If the Nigerian Police think the life of a citizen is worth anything, it is probably twenty naira. The regular cold-blooded murder of Nigerians over refusal to part with as little as twenty naira is proof. But what is most troubling is the way these murderers in uniform seem to get away with extra judicial killing - and the fact that it is accepted as normal by those familiar with the law enforcement and justice system in Nigeria. Before adopting, ‘Service with Integrity’, the official police slogan was, ‘Fire for Fire’. It would be foolhardy to expect friendship from a force that fires before asking questions.
As demonstrated by the killing of the Boko Haram leaders, the Nigeria police routinely kill unarmed suspects without trial. As it were, some Nigerians would rather run into real armed robbers on highways than run into desperate policemen. The former may rob you and leave you alive. If you are robbed by the police, you are as good as dead. That the Police had to be ordered OUT of the streets of Jos during the recent violence speaks volumes.
The Nigeria police was established as a coercive arm of the British colonialists and it is yet to rid itself of that mentality. The language it speaks best is the language of force and violence. For the police, it is always ‘we’ against ‘them’. Criminal law in the country is mostly antiquated. The penal code was drafted in 1903, and bears little or no bearing to the social realities in Nigeria today. Our Arbitration laws are so outdated that legal practitioners prefer to take arbitration cases to other countries.
Despite the advancements witnessed in the medical sciences in the last half century, the country’s Pharmacy Act has not changed in the nearly 50 years. Forensic science is primeval. Also, in spite of the fact that DNA evidence is regarded as nearly 100 percent accurate, it hardly appears anywhere in our statues.
By international recommendation of 1 policeman to every 140 people, the country has a huge deficit of police officers. Nigeria needs more than 1 million policemen, but has less than 400,000, mostly ill-trained, ill-equipped, ill-tempered, and very prone to ‘accidental discharges’. The public prosecution mechanism is almost infantile. Police corporals and sergeants with little or no legal training prosecute cases in our courts. Similarly, our prisons are jammed beyond the brim. Prisons built to hold two or three hundred now hold thousands. First time (and sometimes innocent suspects) are locked up in the same prison cells with convicted murderers and armed robbers. There are hardly any modern, functional juvenile facilities in the country.
There are few, if any prisoner reform programmes to ensure that incarcerated persons not only get education and vocational skills, but also come out as better citizens upon their release. At the moment, even the shortest stint in jail is equivalent to a degree in crime and the operations of the criminal underworld. Rather than reform, our prisons actually train criminals.
The legal system (like most things) seems discriminatory against the poor; indeed, poverty itself is a crime. The Legal Aid Council is supposed to work as the Office of the Public Defender, but with thousands of indigent defendants in jails charged with crimes for which they plead innocence, one is forced to question the effectiveness of that body.
People have been known to spend years awaiting trial for crimes that if convicted, the penalty would be no more than a couple of months in prison, or even a small fine. Save for a few religious bodies, pro bono is not a concept that many Nigerian lawyers agree with. And so for not being able to afford legal representation, our jails are chocked with persons accused of stealing fowls, goats, tubers of yam and other mundane items.
If anyone tells you that the Nigerian Police is your friend, run. If anyone tells you that our country is governed by the rule of law, run even faster. No one condones crime, but the impression is that if you want to commit a crime, do not steal a stringy fowl, hungry goat, or tattered pair of shoes. Do not steal a bottle of palm oil or a loaf of bread. Any of those crimes would land you in jail for 10 years or more without trial, or a bullet in your back for ‘attempting to escape’ from police custody. Grab hundreds of billions of naira. With that amount in your kitty, you can be assured that the Police will be your friend.
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