‘Some Lawless Police Officers Are Frustrating Justice In Nigeria’ – Abuja Panel Tells IGP

The reputation of the Nigeria Police Force, which is saddled with making the country safe and secure, may be tarnished due to activities of some bad eggs in the force.

This was according to the panel investigating allegations of human rights violations by members of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and other police units in Abuja.

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According to the panel, the refusal by some officers to appear before the panel to answer questions regarding allegations of human rights violations levelled against them, casts the police in bad light.

The Justice Suleiman Galadima- led panel cited an instance where two accused officials of the now disbanded SARS in Anambra state (Mr. Obiazo and Mr. Uzo Emeana) were yet to show up in a petition bordering on alleged arbitrary arrest and detention of one Mr. John Emeka Alozie.

The panel observed that since it resumed sitting, some officers of the police were not complying with directives in respective petitions before it.

It advised the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to wade into the matter and instil orderliness within the force.

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“The panel is left with no choice but to order the arrest of Mr. Obiazo and Mr. Uzo Emeana both of SARS Awkuzu, Anambra state over of one alleged arbitrary arrest and detention of Mr. John Emeka Alozie,” Justice Galadima said regarding one of the petitions.

The panel, as cited in a statement by the National Human Rights Commission’s Deputy Director, Public Affairs, Fatimah Agwai Mohammed, stressed that the aim of some lawless police officers was “to scuttle the course of justice.”

Recall that following the EndSARS protests in 2020, the federal government had dissolved the SARS unit of the police and directed states and the Federal Capital Territory Administration to establish panels of inquiry geared towards unraveling officers’ misconducts.

The panels have been sitting across different states of the nation and the FCT.

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