Group Alleges Police Brutality, Human Rights Abuses In Lagos

A political and civil society pressure group operating under the aegis of The Renewal Group has raised the alarm over police brutality and human rights abuses being perpetrated by officers of the Lagos State command of the Nigeria Police Force.

Addressing a world press conference in the Maryland, Lagos, the convener of the group, Mr Lai Omotola, lamented that policing in Lagos, the nation’s commercial nerve, was fast becoming an embarrassment.

Omotola, who urged President Bola Tinubu to immediately set up a panel of enquiry on the activities of the Lagos State police command and its senior officers in the inaugural press briefing, said a situation where officers being paid with taxpayers’ money are now being used by land speculators to take over people’s land is appalling.

He emphasised that the group focused on policing in Lagos State because of the urgent need to return the state, which prides itself as a Centre of Excellence, to real excellence in civic engagement, education, and infrastructure development.

Omotola said the seeming derailment was regrettable because the British had bestowed on the country a strong Police Force fashion after the British Police system.

He said, “The first role of a policeman is to be a peacemaker and an enforcer of the Law. There is no developed nation with an underdeveloped Police and no underdeveloped nation with a developed Police. The development of any nation is a direct function of the Police because no nation can develop in the absence of law and order. Hence, the critical Importance of Police. Policing is a noble profession and must remain so for many reasons.

“However, the degeneration of the Nigerian Police has become both self -inflicted and political.

The majority of politicians in Nigeria are not popular and are not loved by the people; hence, the police play an important role during and after elections. Therefore, it is in the interest of unpopular politicians to make the Nigerian police moribund.”

As it pertains to Lagos, he pointed out that, as the commercial nerve centre of Africa and host to the best and most intelligent people from all parts of the country, it must be a city of law and order, wrapped in sanity and splendour.

“With a population of about 22 million people, it deserves to be called a Nation. It is strategic and significant to Africa’s development. Therefore, we should be concerned about reports from a city that never sleeps.

According to the report, policing in Lagos is gradually turning into an embarrassment and a nightmare, adding that police officers are now being used by land speculators to take over people’s land in different parts of the state, while the Taskforce on environmental sanitation moves to the highways to trample on citizens’ rights under the guise of enforcement.