Kill n' Go
Amnesty International exposed the shocking level of unlawful police killings in Nigeria, in a new report released today, “The Nigerian police are responsible for hundreds of unlawful killings every year,” said Erwin van der Borght, Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme.

“Police don’t only kill people by shooting them; they also torture them to death, often while they are in detention.”

“The majority of the cases go un-investigated and the police officers responsible go unpunished. The families of the victims usually get no justice or redress. Most never even find out what happened to their loved ones.”

Police frequently claim that the victims of shootings were ‘armed robbers’ killed in ‘shoot-outs’ with the police or while trying to escape custody. These claims are often highly implausible.

Fifteen-year-old Emmanuel Egbo was killed by a police officer in Enugu in September 2008. According to witnesses, he was playing with other children in front of his uncle’s house when three police officers came up to them. One officer pulled out a gun and shot the boy, claiming he was an armed robber. He was unarmed. In August 2009, his family discovered his body had disappeared from the mortuary. As of November 2009, the body is still missing.

Amnesty International said that some police officers see the killings of ‘armed robbers’ in detention as acceptable practice.

In June 2009, the organization visited the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) detention centre in Abuja, which is located in a disused abattoir outside the city.

Suspects are held in a vast warehouse previously used for slaughtering cattle. Chains are still hanging from the ceiling. When Amnesty International delegates visited the building, about 15 people were held in cells. Amnesty International delegates counted at least 30 empty bullet cases scattered on the ground.

Unofficially, a policeman told Amnesty International that many “armed robbers” are taken there and shot.

Amnesty International said that one of the main problems is ‘Nigeria Police Force Order 237’ under which police officers are allowed to shoot suspects and detainees who attempt to escape or avoid arrest – whether or not they pose a threat to life.

“Force Order 237 is so impermissibly broad. It simply gives police officers permission to shoot people. It is against international standards, and is being abused by police officers to commit, justify and cover up illegal killings,” said Erwin van der Borght.

“The government must repeal Force Order 237 and publicly announce that the use of lethal force is only allowed when strictly unavoidable to protect life. This simple step could make a big difference to the number of unlawful police killings we are seeing in Nigeria.”

Enforced disappearances in Nigeria are rife. Typically, in the first days or weeks following arrest, families are allowed to visit their relatives in detention. Later on, police tell them their loved ones have been “transferred to Abuja”. Other times, they simply deny any knowledge of their whereabouts.

The Nigerian government says that they do not condone extrajudicial killings. But they are not doing enough to stop them and bring the police perpetrators to justice. Even on the rare occasions when police officers implicated in an unlawful killing are prosecuted, they are often released on bail or escape custody. Some are simply transferred to other states.

“Ending unlawful killings and enforced disappearances by the police will require serious legal reform and commitment and support from the Nigerian police force,” said Erwin van der Borght. “The Nigerian Police Force must introduce a new code of conduct throughout its chain of command – from the very top to the bottom. If not, the cycle of violence will simply continue.”




http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4489:kill-n-go-nigeria-amnesty-international-says-police-kill-at-will&catid=114:press-releases&Itemid=362

hum, 9ja police

I saw a similar report on the BBC. . .Tragic.

BBC NEWS
Nigeria police: Issuing corpses and denials

By Caroline Duffield
BBC News, Lagos

"It really overwhelms our capacity to store bodies," says Dr Anthony Mbah, chief medical director at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital.

His mortuary is overflowing - with corpses brought in by the police.

"We have between 70 and 80 bodies right now, and about three weeks ago, there was a mass burial of some other corpses," he says.

"We are now getting ready to get these ones buried."

Inside the mortuary in the south-eastern city of Enugu, two rooms are set aside for the remains of the young men.

In the first room, they are stacked, naked, one on top of the other. In places the piles are four or five deep.

Faces peer out amongst a forest of legs. Heads loll into groins. Limbs are flung around torsos. Some almost seem to embrace. The smell - and the flies - make it impossible to get close.

It is a scene beyond belief.

Fathers' pain

The mortuary is in a state of chaos. No-one working here can put a precise number on the corpses. Many of the bodies have no names. Mortuary records simply say "suspected armed robber" or "unknown thief".

“ As they killed him, they killed me, my life is over ”
Dennis Onovo Father of victim

The register says police left 75 bodies between the beginning of June and 26 November this year.

But the records are imperfect - staff correct mistakes as they go along, one page appears to be missing.

It is uncertain how many of these bodies really are those of armed robbers.

The father of one victim of a police shooting has no doubt about the innocence of his son.

"A child is a gift from the Gods. They have taken him from me," Chief Dennis Onovo murmurs.

The morning that Mr Onovo's 22-year-old son, Matthew, died he had been walking to a computer class. Police were searching for an armed man in the area - and shot him dead.

"I always hoped my son will one day be governor of this state, or even head of state - but all my effort is in vain," says Mr Onovo.

For two days, the community stood still as people came out in peaceful demonstration.

The police told Matthew's parents he was suspected of armed robbery.

"This boy was not an armed robber. He was never a thief, much less an armed robber," says Mr Onovo.

"As they killed him, they killed me, my life is over."

A few miles away, another father echoes his words.

Chief Mark Ngena trembles, remembering.

"He was playing with his fellow children," he says of his 13-year-old son Emmanuel.

