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The Police in Human Rights Protection

Article in African Journal of International and Comparative Law · December 2019

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 The Police in Human Rights Protection

By

Abstract

This Article identifies the basic challenges faced by the Nigeria Police in its
policing of the country. It highlights the peculiar and important role of the police in
the society and explores what police and policing are meant to be and look like in a
society where pluralism, human rights and the rule of law prevail. Lastly, it outlines
the type of training required by a modern-democratic model of police functions
away from the current repressive, analogue system. This contribution attempts to
make clear that what the police need urgently is legal and institutional reforms to
be able to meet its obligations to the society transparently and accountably.
Key words: Policing, Human Rights, Protection, Transparency, Discipline

Introduction

Man is a social animal. He never lives in isolation. Man is by nature gregarious. To

live in a society, man has had to fashion for himself some rules of conduct; some
laws to govern the conduct of members of society. Laws are therefore made to
regulate social interactions. If every member of society behaves as he liked, there
will be perennial conflict, disorder, anarchy and confusion. Laws are therefore
made for the protection of society. The protection of the rights of the individual -
his right to personal liberty or sanctity of his person, his right not to be assaulted or
killed unlawfully, his right to freedom of expression, freedom of association, his
right to freedom of conscience, right to family life (marriage and bear children), and
his right to access the courts to enforce the infringements of any of these rights or
other rights that ennure to man by reason of his humankind. In a sense, Cicero 1 was

1
Born in Arpinum (now Arpino, Italy), in 106 BC, Marcus Tullius Cicero was writer, statesman, and orator.
He studied law, oratory, literature, and philosophy in Rome. After brief military service and three years'
experience as a lawyer defending private citizens, he travelled to Greece and Asia, where he continued his
studies. He returned to Rome in 77 BC and began his political career, aligning himself with Pompey the
Great. In 74 B.C he entered the Senate. During his administration he suppressed the conspiracy and plot to
overthrow the government. Cicero refused to make peace with Caesar, Pompey's archrival, and so in 58 BC
he was forced into exile. After a year in Macedonia he was recalled at the instigation of Pompey. Cicero
thereafter occupied himself with reading and writing philosophy until 51 BC, when he accepted an
assignment to govern the Roman province of Cilicia as proconsul. He returned to Rome in 50 BC and joined

1
right when he said: ‘...we are servants to the law in order that we may be free’.
Therefore, in the absence of some measure of control, abuses and chaos is
inevitable. Man by nature has a greater propensity for wrong than right doings. The
law therefore come in handy to provide some benchmark for determining right and
wrong conducts weighed against objective indices. This covers virtually all
spectrum of human endeavour. In the words of Martin Luther King Jnr. 2 ‘the law
will not make you love me but it will at least prevent you from lynching me’. So the
affairs of society ranging from politics, administration, commerce and industry,
property, man’s humanity otherwise known as fundamental human rights etc. are
regulated by the law.

Law guarantees order in society: this appears like the first but here, we speak of
order in the sense of appropriate arrangement of things or a particular way of doing
particular things. All society aspires to some measure of order and stability. The
processes and structures under which these twin necessities, that is, order and
stability can be met vary from society to society. But the use of law in establishing
and maintaining order is the only common denominator. Law being essentially
normative, prescribes what must be, back it up with sanctions and makes adequate
provisions for enforcement. In this way, the affairs of society are clearly defined,
boundaries set and the processes for achieving particular ends determined. This
makes for orderliness in the affairs of society and sustainability.

Pompey, who had by now become Caesar's bitter enemy. After Pompey was defeated by Caesar in 48 BC,
Cicero, realizing that further resistance was hopeless, accepted Caesar's overtures of political friendship.
While Caesar was virtual dictator of Rome, Cicero lived as a private citizen and wrote extensively. After
Caesar's assassination in 44 BC, Cicero returned to politics. Hoping to see a restoration of the Republic, he
supported Caesar's adopted son, Octavian, later the emperor Augustus, in a power struggle with the Roman
consul Mark Antony. Octavian and Antony were reconciled, however, and Cicero was proscribed and
murdered on December 7, 43 BC.
2
American clergyman and Nobel Prize winner was born on January 5, 1929 at Atlanta Georgia, United
States. He was one of the principal leaders of the American civil rights movement and a prominent advocate
of non-violent protest. King’s challenges to segregation and racial discrimination in the 1950s and 1960s
helped convince many white Americans to support the cause of civil rights in the United States. He was
assassinated in Memphis Tennessee by a sniper on April 4, 1968. After his assassination in 1968, King
became a symbol of protest in the struggle for racial justice. In 1969 James Earl Ray, an escaped white
convict, pleaded guilty to the murder of King and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Ray later recanted his
confession.

2
Of the three arms of government, the executive implements and enforces the law.
The institution created by law in this wise is the police. All over the world, the
police are a civil organization charged primarily with the maintenance of law and
order in society. It belongs to the executive arm of government and helps with the
enforcement of laws made by the parliament (in our case, National Assembly for
the Federation or State Assemblies for the various states) in the interest of society.
All of the above grounded the need for the institution of the police.

