'Police Have Been Used to Terrorize Nigerians'

Six people killed by the Nigerian police. The country has a reputation for brutalilty leveled by authorities against the people.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos

‘Police have been used to terrorise Nigerians’

By Ifedayo Adebayo
Nigeria Next
July 26, 2010 11:16PM

In view of the rising spate of kidnapping cases in the country, the Nigerian Police Force lacks the technology, skill, and organisation to effectively communicate on an operational level, not to talk of saving life and properties, KOWA party said.

Considering the level of their inefficiency, Nigerians should not expect any miracle from the police to put an end to the rising crime wave, the KOWA party’s public relations officer, Remi Sonaiya, said.

“It is also a known fact that management systems used by the police agencies are outdated and inadequate. As a result, there is a dearth of accurate crime statistics, proper evidence documentation and storage, and forensic technology,” Mrs. Sonaiya said.

KOWA Party, an acclaimed alternative political party in the country, however, indicted the police on the alarming rate of kidnappings all over the country, alleging their complicity in the seemingly unstoppable rate.

Briefing the media over the issue, Mrs. Sonaiya said “that the state of insecurity in our land, which led to the rampant kidnapping cases, is as a result of the inability of those charged with the responsibility of ensuring our safety and well being to do so.”

She stressed that corrupt and inept leadership promotes insecurity and “breeds a general state of anarchy all over the world.” According to her, “the police have been used to terrorise the Nigerian people in various ways by the leadership of this country. For instance, they provide covering and protection to those who engage in heinous crimes and other illegal acts, who normally should be prosecuted,” she accused.

The party claimed that the Inspector General of Police, Ogbonnaya Onovo, in his recent remarks, impliedly acknowledged KOWA Party’s stand on this issue by indicting the police “as constituting a significant part of the problem, thereby failing to render their statutory services to the Nigerian people,” she said.

The party warned that failed policing in the nation is a serious threat, even to the nation’s sovereignty, and it must be immediately addressed.

The newly established political party stated that the most effective way of tackling the evil of insecurity is through the institution of good governance.

“When those in leadership are perceived by the people as being concerned only with their own interests, jostling for positions and ensuring a life of extreme luxury for themselves and their families, while the aspirations of the people for a simple but dignified human existence do not strike any chord of compassion in them, then frustration drives some to take the law into their own hands, and to seek justice whichever way they can,” she explained.