of carrying out his duty. “One day I was called to repair a tricycle that broke down somewhere. When I finished, I was towing it back and it was quite late at night. Unfortunately, the tricycle ran out of fuel, so I started pushing. Some policemen came to me and after very brief questioning; they concluded that I was a thief and must, therefore, follow them to the station. Wallahi, despite the fact that I had my identity card, they refused to let me go and insisted that I must follow them to their station. I had no choice. But before reaching the station I was beaten black-and-blue, because they said I was misbehaving. They put me in the same cell with armed robber.

I could not sleep that night. The following morning, I had to call my brother to come bail me with the sum of N13,700 for an offence I never committed,” he concluded.

A tri-cyclist, Abdul Bsasiru, told LEADERSHIP how he was beaten for an offence unknown to him. “I do my business here in Gwarinpa; but one day, while it was raining, I took passengers to Life Camp and after I had discharged them, I was trying to turn. A police man just appeared from nowhere and without explanation, started beating me. He beat me almost within an inch of my life that I began to prefer if he had asked me for ‘something’,” he narrated.

When contacted, the police public relation officer (PPRO) Frank Mba, told LEADERSHIP that he was too busy to comment on the issue.

Despite all these, it cannot be denied that a society like ours is in dire need of a police force; albeit, one free [to a degree] from the ills and vileness of the society it is trying to police. But for now, to be very honest and going by happenings around us, while the police may not be the enemy, it has not done very much as a friend.







http://leadership.ng/news/271213/police-truly-your-friend

No they aint my friend...I will rather have a dog as a friend than the police. Quote me anywhere...

Have a policeman as your friend at your own risk.

When soldier man slap you Gordons knows better.

nowadays i dey even fear police pass thieves

Yes,if you have the money.

"POLICE IS YOUR FRIEND" How come we don't see the doctor is your friended at hospitals? How come we don't see the banker is your friend at banks? The reason is simple. "POLICE IS YOUR FRIEND" is a figure of speech.

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Nigerian police are like the gstapos,while the politicians are the primitive form of nazis.Obj is the silverback hitler.