The Police in Nigeria

Traditionally, the act of policing in Nigeria was evidenced with persons who served
traditional rulers or chiefs as messengers and servants. They also doubled as
personal guards and enforcers of native laws and judgements from the king’s court.
They were variously called and known as ‘Dongari’ in the North ‘Olopa’ in the
West and ‘Kotima’ in the East. However, the origin of organised police in Nigeria
could be traced to 1861, when consular guards were set up in the Colony of Lagos.
Two years later in 1863, the men so engaged had increased to about 600 and the
guard was re-organised and renamed ‘Hausa Police’. In 1879, it was again renamed
‘Hausa Constabulary’ and more men were recruited. Needless to state that the new
police was military in character even though they performed civil duties. The same
architecture was set up by the Royal Niger Company in 1886 at Lokoja to protect
its trade interests along the River Niger and the Oil Protectorate in 1891. The police
was federalised in 1954. Between then and now, a few reforms basically in form,
had been undertaken but in piece meals and half heartedly.

Pursuant to S.214 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999
(as amended) which provides for the institution of the police, section 3 of the Police
Act 3 re-enacted the establishment of the Nigeria Police Force. The core duty of the
police is the preservation of law and order, protection of life and property and the
due enforcement of laws and regulations in the country 4. In this regard, the police

3
Cap P19, LFN 2004. The Police Act is an Act of the National Assembly made pursuant to s.214(2)(a-c) of
the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) to make provision for the organisation
and administration of the Police.
4
S.4, Police Act

3
are employed and empowered to prevent and detect crime 5, apprehend and arrest
offenders of the law, carry out investigations and conduct prosecution of offenders
in courts of law 6. This means that the capacity of the police to institute criminal
proceedings in any court is not fettered by any statutory or legal provisions. This
position has been further given vent to in the Supreme Court case of FRN v.
Osahon 7. So it may be safely said that the sum total of the constitutional roles
expected of the police lean and rest in the respect and protection of the human
rights of the citizens. The police therefore, is generally and primarily responsible
for internal security as in the maintenance of law and order, protection of life and
property, due enforcement of all laws and regulations 8. It is basically charged with
the responsibility for internal security and seeing to it that much as humans interact
and may in the process, likely to misunderstand and disagree with one another,
there should be no breach of public peace or other untoward acts therefrom. Thus,
the police play key roles in the society which more often than is realised, dissolves
into protection of human rights of the citizens.

Policing in modern times is aimed at ensuring social order 9 with the law regulating
human conduct, prohibiting and punishing deviant behaviours. The art of policing
reflects in the administration of the law by the law enforcement agents. Here, the
police wield considerable influence hence a modern democratic society cannot
survive without the police to maintain law and order, provide internal security of
lives and property, prevent individuals from preying on one another, facilitate
resolution of conflicts between and among persons when they do arise, ensure free
peaceful movement of persons except in times of emergency 10, protect processes
and rights of persons in the society. It could be gleaned from the above and

5
S.2 of the Criminal Code defines crime as an act or omission which renders the person doing the act or
making the omission liable to punishment under the law or statute in force.
6
S.3 Police Act
7
(2006) 5 NWLR (Pt. 873) 361 SC
8
Police Act, S4
9
Refers to all those facets of society which remain relatively constant over time. It also refers to a set of
united social practices which converse, maintains and enforce ‘normal’ ways of relationship and behaviour
as in institution to institution. Primarily, it refers to those structures of the state capable of continually
reproducing at least those conditions essential for its own existence irrespective of the type of government in
power and not necessarily the peaceful order in society. In this way, a society may be chaotic and yet there is
still a social order firmly in place in the sociological sense.
10
CFRN 1999 (as amended) S45(1)(a)(b),(3); 305(1)(3)(4)

4
logically deduced that both in law and in fact, the role of the police places the
organization as a major catalyst in the peaceful, orderly progress of a nation.
However, it needs to be pointed out that in pursuance to the performance of its
constitutional duties of protecting lives and property and maintaining peace and
order, the police is duty bound to act within the bounds and cannons of legality
through observance of due process, respect for human rights and being accountable
for its actions or inactions.

As the arrow head with physical presence in the protection of lives and property and
maintenance of law and order in society, it is incumbent upon the organization to
ensure that in every material particular, due diligence is observed so that a
democratic society will continue to be possible. Therefore, how much of human
rights of the citizens are violated or protected is dependent on the ethics and code of
conduct it adopts in carrying out its duties to the society. This is not an expression
that the writer is unaware of the fact that the police as an institution, has put out
some articles of faith as its code of conduct for its officers and men. It is understood
that, as with other institutions and bodies, the purpose of the code of conduct is to
provide ‘all members of the Nigeria Police Force with a set of guiding principles
and standards of behaviour while on or off duty. It is intended to be used by police
officers in determining what is right and proper in all their actions’. It is general
knowledge that implementation or enforcement of this code of conduct for police
officers is a distant reality and leaves nothing to write home about. The police
authorities in commenting on the implementability of the code of conduct for its
officers and men admitted the obvious when they stated thus: “the fundamental
duty of every police officer and indeed every law enforcement official is to serve
mankind, safeguard lives and property; protect the innocent against oppression or
intimidation, the peaceful against violence and disorder, and to respect the
constitutional rights of all men to liberty, equity and justice. However, it is an issue
for debate whether or not the police has kept faith to its avowed commitment to
safeguarding lives and property or respect and protect the constitutional rights of all
men. This perhaps is how protection of human rights of the citizens pop out of the
whole mix of police lawful duties.
5
Nigeria Police and the Human Rights Equation

