The HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) is specifically asking the Inspector General of Police Usman Alkali Baba to provide a safe haven for a seventeen years old boy in the Kwali Area Council whose phone was repeatedly used by a hardened violent kidnaper to negotiate and collect ransom from the families of the victims of his underworld business. The reason HURIWA is shouting from the roof tops demanding that the police hierarchy should provide protection for the seventeen year old whistle blower is because the police does not have the history of protecting whistle blowers.

The Inspector General of Police himself and not the FCT police commissioner should personally ensure that there is implementable program of resettlement of this seventeen year old whistle blower away from Kwali to such a place that his presence as well as his family can become anonymous. If possible the police can give the boy a new identity and change the phone of his parents so as to protect the whereabouts of his family.

The reason why the police appear not to be efficient in terms of intelligence gathering in Nigeria is because they do not have the mechanism of protecting whistle blowers. Nigeria Police Force currently has a large pool of moles planted in the police that give out information to armed robbers and other men of the underworld.

It is very important that for the police to claim that we are their friends, they need to show a friendly loyalty because friends do not sabotage the security of their friends but it is like a piece of cake to the Nigeria Police operatives to sell out their whistleblowers or those the police negatively identifies as informants. Policing can never be successful in any human community if the community and popularity in the grassroots do not trust that the police operatives next door are capable of protecting their anonymity when they volunteer key information that leads to the arrest of crime suspects especially violent criminals such as terrorists and kidnappers who often trace the person who volunteer information to the police and kill them after been tipped off by some rogues within the police force of Nigeria.

The NPF operatives need to change so that we Nigerians can trust them with our information and security afterwards. So this is a special challenge to the Inspector General of Police because recently the PRO department of the police have shown on television stations some few cases whereby serious action been taken against police indiscipline in an effort to create the positive impression of a no nonsense police hierarchy. If these media postures are not mere propaganda by the Force PRO to shore up the public image of the police that is waning rapidly, then the Inspector General of Police needs to introduce effective whistleblowers protection internal blueprints as part of the larger attempt by Nigerians to have a national legislative framework on the obligatory protection of Whistleblowers.

HURIWA recalled that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police command had announced that it arrested a suspected kidnapper identified as Ibrahim Tunbow after using a phone belonging to a 17-year-old boy in the Kwali area of the FCT to negotiate and collect ransom from the relations of a victim. The suspect was said to have offered the teenager N30,000 after he received the ransom, but the boy rejected the money.

HURIWA recalled that a resident of the area who spoke to the media said that Tunbow threatened to kill the boy should he open up to anyone he uses his phone for calls. The source added that the boy was scared by the threat and told his parents what transpired, adding that his parents reported the matter to the police.

”What happened was that Tunbow first asked the 17-year-old boy to allow him to use his phone to make calls that his phone was faulty. He made friends with him and subsequently started using the boy’s phone for calls, and sometimes he received calls demanding to speak with Tunbow.

As soon as he receives the calls, he won’t be seen around for sometimes. Recently, he brought N30,000 and gave to the boy. The boy asked what the money was meant for, Tunbow said it was his share out of the money he made from those calls he normally received using his phone. The boy refused to collect the money.

He (the violent kidnaper) threatened to kill him (the boy) if he tells anyone that he uses his phone to receive and make calls. The boy was scared and explained everything that happened to his parents. The matter was reported to the police. Tunbow was arrested yesterday afternoon. ”the source said

Confirming the arrest, the spokesperson of the FCT police command, Josephine Adeh, said

"Tunbow has been arrested, and he is in our custody. He confessed to using the boy’s phone to make calls during interrogation. He also confessed to being behind some of the abductions in Yangoji, Sahda, and Killankwa. We have intensified efforts to arrest other members of his gang.”

She, however, warned residents to be mindful of allowing strangers to make calls with their mobile phones.

“We want to use this medium to caution residents to be mindful of giving their phones to strangers to make calls. Parents should also caution their children against giving their phones to strangers.” she said.

HURIWA however warned the police against abandoning persons volunteering information that leads to the solving of some crimes only for the suspects to walk away on bail from the police after bribes exchanged to go haunt the police informant and the Police won't be available to protect the whistleblower from violent reprisal by the criminal on the loose.

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