"Suddenly policemen, three of them, came in. They shot and killed this boy. Murdered him in cold blood."

It was later claimed that Emmanuel too was an armed robber.

His family have never recovered his body.

Lawyers and relatives point to a pattern - of unlawful killings by police, followed by claims the deceased was an armed robber.

It is an easy way to cover dirty tracks, they say.

Police 'are victims too'

Enugu State Police Commissioner Mohamed Zarewa looks at the photograph of piled up bodies in the mortuary and covers them with his hand.

“ Why are you not asking about the policemen who died? ”
Mohamed Zarewa Enugu State police commissioner

"I am not aware of that number you are talking. I am not aware, I am not aware," he says.

He mutters it five or six times.

Officers in his force do not carry out unlawful or arbitrary killings, he insists.

He says the young men were all killed in gun battles, fighting the police.

"Not just to go and kill somebody, we don't do that, it's unconstitutional. We are in a democracy," he says.

"You are asking about the young men, why are you not asking about the policemen who died? We people, we lose our lives."

It is true that police work in Nigeria is a difficult job - often deadly.

An encounter between a police officer and a real armed robber is a matter of life or death.

Police officers' wages are low. Corruption in the force is endemic. Poorly trained and ill-equipped policemen are sent to face armed gangs.

But it is also true that many people are killed in police custody.

Punishment without trial

In the Brought in Dead book, seven names are of particular interest.

Kennis Victor Okonkwo, Adolphus Odumegwu, Sunday Okoye, Hussein Yusuf, Ugochukwu Ogbonnaya, Amichi Nnamdi, and Ifeani Eze Leonard.

They were arrested, accused of a kidnapping in early September.

On 11 September they were paraded by the inspector-general of Police.

Photos of them alive appeared in local newspapers.

But they never reached court.

By 15 September six of them were dead. The body of the last was delivered to the mortuary the following day.

By each name is written SARS, Special Anti-Robbery Squad - a feared police unit.

When asked for an explanation, Police Commissioner Zarewa said he was too busy.

'Equivalent to hell'

"They told me they have transferred my brother to Abuja," says Charles, a shy 22-year-old.

His older brother was in trouble with the police, accused of robbery.

Charles took a food flask for his brother, and travelled for two days to reach the police station.

On arrival he was arrested, accused of armed robbery, and held for three months.

"Inside there was equivalent to hell," he says.

He says he was taken out of his cell, hung by the knees and beaten. But he feels lucky as it happened only a couple of times.

A man held with him suffered a similar punishment, but his joints were smashed. He screamed as he crawled back into the cell.

Briefly, Charles was held opposite his own brother and the two had the chance to talk.

After that, Charles never saw him again.

"It is the slang they use," he says quietly.

"They are not going to tell you openly your brother is killed. They just tell you they have transferred his case to Abuja."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/8401119.stm

Published: 2009/12/08 10:48:12 GMT

© BBC MMIX
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8401119.stm

Yet again, another national disgrace. . . .
The barbarism must come to an end

Thank God for my life

God of mercy

This is why i encourage killing of Policemen.

Where are our Nigerian "PATRIOTS" now? Where dem waka go when BBC and Amnesty international dey dey talk say naija police dey kill and go. Which kin thing be this?

It was aired on bbc news yesterday and i saw the pictures of dead bodies piled on top of each other 

The moral of these stories,

Whenever you see a Nigerian policeman

have it at the back of your mind you are dealing/ looking at the DEVIL itself

and act accordingly, otherwise, you are a goner.

If you allow a Nigerian policeman to kill you, God will even be angry with you, period!!!

if this is not HELL on earth, I dont know what else could be:

Mbah who spoke through the Head of Public Relations, Mr. Cyril Keneze, noted that all efforts to get the relevant authorities to find lasting solution to the situation which had become worrisome had fallen on deaf ears, as the police in the state were yet to respond to the petitions already forwarded to them. He disclosed that the hospital spends close to N144 million weekly on diesel to run the five gigantic generators in its possession and as such is not ready to cough out additional funds for the disposal of the corpses. “We are under obligation to co-operate with the police by accepting the corpses they bring to the hospital. But the problem now is that the number of corpses that are dumped here is beginning to adversely affect the capacity of our morgue. To adequately keep these corpses without jeopardising the chances of other corpses whose causes of deaths are natural has indeed become a problem," he explained

And NIGERIANS are not on the street, fight the WICKED Government to stand-still

In Greece, just 1 boy was killed by Police. It was hell for the whole country!!

My only suggestion to anyone Nigeria Policemen kill his/her innocent love one, Organize and ambush the police.

1) Whenever i hear that Nigeria police has killed armed robbers, my mind always tells me that an innocent person has been killed.

2) Whenever i hear that a Police man has been killed by robbers, i get excited that a criminal has been cut short by justices fighters.

>>>Its so hard these days to differentiate between armed robbers and Nigerian police men.>>>>>

chosen04:

1) Whenever i hear that Nigeria police has killed armed robbers, my mind always tells me that an innocent person has been killed.

2) Whenever i hear that a Police man has been killed by robbers, i get excited that a criminal has been cut short by justices fighters.

>>>Its so hard these days to differentiate between armed robbers and Nigerian police men.>>>>>

kARMA is a bit.ch, pray Armed robbers don't come your way. I bet the families of those police officers killed by armed robbers won't get excited.