When a crime of murder 11 is prevented by the police, that lucky individual’s right to
life has been preserved and protected; when the police foils a stealing 12, or a
robbery 13 or an armed robbery attempt, the right to the personal dignity 14 and the
right to property 15 of that person have been preserved and protected; when the
police guide protesters on their match, it preserves their rights to freely associate 16
and express opinion 17; or in extreme case refuses the march based on intelligence
reports that something untoward might overtake the peaceful protest and cause a
breach of public peace, it does so to preserve law and order and to guarantee the
rights of other persons in the society.

From the above, it could be seen that the reason the police is established and works
round the clock, does not observe public holidays and restricted from embarking or
participating in strike actions as other Nigerian workers do with rampant abandon,
is because, it is involved in the essential services of preserving law and order in the
sole and overriding interest of preserving and protecting the rights of citizens
thereby. In Fisher v. Oldham Corporation 18, the court held that:

“The police force is a servant of the state, a ministerial officer

of the central power, though subject, in some respects to local
supervision and regulations; therefore, the police, in effecting
an arrest and detention were not acting as the servants or
agents of the defendants or complainants. They were fulfilling
their duties as public servants and officers of the state sworn
to preserve the peace by day and night, to prevent robberies
and other felonies and misdemeanours and to apprehend
offenders against the peace”.

11
S. 319 Criminal Code
12
S. 383 Criminal Code
13
S. 401 Criminal Code
14
S. 34(1) CFRN 1999 (as amended)
15
S. 43 CFRN 1999 (as amended)
16
S. 40 CFRN 1999 (as amended)
17
S. 39 CFRN 1999 (as amended)
18
(1969) 1 NMLR 158

6
So the Nigeria policeman chase social misfits and miscreants away from law
abiding citizens without adequate equipment and machinery and at the risk of their
lives so that members of the society would sleep at night or at any hour of day with
their two eyes closed because he/she feels protected and safe because of the
activities of the police. Therefore, the roles of the police in our society are
indispensible, noble and deserving of the support of all and sundry including the
government and corporate persons. The police indeed deserve commendation.

In all of these however, the challenge with the people with respect to police duties,
is not with the nature of their job descriptions but rather with their procedure and
modus operandi. The people’s disenchantments begin here: the system of policing
by the police. Perhaps a brief examination of the methods used by the police in
fighting crime may suffice.

The Police in Nigeria’s Human Rights Equation

Upon the commission of a crime or the suspicion of the likely commission of a

crime, the police move in to arrest the person. Arrest is the placing of a person
under lawful detention for the purpose of enforcing the law. It is the first step in the
process of bringing a person to trial for an offence. In effecting arrest, it is
presumed that the police does so as a servant of the state and not that of the vested
interest of the complainant and therefore is expected to be civil. Section 35(1) (c) of
the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) provides
that every person shall be entitled to his personal liberty and no person shall be
deprived of such liberty save... for the purpose of bringing the person before a court
in execution of the order of a court or upon reasonable suspicion of his having
committed a criminal offence, or to such extent as may be reasonably necessary to
prevent his committing a criminal offence. Essentially therefore, the law
presupposes that, in carrying out an arrest, the police must be humane about it
except in circumstances when they are confronted by violent and arrest-resisting
person. But where no such situation exists the police do not have to create one to
justify the use of force. Unfortunately, this is the reality of the method used by the
police. Unfortunately, this is the reality of our policing method. Here, the police
7
engage in violent arrests of suspects. Justice Paul Nwokedi (Rtd.) a former
chairman of the National Human Rights Commission once told the world in the
Sunday Concord Newspaper of December 6, 1998 at PM 4-5 thus:

“If the truth must be told a lot of actions of the law

enforcement agents portray the government of this country as
condoning human rights violations. Indiscriminate arrest of
innocent citizens and detentions do not augur well for human
rights values. The practice of our law enforcement agencies
arresting and remanding citizens in jail before the
commencement of investigations of the allegations against the
citizens has to be examined”

In many instances, the police have violently taken persons captives as hostages who
are not their suspects in lieu of the persons they came for. Consequently, they take a
suspects wife, child, mother, father or relations into detention in order to force the
alleged suspect to turn himself in to the police even where there may be no case to
answer by that alleged suspect. This practice is an obvious negation of the principle
of criminal law which speaks of personal criminal responsibility, which means a
person cannot suffer for a crime committed by another. Arrest by the police, to say
the least, is effected with high dose of crudity and unrefined brutality which passes
off the suspect to onlookers as a condemned criminal even when there is no
evidence that the suspect constitutes a threat to the policemen or would resist arrest.
It is the usually practice that suspects are kept in police detention for days, weeks
and even months arbitrarily without being charged with any offence before the
court of law.

