Date: 2018-10-24

THREE lawyers, Luqman Olanrewaju Bello, Dr. Mustapha Aduwa and Mohammed Akande, the branch chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Ilorin, Kwara State, were reportedly harassed and assaulted last week by some police cadets at the Police Training School, Ilorin. Bello was the first to have the humiliating experience when he went to the police station to secure the release of his client who was arrested by a traffic warden. He failed to achieve his objective because the police allegedly did not give him audience but strangely, he was thrown into a cell after being mercilessly battered and stripped virtually naked. The NBA chairman tried to intervene but was assaulted together with Dr. Aduwa. The duo took the picture of Bello in the dehumanising state in which they found him in the police cell and that reportedly exacerbated the brutality and humiliation meted out to them.

It is sacrilegious that policemen in training are already assaulting law-abiding citizens. An argument over thoroughfare should not have degenerated to assault. And assuming Bello was a fake lawyer as these policemen reportedly thought, is it appropriate to have beaten him to a pulp? Should any citizen be subjected to such horrendous treatment? Anyway, the issue has been escalated to the highest level of the police authority and the NBA because the victims of police brutality this time around know their rights under the law and have the capacity to seek redress against breaches. The unsettling truth, however, is that hundreds of similar cases of police harassment and brutalisation of innocent and poor citizens happen daily across the land but go largely unreported. This phenomenon is antithetical and diametrically opposed to the raison d'etre for the establishment of the police force.

Globally, protection of life and property is the primary essence of police existence. It, therefore, becomes somewhat inexplicable when policemen behave and conduct themselves in ways that tend to put the achievement of this fundamental objective in jeopardy. The police are a regimented force in which discipline ought to be of paramount importance but it is unfortunate that indiscipline among police personnel is rife. Some of them are irascible and constantly on edge. They get provoked too easily, they throw caution to the wind and unleash terror on innocent citizens without let or hindrance. They kill, maim and batter innocent and harmless persons over literally inconsequential issues. Indeed, some policemen behave in a manner that detracts markedly from the high standards of character and conduct expected from the personnel of a disciplined security agency, especially one whose duties demand interface with members of the public on a daily basis. Security agents trained and maintained by taxpayers' money to preserve law and order should not be fomenting trouble or causing mayhem.

Sadly, it has become evident that the much touted police reforms have yet to reflect in the performance and attitude of many of the personnel. Otherwise, some of them will not continue to relish the anachronistic tendency that 'might is right', especially against harmless and innocent persons. Issues that demand professionalism and some measure of dexterity in dispute resolution are treated with unlawful deployment of disproportionate force which often ends up bringing the police into disrepute. While it may be faulty and uncharitable to generalise, the frequency of police brutality on innocent citizens makes it tempting to see the entire force through the prism of the bad eggs and unscrupulous personnel in the employ of the organisation.

The national president of the NBA, Paul Usoro (SAN), is urged to make good his promise to pursue the matter of the brutalisation and humiliation of his colleagues by the police to a logical conclusion. However, his objective should not only be to get justice for his traumatised compatriots but also to make a strong statement about the need for the police to carry out their duties strictly within the ambit of the law. We also hope that Fafowora Bolaji, the Kwara State Commissioner of Police, will keep his promise to conduct a painstaking investigation into the alleged brutality by some personnel under his watch and ensure that the aberrant officers are brought to book.

It will serve as a deterrent if the police cadets implicated in the show of shame are not commissioned. It goes without saying that the need for a paradigm shift in the attitude and orientation of the police recommends itself for action daily and it is time the relevant authorities did something about it. Otherwise, this important security agency will continue to be construed as a poster thing for corruption and lawlessness.