Police Officers Involved In Rights Abuse To Be Dismissed – IGP

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Adamu, on Wednesday, ordered Assistant Inspectors-General and state Commissioners of Police to arrest, detain and dismiss from service any cop found violating the rights of the citizens.

The IGP disclosed this in a letter titled, ‘Order and directives: Restrictions on the operations of F-SARS, SARS, IRT, STS, state anti-kidnapping units and other special units under any nomenclature that operates in mufti across all formation, zones and state commands’, dated October 5th.

It reads: “Any police personnel that, henceforth, abuses his or her powers in a manner that degrades, endangers or threatens the lives and other fundamental rights of the citizens shall be promptly arrested, processed through our internal disciplinary machinery, and if found culpable, shall be dismissed from service.

“In addition, such personnel could be charged in consonance with their level of criminal liability in the instance,” Adamu said.

According to him, deviant operatives should also be charged after being indicted in an orderly room trial.

Adamu mentioned that some cops have continued to been violate citizens’ rights despite consistent warnings, previous orders, professional training, international protocols, constitutional dictates, force policies, and ethical standards.

He added that no component of the law or international protocols authorised the unlawful killing or degrading treatment of fellow citizens, stressing that no element of professional training or ethical standards permitted any police personnel to deploy lethal weapons either consciously or otherwise, except as provided for in the statutes and in Force Order 237.

He, however, directed the officers to compile recent cases of abuse of power and violation of rights of the citizens by the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, (SARS) Special Tactical Squad, Intelligence Response Team, Anti-Cultism Squad and other teams, and forward same to his office not later than Friday.

The returns, he said should include the dates and venues of the incident, the special teams involved, details of the incidents and personnel involved, and the actions initiated by the head of the concerned commands as well as the status of the matter.

“Any personnel of the special units found violating the order must be arrested and escorted to the Force headquarters for appropriate actions. Weekly update on this operation must be forwarded to the office of the Inspector-General of Police for review and appropriate directives,” he added.