Having taken in their suspect, the police begin another round of abuse of the
humanity of the detainee by psychological, emotional, mental and physical torture
in the name of extracting/obtaining confession. Firstly, it is open secret that the
various police cells consist of bare floors and are in very bad shape. The rooms are
poorly lit, no proper ventilation, no water and sanitary facilities, usually
overcrowded and the detainees are forced in there without any clothing; they sit or
8
lie there. During the ritual of obtaining ‘confessions’, detainees suffer physical
abuse, which results in maiming and sometimes death 19. The Network on Police
Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) in its 2010 report on police abuse, torture and
brutality of Nigerians disclosed in sum:

“Suspects are being bound, suspended from ceilings,

kicked and beaten with machetes, gun butts, boots, fists,
electrical wires and animal hide whips. Female detainees
have been reportedly raped, and males have had sharp
objects inserted into their genitals”.

The purpose of detention appears to have been lost on, but grossly abused by the
Nigeria police. They conceive of detention as means of extracting incriminating
information from the suspect and so to the average police officer, detention
provides the opportunity to extort, harass, intimidate, and torture the detainee. This
wrong perception of detention as a tool of repression makes them believe that by
being bullies in the course of duty they compel obedience to their ‘authority’ hence
their use torture, beating, excessive force, arbitrary arrests and general harassment
of citizens without realizing that apart from the method adopted which constitute
abuse of due process of law, they perpetrate serious violation of the human rights of
the citizens. This accounts for why police attitudes to detainees have over the years
drawn public odium and condemnation of the police force. The police authorities
are yet to convince any member of the public that justice has been done to any of its
officers and men indicted in the hundreds of thousands of cases of torture in
detention or arbitrary arrest in which serious human rights violations have occurred.

19
Justine Jonny Eshiet, a driver with Guinness Nigeria Plc lost his duty vehicle to armed robbers on
September 13, 1992 and taken into custody at the Ikeja Police Station. Suspecting that he knew something
about the theft, the police tortured him until he died on September 18, 1992; Anthony Nnaemeka, an
apprentice electrician was arrested by the police on January 22, 1992 for alleged stealing and detained at the
Isheri police station. He was tortured to death; in 2005, Shola Lawal was tortured to death by the police in
Ikotun Egbe; Chika Emenyi was tortured to death on May 9, 1991 at the state CID Ikeja; Uzoma Okorie, a
stenographer with a private firm was arrested on February 3 1993 for alleged stealing and taken to Adeniji
Adele police station where she was stripped naked by two male police officers, handcuffed and made to hug
a concrete pillar supporting the building and flogged until she passed out.

9
On the issue of bail at police stations, the position of the law is that where a
complaint against a suspect does not disclose facts which make his offence
punishable with death, the suspect should be granted bail by the police within 24
hours upon entering into recognizance with or without surety. In other words, it is
not mandatory under the law for suspects at police stations to produce sureties once
his or her identify and address are conformed how much more pay money for bail.
In Eyu v. The State 20 as in Onuigbo v. COP 21, the court held that it is not a
requirement of the law that the accused should deposit money with the police
before his bail is granted. Thus, bail for an offence other than a capital offence is a
basic right which should involve no monetary costs. It is noted that the spirit behind
the provisions of section 35(4) (a) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria 1999 (as amended) is to keep an accused person out of incarceration until
found guilty through the process of rule of law. Therefore, bail is a constitutional
privilege. But what one finds at our police stations regarding bail is that suspects
are compelled to pay thousands of Naira before they could be granted
administrative bail. Here, every police officer is involved. Upon collecting the
money, the police still go on to ask suspects to pay extra monies before collecting
their clothing and other personal effects stripped off them and kept at the station
before their detention. So it could be seen that extortion of members of the public is
the motif behind police quickness to arrest, even arbitrarily and detain suspects. In
fact, relations of suspects in police detention are required and forced to pay sundry
sums of money including buying toiletries which never get to the inmates before
they are allowed to see their relations, friends or wards in detention. In sum the
police detain arbitrarily in complete disregard to the provisions of the constitution
which stipulates that suspects are charged to court upon arrest, within 24 hours or
not later 48 hours where act is within a distance beyond 40 kilometres, and that
where this is not done, the suspect should be released on bail to ensure he reports at
the police station as may be required or necessary.

20
(1998) 2 NWLR, 602
21
(1967) NMLR 44

10
Added to these, is the issue of extra-judicial killings by the police. The police
appear to be experts at this as several promising and innocent Nigerians have been
brutally killed by the police either on the streets of Nigeria or in their police
stations. Notorious in this regard are the ‘B’ and ‘D’ Departments of the police. The
former which is in charge of operation, houses the Police Mobile Force unit while
the latter which is responsible for investigation and intelligence, houses the
notorious Special Anti-robbery Squad and E-Crack Squad. In many cases,
Nigerians have been killed maimed or hurt by policemen from these two units
mentioned above for not giving them bribes at checkpoint. Several other harmless
Nigerians have been callously murdered for mistaken identities. It has been
observed that the police hide under the cover of Order 237 22 to perpetrate unlawful
killings of Nigerians. Interestingly, the courts whenever the opportunity presents
itself, have condemned extra judicial killings as held in Bello v. AG, Oyo State 23. It
needs to be stressed that this culture of levity and impunity and the protection of the
perpetrators of human rights abuses in the police by the top hierarchy of the police
is the reason these ugly trends have continued.

