As part of the internal cleansing process within the national policing system, the frontline civil society group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has asked the Inspector-General of Police Mr. Kayode Egbetokun to immediately set up a crack team of police squadrons all across the nation to be controlled directly by a deputy Inspector-General of Police even as the job of these squadrons to be made up of incorruptible but few officers, is to catch thieves embedded within the Nigeria Police Force.

HURIWA stated that with the unprecedented incidents of armed robberies by armed uniform police operatives almost all over the Country targeting some vulnerable young but upwardly mobile Nigerians, there is the urgency of the present time that the hierarchy of the police force should set up an internal policing system to police the police just like what obtains in the Nigerian Army which has a unit known as military police within their system for internal cleansing and disciplinary purposes. HURIWA said the setting up of such a quick-win anti-police robbers’ squadrons will complement the jobs of the police service commission and make criminal justice delivery quicker and efficient.

HURIWA mentioned Anambra, Rivers, Lagos, Imo, Kano, Delta and Edo states police commands as the flashpoints of where the Nigerian police force has amongst its rank and file many hard- core robbers who manipulated the enlistment and recruitment system to gain employment as armed police operatives whereas their primary objective is to use the police uniform as a cover to perpetrate crimes and criminality.

The Rights group said a nation that harbours armed robbers as uniform police operatives will never attain a standardised policing system that will comply with global best practices just as the Rights group said the cases of indiscipline and such professional misconduct like involvement in armed robberies by armed police operatives are the reason the Nigerian police force is not a viable crime prevention and fighting force because the people have lost confidence and trust in the men and officers of the policing institution in the Country and therefore the police operatives are not getting qualitative human intelligence from Nigerians.

HURIWA which recalled that a one-time President of Nigeria chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a retired General in the Nigerian Army, had once made a public statement that armed robbers, prostitutes and fraudsters have found their ways into the Nigeria Police Force just as the Rights group said the incidents of involvement of police officers in pure armed robberies under the guise of extortion of citizens, have become so widespread that calls for a very fundamental solution to be put in place by the Inspector-General of Police so as to salvage the battered public image of the Nigeria police force and to instil confidence and trust of the police in the members of the general public in Nigeria. HURIWA acknowledged that the current Inspector-General of Police Mr Kayode Egbetokun has made some efforts to eradicate indiscipline and lack of professionalism by some operatives, but the Rights group said the efforts are mere tokenism and therefore far-reaching and concrete actions must be put in motion.

In a media statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, HURIWA recalled that only this year, many incidents of police armed robberies have been recorded just as the Rivers State Police Command has said that three of its officers who kidnapped and extorted the sum of $3,000 from two men would face an orderly room trial and query respectively.

The spokesperson for the command, Grace Iringe-Koko, who disclosed this while parading the suspects before newsmen in Port Harcourt on Monday, said the action is part of internal disciplinary measures taken against operatives involved in unlawful activities.

Iringe-Koko, a superintendent of police, also said the money equivalent to N4.2 million have been recovered and handed over to the owners.

Recall that the policemen, including two Assistant Superintendents of Police and an Inspector, had whisked their unsuspecting victims to three states before dispossessing them of the said amount, equivalent to N4.2 million.

She stated, “The Rivers State Police Command wishes to inform the public that it has taken decisive action in response to a distressing incident involving the unlawful abduction and extortion of two young men by three of our officers, ASP Doubara Edonyabo, ASP Talent Mungo, and Inspector Odey Michael.

Besides, the Delta State Commissioner of Police, Olufemi Abaniwonda, has removed with immediate effect the Divisional Crime Officer in the Abraka Division, SP Ibrahim Ishaku, over an alleged extortion of N2,465,000.

The officer was also queried for official misconduct.

A statement issued by the command’s spokesman, DSP Bright Edafe, in Warri on Wednesday, explained that “the Commissioner of Police, on receipt of this disturbing report directed the DPO, Abraka, to report at the headquarters alongside the DCO 2, SP Ibrahim Ishaku.”

The statement added that “the CP, after getting a brief of the disturbing incident, immediately ordered the removal of the DCO 2, Ibrahim Ishaku, with immediate effect and the officer issued a query for misconduct.”

The Rights group recalled that in the nation’s capital recently, some operatives attached to the Special Tactical Squad of the Nigeria Police Force in Abuja were arrested for extorting N30 million from a citizen.

The Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, disclosed this in a statement on Friday.

According to the FPRO, the extortion was brought to the notice of the force via the X platform, and the NPF has arrested the officers and their accomplices who initially escaped upon commencement of investigations.

The statement read, “Following the recent act of extortion by some officers of the Nigeria Police attached to the Special Tactical Squad in Abuja who extorted a member of the public of the sum of N30.3m, which was brought to the notice of the Force via the X platform, the Nigeria Police wishes to reveal and announce that significant progress has been made in apprehending the officers and their accomplices responsible for this unprofessional conduct as the squad who initially escaped upon commencement of investigations have been arrested and are currently in custody.

The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, as part of his commitment to upholding the highest standards of integrity and accountability within the Nigeria Police Force, has ordered the commencement of disciplinary proceedings to ensure that justice is served swiftly and decisively.

HURIWA is therefore proposing to the office of the Inspector-General of Police to immediately take steps to set up a Special internal mechanism such as constituting a Special anti-police robber squadrons whose duties would be to fish out armed robbers who managed to get recruited into the police force and are actually using their privileged positions as law enforcement agents to carry out their nefarious activities connected to the underworld. The Rights group further proposes to the police hierarchy to set up a national data bank of all convicted armed robbers, kidnappers, murderers in Nigeria so the recruitment processes into the Nigeria Police Force can be sanitised and undesirable elements stopped proactively from gaining enlistment into the Nigeria Police Force.

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