Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on
Sunday said he was angry about the actions of some policemen, especially those
attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, who he accused of harassing and
sometimes maiming and killing Nigerians nationwide.
He said such actions coming from
those saddled with the responsibilities of protecting citizens were
unacceptable.
Osinbajo spoke in an interview
with State House correspondents at his official residence in Akinola Aguda
House, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He, therefore, commended the
police authorities for the statement issued earlier in the day on the matter,
saying it was wrong for policemen to be seizing laptops and phones from young
Nigerians in the name of fighting cybercrime.
The Vice President said, “I am
very concerned and in fact sometimes angry about what I see happening to young
men and women who are arrested and, in some cases, maimed or killed by men of
the police force, in some cases, those who man tactical units of the police
force such as SARS and other units.
“It is completely objectionable.
It is unacceptable. These are individuals who are meant to protect Nigerians.
The arrest, maiming, killing of young people, or anyone at all by these
individuals is completely wrong. It is unlawful, it is illegal and all those
involved ought to be investigated and prosecuted.
“This afternoon, I had a meeting
with the IG of Police, we reviewed several of these issues. The President and I
had had discussions on this. He is very concerned about this and he wants to
see a reform of this process and I am sure you are probably aware that the IG
has issued a statement, looking at all these issues, in particular, warning
against the use of these tactical forces such as SARS for the purposes of
anything other than anti-bribery as it is supposed to be.
“For example, in the statement,
he specifically said that we can’t have a situation where SARS will say they
are investigating cybercrime and arresting young men and women who are carrying
laptops and their phones.
“Cybercrime is electronic crime.
There is no way that you can investigate that by seizing people’s phones in a
taxi. I think it is very obvious that this is a major concern. The few bad eggs
within the police force are causing a lot of these.
“Of course, it is all over the
place in different states. There is the need of course to take serious action.
I think that the IG’s statement today is a good first step. He has said clearly
that policemen must wear police uniforms.
“You cannot say that because you
belong to a tactical unit, you can dress in your casual clothing and be armed,
because people can’t even tell the difference between robbers and the police if
you are not properly dressed in police uniform. So, clearly, reform is in the
offing.”
Osinbajo urged Nigerians to
continue to bring the issue regularly to the attention of the government and
the police.
He added, “I think that we all
have to work together to ensure that the police and law enforcement agents, do
what their duty is and their duty is to protect us, protect our society and
livelihoods and homes.
“By the way, many of them are
doing their duties excellently well, but there are some of them who are engaged
in these activities. So, we must see this as something we all must work
together to achieve, as individuals, to bring to the attention of the police
and government, where there have been violations.
“And on the part of the
government and the police: to ensure that every one of those allegations is
properly investigated and those found responsible are prosecuted and publicized
so that people know that prosecution has taken place and this is the
consequence. I am very confident that we will have a reformed police force and
that process has already begun.”
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com