Challenges of Policing in Nigeria

This writer has argued elsewhere that the major challenge facing the police
organisation in Nigeria for which it is under performing, appear overwhelmed by
security challenges, morale is low and is grossly inefficient lies within it to wit:
indiscipline. Any other factor that might be pointed at is secondary and diversionary
in the least. Indiscipline involves lack of regards to set rules, ethics, ethos and
values of the organization and self-respect.

Indiscipline is the reason why the leadership of the force in the country would
misappropriate and embezzle funds meant to provide its personnel with uniforms
and accoutre; tenantable living quarters, machinery and equipment needed and as
provided; indiscipline is the reason why a junior officer would direct a senior
officer on what to do with supposed facts surrounding a suspect especially when

22
Allows the police to shoot any suspect or detainees trying to escape or avoid arrest.
23
(1986) 5 NWLR (Pt. 459) 528, SC

11
that junior officer arrested the suspect and brought him or her to the police station.
This situation is so grim and dumb founding when, having sought and had audience
with that supposed senior officer who is believed to be in a better position to attend
to the issue by proper appraisal and exercise of discretion 24 on the matter, re-direct
the person back to the said junior officer with the words ‘go and see the IPO; he is
the one in charge’. It is indiscipline that makes a senior officer leading a police
team on patrol or at check point, to defer to his junior for decision on issues
between his men and members of the public. It would seem the senior police officer
would not exercise discretion wisely afterall.

It is indiscipline that makes police officers turn themselves to debt recovery agents
with 10% surcharge on the complainant based on amount recovered. This is an act
never contemplated by the law setting up the police and so ultra vires their powers.
But they have continued unabated. It is indiscipline and never lack of improved
welfare package that makes a police officer disobey and disregard operational
instructions by superior officers. Severally, the public hears from the Inspectors
General of Police orders banning road blocks by the police on our highways.
Severally also, those orders are never obeyed. Some junior officer somewhere
counters it and continues the road blocks with his men and Nigerians are harassed,
intimidated and extorted at gun point. And upon attempting to ask why the check
point after the Inspector General’s orders, one is wont to hear such remarks as ‘IG
don talk him own finish na, make him come here to tell me like that idiot’ or ‘you
can call the IG to come here nonsense’ or ‘if your father na commissioner make
him come here come release you make i see. You go dey here today’. It is
indiscipline and nothing else make the police insist on collecting money from
suspects before granting them bail contrary to their own boldly written inscription
at every police station ‘Bail is Free’. Here, everyone is involved. It is indiscipline
that emboldens a junior officer to buy, drive and park his exotic car beside his

24
In Sharp v Wakefield (1891) AC 173 at 179 HL, Lord Halsbury stated that discretion means when it is said
that something is to be done within the discretion of the authorities that something is to be done according to
the rules of reason and justice, not according to private opinion, according to law, and not humour. It is no to
be arbitrary, vague and fanciful, legal and regular. And it must be exercised within the limit, to which an
honest man competent to the discharge of his office ought to confine himself.

12
superior’s in open vain display of competition. It is indiscipline and not meagre
salary that makes senior police officers collude with, and receive returns from the
rank and file, accept proceeds from bribes and collect bribes for purposes of posting
police men and women to ‘juicy’ police bits. It is indiscipline and not lack of
equipment that make police officers to co-operate with criminal elements by
sharing information, money and sometimes, get involved directly with criminal
activities, or divulge the identity of a person who volunteered useful information to
it toward forestalling the commission of a crime to the criminal gang who
afterwards turns around to attack and kill the informant. Indiscipline is the reason a
police officer would drive a police patrol van or vehicle very recklessly on the roads
blaring the siren even when not on any essential, urgent or official duty; or ride his
motorbike against the traffic; disobey traffic rules and beat traffic lights at will. It is
indiscipline that makes police officers convert, misuse and misapply police vehicles
to private and other uses. This may account for why no sooner than the police are
given set of new vehicles for their operations, those vehicles either disappear from
the streets or decapitated and rickety. It is indiscipline that makes a policeman to
engage a woman in a public brawl wearing uniforms or a police woman doing so
with a man while in uniform; or get drunk in a bar and engage in unnecessary
argument and fight with a civilian and thereafter get the person arrested in a show
of brute force. In all of these situations above, someone’s rights is disrespected,
violated and abused.

These situations have left sour tastes in the mouths of members of the public
regarding the police. The public indignation and opprobrium towards the police in
Nigeria stem from the unfair treatments of citizens by the police. These untoward,
awful tendencies have made members of the public to develop negative attitudes
towards the police hence many Nigerians avoid contact with the police. Oilsa
Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria once noted that ‘the public detest the
police as a result of the bad image that they have earned over the years’.

