This to salute and congratulate all Nigerian youths who conceived; organised; actively participated; got injured and paid the supreme sacrifices in the on going demonstrations for the scrapping of the Special Anti-Robbery Squard (SARS) and general police reforms. The youths have taken up their historical responsibilities and are discharging them creditably; heroically and patriotically. To that extent all these youths are all our heroes.
However, it’s important to remember that the whole job is not done yet. What we have in our hands is an injured and brutalised snake that can still spring a surprise and pose very serious danger to all of us as citizens. It will therefore be important to go for the total decapitation of the snake and it’s burial so that it can no longer pose any threat to us and all Nigerians can sleep at night with all eyes closed.
I observe that a lot is already being done in these regards with the decision to remain on the streets until the entire Nigerian Police is overhauled; men of the disbanded SARS are decommissioned; those of them who have committed infractions and whose hands are dripping with Nigerian peoples blood are brought to book; police welfare and budgets are addressed. In addition, it will be necessary to push for investigations of the confiscation of assets of suspects by SARS and senior police officers and sharing of same.
The stupendous wealth that some senior police officers have acquired and are sitting on also ought to be investigated. Further more, it will be auspicious to push for the sacking of the Inspector General of Police; the National Security Adviser and the Police Affairs Minister.
This is because the present police is a reflection of the quality of leadership that these people have been able to provide and the corruption and stench that they have been superintending over. Until we begin to hold the leadership of institutions responsible for the failings of the institutions that they preside over the nation will find it difficult if not impossible make significant progress.
It will also be important to domicile the management of the affairs of the Nigeria police in the hands of the Nigeria people through a truly community based policing. At every level that we have a police formation (Divisional; Area Command; State and National) we should have Police Affairs Commission or Committees to manage the affairs of the police in terms of need or budget; discipline; promotion; welfare; recruitment and other critical areas. The citizens should have a say in the appointments of DPOs; Commissioners of Police and Inspector Generals. Furthermore, the appointments of Commissioners of Police and Inspector Generals of Police should be opened to both career police men and civilians (like academics; criminologists; lawyers, etc) to compete for since their functions or duties are mostly administrative. The police cannot reform itself. The reform has to come from outside as a knife does not sharpen itself and make its own handles.
Further more, I wish to state that it is a fallacy that the scrapping of SARS has created a vacuum in crime management. That is not true. The police still have the Mobile Police Unit; the Crime Investigation Department; Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team to work with. In a normal clime and if there were no corruption, it’s the CID that should be saddled with intelligence gathering on vicious criminals while the Mobile Police Unit can be deployed to effect arrest and for confrontation at scenes of crime. Afterall, the SARS only get involved or only become very active after the crime had been committed. More importantly, i hold the opinion that every DPO should have very agile and efficient marksmen for rapid deployment whenever a crime is being committed within their jurisdiction. This practice of calling Abuja and State Command, when vicious crimes are being committed in remote places negatively affects response time and is not very useful in modern police.
The practice of taking people who are alleged to have committed an infraction to Abuja for investigation and sometimes prosecution is unlawful and in violent conflict with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is where a man commits a crime that he ought to be kept while investigations are being conducted as the state is not permitted to emasculate a suspect and deny him the wherewithal to robustly prepare for his own defence. So, the present unlawful practice should also be put on the table.
I also wish to canvas that modern policing is not about brawn such as we had in the defunct SARS. Modern policing is now about intelligent men; intelligence gathering and cutting edge technology. The police should invest in cutting edge technology and intelligent personnel, while citizens; especially landlords; tenants and business premises, should be encouraged to install CCTV cameras; security doors and gates, among others in their premises.
Lastly, we should remember that it is not only the SARS that have been engaged in egregious infractions against the Nigerian people. Police units like the anticultism unit of the Nigeria Police and the State Security Service (SSS) alias DSS are equally culpable. For example, the anticultism unit once went to rob a night club in Ikorodu under the guise of looking for cult boys. They recently arrested a business man in place of his relations they were looking for, detained him for eight days; chained his legs and his hands behind him and made him to sleep face down over night as a result of which the man died. The DSS kidnapp and keep people in their underground cells for years without prosecuting or releasing them. They disobey court orders with impunity. There should be no space for these kind of security outfits in a democracy and civilized society. It is therefore incumbent on all of us not to allow the present opportunity to slip through our hands without insisting that these security outfits should equally be disbanded and any of their personnels who have committed infractions against the Nigerian people and whose hands may be dripping with innocent people’s blood be brought to justice.
The time is now.
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Tunde Kolawole, a Lagos-based Lawyer writes from Lagos
