March 30, (THEWILL) – The recent report by CLEEN Foundation, an NGO promoting public safety, security and accessible justice, which claimed that 23 persons were killed in Northern Nigeria during last year’s August hunger protest, adds another dimension to general concerns about respect for the rights and safety of the citizenry.
Recently, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, wrote to the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to direct the police to stop the pervading but emotional damaging practice of parading suspects publicly before prosecution and trial. In the same vein, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, also urged the police high command to implement relevant sessions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, ACLA, as it affects suspects in areas of “strict compliance with constitutional safeguards, including the rights to legal representation, to be informed of charges, and to be promptly brought before a court as well as protection of vulnerable groups, including women, children, and persons with disabilities.
Unveiling its report last week, CLEEN Foundation stated that six persons were killed in Niger State during the August 2024 #EndBadGovenance protest.
It said that all the 23 persons were killed in the protest were all drawn from the north. The protest was largely peaceful in the southern parts of the country.
Titled “Report on the conduct of Law Enforcement Personnel during the August 2024 Nationwide Protest in Nigeria,” the report faulted the position held by the then Niger State Commissioner of Police Shawulu Danmaman, recently promoted an Assistant Inspector-General of Police, that nobody was killed in the state during the protest.
However, Chigozirim Okoro, who presented the report on behalf of the foundation also said similar presentations had been made in Abuja and Kaduna where killings also happened, adding that there were figures to justify their findings.
Reeling out the figures, Okoro stated, “In Niger state, six persons were killed in Suleja and Tafa local government areas. Four persons were killed in Kano, three persons were killed in Kaduna and Borno respectively, two persons each in Katsina and Jigawa and one person each in Bauchi, Gombe and Kebbi states, respectively.
“The protests were categorised into two: Peaceful protest and violent protest. The CLEEN Foundation situation room data indicates that the nationwide protest was largely peaceful in the southern part of Nigeria, but it recorded serious violence in the northern states, which led to loss of lives and destruction of public property. Some observers reported violence in different states such as Kano, Niger, Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina Bauchi and Borno,” She said,
The bottom line of all this eye-opening report, foundation’s Executive Director, Mr. Peter Maduoma, said, was that there was an urgent need for comprehensive reforms in Nigeria’s law enforcement agencies.
Like the AGF and Chief Justice of Nigeria, he recommended “strengthening accountability, monitoring and reporting mechanisms; regular Human Rights training; community engagement; Misinformation management; continuous demilitarisation of crowd management and Rights protection.”
“Improving the policing of civil protest in Nigeria is crucial for protecting human rights, promoting peaceful expression and fostering a healthy relationship between citizens and law enforcement agencies.” The report concluded.
We call on the police authorities to see these concerns being expressed by official and public institutions for the respect of rights of the citizenry as a wake-up call to duty. The police, after all, is the civil force of any state and should therefore interact with the citizenry with more civility and dignity. It bears repetition that if the public fails to see the police as its friend, as that slogan goes, then policing would not only be difficult but impossible and crime will continue to fester into untameable proportions.