Speaking on the state of things with the police, the Human Rights Watch, a non-
governmental human rights protection group, in its 2011 report on Nigeria stated;

13
 “As in previous years, the undisciplined Nigeria Police Force
was implicated in frequent Human Rights violations,
including extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, and
extortion-related abuses. The police routinely solicit bribes
from victims to investigate crimes and from suspects to drop
investigations. Embezzlement of police funds is rife among
senior police officials who also often demand monetary
‘returns’ from money extorted from the public by the their
subordinate”

The rule of law is to the effect that every person including a police officer is equal
before the law hence every person is liable to punishment for offences committed
including the policeman further it is provided that nothing shall diminish the
liability of any member of the force to prosecution before a court of summary
jurisdiction for any offence against the Police Act or any court of justice for any
other crime. Notwithstanding the above, it is public knowledge that police
operations in Nigeria have, over the year, been marred by protection of sectional
interest by the police authorities. Thus, majority of policemen have lost grip of
discipline and professionalism which are bedrocks of modern policing. It could be
said therefore, that the brazenness of indiscretions by the police appear to have
eroded the confidence of members of the public who, given the attitude of the
average policeman, have lost hope in the police as guarantee for their security and
protection of their rights.

The concept of social theory lends to the existentiality of a people surrendering

their individual wills and power to the political sovereign in exchange for the
political sovereign to seek and maintain their welfare and wellbeing. In doing this,
the people lay their personal sovereignties at the disposal of the political sovereign
in whom, all the coercive powers of the state reside. He is expected to exercise
those powers in the general interests of the people whom by nature are imbued with
freedoms, liberties, immunities and benefits. These values are in modern times and
under international law referred to as human rights to which all human beings are

14
entitled to enjoy in the society. To achieve this goal for the citizenry, the state
strives to protect human rights using state institutions such as the police under the
principle of rule of law as a means of ensuring that the people do not have recourse
to self-help. But sadly, it is common knowledge that the police have, in the main,
being in breach of the human rights of citizens of Nigeria more than any other
institution or person. How did the Nigeria police get here and what could be done to
help its ailing image and poor performance.

Apart from the issue of indiscipline which, like a cankerworm, ravages the police
force and has ethically driven it to its lowest ebb other sundry factors bedevil the
police and limit its performance. They include;

1. Government Neglect of the Force: Indeed the current poor public image of
the police cannot be attributed only to the discontented, ill-tampered and
unrepentant non-performing police officers within the police organization
but also to the neglect, over the years, by the various government which
failed to provide effective supervision on the activities of members of the
police force in addition to not taking care of their welfare and wellbeing. As
a result, professionalism and discipline in the police have declined resulting
in the battered image of the force. To reverse this trend, the government is
advised to institute reforms for the police with a view to adequately funding
it, restructuring its management and improving the effectiveness and
efficiency of the force. There is no gain saying the fact that government
commitment in these directions is required. The government should properly
and adequately fund the police and cause its expenditures to be transparent.
But there appear to be lack of trust by the government on the part of the
police due mainly to its corrupt nature and lack of transparency in its
operations. Trust may best be triggered in the government if there is respect,
willingness to improve, firm interest and commitment on the part of the
police to improve their practices. Therefore, such processes of trust and
confidence building are essential if police itself is to succeed in affecting and
altering its course of policing. Otherwise the much hyped collaboration

15
 between the police and other security agencies may continue to run the risk
of being be no more than rhetoric decorated with some human rights
platitudes. Trust is key and it requires transparency. It is important therefore
for the police to ensure that by its activities it could earn some level of trust
from the government and make the government understand its strategic
priorities, policies and structures. It therefore, behoves the police authorities
to develop effective, implemetatble and not just lip service measures to
ensure that police officers deliver service and improve on their performance
severally and jointly as a way of bolstering the integrity of police officers
even in the eyes of the human rights community. in particular effective
measures to prevent and combat police corruption need to be activated
without any delays. The current practice where these are fluid and never
sustainable is likely to leave the government well out of the bigger picture of
police agenda in the running of the affairs of the country.

2. Training of Personnel: The police rank and file are the guiltiest with respect
to their non-observance of rules hence the general poor corporate image of
the force. This may be attributable to their poor level of education, improper
orientation, lack of knowledge of basic metrics of law and lack of training.
The authorities ought to know that beyond, promotion interviews and
examinations, police officers require periodic trainings. The various police
colleges spread across the country should be centres for these trainings. They
should not be limited to the trainings of police recruits upon engagement.
Priority should be given to the training and re-training of police personnel
just as corporate entities do for all cadres of their staff. It is important to note
that the current curriculum for police colleges needs enriching to keep step
with modern everyday realities of policing society. The training proposed
should be designed to include and promote the full development of the police
officer’s human personality and strengthen his respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms 25 of citizens. Such training cum education

25
UDHR, Art.26

16
 programmes should be able to enable the officer exercise discretions
reasonably in the course of his or her official duty and increase his or her
capacity of tolerance and friendship and rise above ethnic, cultural, linguistic
and religious considerations but be sensitive and respectful to the diversities
which should reinforce a culture of peace. Such training and education
should promote not only skills in the prevention and control of crime and
peaceful resolution of conflicts, but also social and ethical values. It is
submitted that to improve the functioning and conduct of the police it is not
enough to simply legislate and alter structures or framework on which they
run, it is also necessary to transform the trainings police officers receive to
consists of concepts, norms, values, attitudes, practices and skills that
respect, protect and promote human rights. It need to be pointed out
however, that the objective here is not simply to introduce human rights in
the training of police officers, but to transform detrimental policing practices
into their everyday customs of respecting human rights. Thus to positively
reform the police, the police officers not only need to learn and understand
human rights, but they primarily need to learn and know how to implement
them in their professional practice and at the same time, they need to
experience and benefit from human rights protection in their work place and
private life as well. It is essential that police officers are shown how the
human rights framework enhances their own protection and professional
esteem by establishing thorough processes which place them at the core of a
functioning, plural and democratic governance system.

