By Ijendu Iheaka
Lawyers in Aba have urged the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Usman Baba to discipline policemen and ensure they uphold citizen’s fundamental human rights to curb attacks on them.
The lawyers said although Nigeria’s laws protect law-abiding citizens and policemen working in a lawful manner, it denies both the lawless citizen and lawless policeman such protection.
The lawyers, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Aba, Abia were responding to a statement credited to the IGP where he said nobody under any guise should attack policemen.
Mr. Ike Nwaticha, a lawyer, said although the law stands with a lawful policeman on duty, such protection should not be taken for granted and misapplied by police personnel in order not to be attacked.
“If not quoted out of context, IGP’s statement is unfortunate because the law that protects the lawful policeman on duty, protects the citizen’s fundamental human rights which is God-given and cannot be taken away.
“If a policeman attacks a citizen, perhaps wishing to kill the citizen and the citizen has a means of defending himself to the extent of killing the policeman, such a person’s action is not lawless.
“And now, if IGP’s statement is taken on its face value, it means he has given policemen a freehand to ruthlessly deal with every citizen without following due process.
“That will turn the already troubled and undisciplined Nigeria’s police into a very barbaric organization. Remember that the law has provided for the Fundamental Human Rights of everybody”, he said.
Mr. Emperor Ogbonna, another lawyer said that truly the law of Nigeria favours a policeman in that it calls the attack on a policeman a “strict-liability offense” in which case the citizen involved has no defense.
He said that a citizen assaulted by a policeman should resist fighting with him but rather report with evidence to the police authorities or write to the IGP who will surely discipline the culprit or even sack him.
Ogbonna said that the right of the policeman even during an arrest in which the suspect is resistant ends with holding him down to be handcuffed but does not extend to beating or shooting on the legs.
He therefore called on the IGP to erase the power-drunkenness of Nigerian Policemen from their mentality and retrain them if he truly wants a police at peace with citizens.
Mr. Nath Ikeocha, a lawyer also said when a policeman even in uniform is acting not in lawful execution of his duties, he becomes a criminal, a person engaged in an illegal activity, and therefore, is not protected by the law.
“And in such situation, anybody around the policeman is free to defend himself by every means available within the ambit of the law which includes use of reasonable force by the citizen”, he said.
Ikeocha reminded the IGP that the Police is supposed to be a civil organization to the point of being the citizens’ friend but regretted that the opposite is the case.
He therefore called on the IGP to instill discipline in the men of the Nigeria Police Service, retrain them and ensure they uphold citizens rights to avoid being attacked by citizens whose rights have been infringed on.