3. Motivation of Personnel: Tied to (2) above is the issue of motivating the

personnel to be up and about their jobs with decency and discretion.
Currently, the morale of the personnel is low. Where a police officer knows
that corruption instead of honesty is unduly rewarded, or that officers who
are truants at work get patted on the back; or undisciplined and rude officers
are allowed their ways, or that those who misappropriate, misuse or
embezzle police fund meant for the housing, equipment and operational

17
needs of the force suffer no reprimand but are instead promoted, would most
likely want to join the ‘crowd’ of these vile men and women of the force.
These trends must change. The government as the mother arm, need to
ensure that retirement and other benefits due police officers are paid to them
without delays. To this end, the police pension directorate which is at the
moment a cesspool of corruption must be re-organized for simplicity and
efficiency.

It is common knowledge that the police is in dearth of equipment be it for the

purpose of gathering intelligence or to protect themselves or others in
situations of danger. As has already been pointed out, this ugly situation
arose first, out of gross indiscipline and next by the corrupt nature of the
leadership of the force. So, there is need to re-equip the police but there is
also the need to interrogate the processes and procedures by which the
leadership of the force have been using to procure equipment for its officers
and men. This implies in some sense that the operational practices of
policing, the structures and the culture of the police all need to be touched
upon and when necessary improved so as to comply with human rights. It is
acknowledged that to achieve this, as with other proposals, requires the
commitment and involvement of the government.

It is not out of place to state as a matter of fact that there is, and has been low
morale in the police force arising more out of insatiable greed than from low
pay and poor conditions of service. This argument obtains given the fact that
many other Nigerians receive even lower pay at their jobs with attendant
risks to their lives and injuries to their bodies. Besides, members of the
police force elected to enlist therein and were never conscripted. This
however, does not excuse the fact that police officers deserve some other
reward and incentives such as befitting accommodation, health and life
insurance schemes, prompt and regular promotions as well as equipment
needed to carry out their jobs including prompt payment of pensions and
other retirement benefits to police retirees.

18
4. Discipline in the Force: It is not debatable that the image of the police has
been battered by the activities and indiscipline of many of its officers across
board. These officers have continued in these ignoble roles due to the fact that
there has been no deterrent chiefly because the system tolerates and grants
them latitude. As a result, these set of men and women have little or no regard
for the dignity and rights of the individual citizen of Nigeria. These men and
women of the force consider themselves as being above the law and
untouchable. How sad. Frank Odita 26 said of the police thus:
“The present crop of police will have to go through a public
relations orientation...to make them understand that they
are servants of the people and not their masters...the slogan,
police is your friend must be translated into concrete terms
to police general conduct because a friend who extorts
money from a friend or harasses or intimidates or frames
him up, cannot be said to be a good friend”.

Police Regulations made pursuant to the provisions of sections 353-368 of

Part XV of the Police Act Cap 359, the Public Service Rules as well as the
International Conventions for Law Enforcement Agents and the code of
conduct for police officers makes elaborate provisions for the punishment of
errant officers. For example, Regulation 326 provides that in the exercise of
his powers, a police officer shall be personally liable for any misuse of his
powers, or for any act done in excess of his authority while regulation 359
provides that nothing in the regulation shall affect or diminish the liability of
any member of the police force to face prosecution before any court of law for
any breach of the laws. It is submitted that much as these regulations are
capable and in fact do act as a check on the excesses of police officers, not
much deterrent has been achieved because the police authorities for
unexplainable reasons are reluctant and nonchalant to expose and punish its
officers even for crimes of murder through extra-judicial killings. However,

26
Mr. Frank Odita was a former commissioner of police for Lagos State

19
 the Apo 6 killings 27 further exposed the callous disposition, recalcitrance,
criminal conspiracy, impunity and brutality long associated with the police.
The incident was investigated, the officers fished out, prosecuted and
sentenced to death. This was one incident out of countless others that are
swept under the carpet by the police authorities. It is noted that in the past,
such crimes would never have been investigated or exposed. Luckily in this
instance, a brief, desperate cell phone call made by one of the victims shortly
before he was killed let the act to the open and the truth emerged followed by
public pressure which ultimately made the police authorities to buckle and the
impenetrable wall of official impunity was cracked.

Regulation 360 stipulates that every police officer owes it a duty to, in good
faith, report cases bordering on offence against indiscipline by any police
officer which comes to his or her knowledge. However, because these
regulations are internal to the police, it is suggested that in order to improve
discipline in the police, an independent external institution outside the Police
Service Commission should be set up to check recalcitrant behaviour in the
force.

It remains to be seen whether the police authorities by Police Regulation 326,

could in the spirit and letters of the regulations, re-position the police or
continue to allow the institution slide into disrepute.

Recommendation

1. Erode Colonial Mentality: The Nigeria police was from inception,

conceived to be brutal, oppressive and suppressive of the agitations of the
people against the economic interest of the colonialists. In other words its
founding was deeply rooted in colonial exploitation and provided the needed
security of the interests of the colonialists. Following our independence in
1960, our political leaders found the disposition and culture of the police

27
A police patrol team at a check point in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, stopped and killed the six
occupants of a car who were returning from a night out. The incident shook the police to its foundations and
generated world condemnation. The incident further dented the human rights image of the police.

20
 suitable for the political emasculation of their opponents and continued, like
the colonialists, to use the police as instrument of oppression and
harassment, hence successive governments found no urgency to reform and
re-orientate the police. This awful disposition has remained the illusion that
defines the character of the Nigeria police even in modern democratic
governance. The entire police personnel should be re-oriented to be in tune
with the reality that Nigeria is now a civil state practising democracy.
Therefore, as a civil organisation, its personnel must de-brief their minds of
the colonial mentality when they acted with respect for the human being.

2. Boost Morale: It is agreed that the Nigeria police is under performing and
this fact is not in doubt. However, part of reason is low morale. Besides poor
remuneration, the care-free attitude of the top police hierarchy towards the
welfare and work condition of the personnel is amazing. Of course, a
situation where policemen on patrol duties contribute their monies to fuel,
service and maintain their patrol vehicles, treat their colleagues if injured in
any operation while the leadership sits pretty in their offices in expectation
of ‘returns’ by the same dehumanised officers do not speak well of the
leadership of the force. Indeed, it could be said that any promises made by
any leadership of the police has been nothing but empty boast of improved
conditions.

The job of policing is fraught with dangers and ultimately risks to the life of
the policemen but yet there is no functional insurance or compensation
scheme in place for the family in the event that a policeman loses his life or
is permanently incapacitated in active service. It is on record that scores of
policemen have been killed in attacks by armed robbers, bandits, insurgents,
kidnappers, militants, during clashes with rioters, at electioneering and other
political uprisings. It is emphasised that if such a scheme exists, it is not
effectively functional and hence does not deliver its service and meet its
purpose promptly and timeously. And where compensations are ever paid,
the amounts are quite poor and uninspiring.

21
 Further, promotions of policemen appear to be subject to the whims and
caprices of the officers concerned. So except there is fluidity in the process
of promoting police officers on merit and as at when due, many that are long
due for promotion are stagnated while favouritism, personal relationships,
nepotism and mediocrity become the yardsticks for recommending and
having police officers promoted to their next ranks. In addition, there is
dearth of equipment, machinery, stationary and other work materials as well
as accommodation for police officers. All of these have worked in concert to
lower the morale of the rank and file towards effective discharge of their
duties to the nation and her citizens. These issues must be looked into and
promptly and truly resolved.

3. Recruitment of more Personnel: This is very necessary in order for the

country to meet the United Nations recommendation of one policeman to
about 400 persons. It is therefore encouraging that the federal government
has re-emphasized its commitment to engage more hands for the police. As a
show of its commitment in this regard, the federal government gave approval
for the recruitment of 10,000 policemen yearly beginning from last year
2018. The exercise has also being slated for this year. We encourage the
government to sustain the tempo while trying to meet other operational
challenges and needs of the police. The police authorities on the other hands
must reciprocate by making sure that available policemen are deployed for
the security of every Nigerian. The current practice where politically
exposed persons and business men are assigned policemen to guard them
and provide security at the expense of other Nigerians smacks of corruption
and abuse of office by the leadership of the police and should be
discontinued forthwith in the interest of the generality of Nigerians and the
protection of their rights.

22
Conclusion

It is no exaggeration to state that, given our level of development as a people, more

than 98% of human rights abuse cases brought pursuant to the Fundamental Rights
(Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009 lying before competent courts of law are
against the Nigeria Police, its officers and men. In some instances, the courts have
had to descend heavily on the police for violating the rights of citizens.
Disappointingly, the police authorities do not have any workable mechanism to
check the excesses and ultra-vires acts of its officers and men as yet. It is believed
that this may be due largely to the indiscipline pervading the force and the over-
weighing colonial and analogue mentality of the personnel of the police who are
fixated with the delusion that the police are a ‘force’ simply because it bears arms
and not a service organisation. Accordingly, the National Assembly must rise up to
the occasion to either repeal or amend the Police Act to reflect modern policing.

It is no exaggeration to say that if the police, barring any effective reforms continue
in their acts which have been generally condemned by well meaning members of
the society, so will they continue to disrespect the citizens, violating their rights and
denying them of their dignity. The police therefore, must of necessity re-invent and
reconstruct itself, rid itself of arbitrariness and always acting mischievously and by
these change the narrative through understanding that they serve the people and
must do so with every sense of responsibility to justify the calls by some people that
the police should be adequately motivated, equipped and given improved conditions
of service. Also, given the fact that no government can afford to pay lip service on
the need for its operatives including the police to respect, protect and preserve the
human rights of its citizens or play the ostrich when its officials violate peoples
human rights, the government must pay some attention to the police in every
respect since leaving it to carry on the way its officers and men do will continue to
paint the government in bad light to the conclusion that the government is
insensitive to the human rights abuses suffered by its citizens and that it
(government) instigates the human rights violations being perpetrated by the police.

23
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