A rights group, Rule of Law And Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), has written to the Commissioner of Police, Imo state Police Command, Mr. Isaac Akinmoyede, to immediately conduct an audit of personnel in the command to identify and flush out corrupt and abusive officers and sanitise the command under his leadership.

The group said that while it is imperative that the State CP ensures a prompt, impartial and effective investigation into the tragedy in Orlu town of the State on Tuesday where a police inspector shot dead a 27-year-old man for not wearing a face mask, he must also bear in mind that the climate of impunity that allowed that killing to happen must be addressed, adding: “such reckless and unprofessional actions are motivated by corruption and facilitated by impunity which must be addressed.”

In a statement its Executive Director, Okechukwu Nwanguma, the group said that the state police boss needs to urgently carry out an audit of police officers of all levels in the command, identify those who have predilection for corruption and abuse and who have been subject of numerous complaints of abuse, including senior officers who condone or justify corruption, abuse and misconduct.

He should also ensure that such officers who dent the reputation of the NPF are identified, isolated and appropriately dealt with in accordance with police regulations and Nigeria law.

It noted that RULAAC and other human rights advocacy groups have intervened in a number of cases since the advent of Covid-19 pandemic which prompted the Inspector General of Police to issue directives to police officers to restrict arrest and detention based on the gravity of offences, to decongest the cells and minimise visits and invitations to police stations as part of social distancing protective measures to reduce crowding and physical contacts in police stations.

But these directives and the subsequent guidelines issued by the IGP, RULAAC noted, have been observed largely in breach in Imo State.

Listing some of the infractions by the police to which the rights group intervened, the statement gave the following account.

“On Monday, April 20, 2020, Action Group Legal Helpline, a group of CSO groups (of which RULAAC is a member) working collectively to provide legal support and assistance to victims of abuse by law enforcement agencies involved in the enforcement of the lockdown across states in Nigeria received information concerning the arrest of one Mr. Benjamin Ibezim.

“Mr. Ibezim was arrested when he stepped out the previous night to look for a vehicle to take his pregnant wife to the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Owerri. He was detained at the State CID, Owerri.

“The group received the information later the next day, and put phone calls across to the then Commissioner of Police, Imo State Police Command and the Police Public Relations Officer Mr. Ikeokwu Godson Orlando, seeking the release of Mr. Ibezim.

“However, in the process of investigating the group’s complaints concerning the arrest and detention of Mr. Ibezim, the officer assigned by the CP to investigate discovered that there were five other persons together with Mr. Ibezim in the cell arrested under similar circumstances. We made efforts to get them released as well.

“The Police PRO went there personally and passed the CP’s directive to the officers to release them all. As soon as the PRO left, they released only Mr Ibezim, but asked the remaining persons to pay N50, 000 each. We were informed that some even negotiated N15,000 and the officers refused. The five others remained in detention for more days in violation of both the IGP’s directives and their constitutional rights. They were only released days after, after the payment of various sums in bribe.

“On April 23, 2020 RULAAC also received information about one Dennis Onyeka an over 70-year-old man from Umuowa, Ngor Okpala LGA, Imo State who was served a letter of invitation by some Police Officers from the SIB Imo State Police Command, Owerri, directing him to report at the station that same morning. The letter did not indicate any police officer's name except phone numbers.

“An officer who did not disclose his name started calling him and threatening him with arrest if he did not report at the station over what his lawyer informed us was 'a trivial family dispute between him and his brother's wife.' The old man said there has been a lingering family dispute between him and his late brother's wife and that his said late brother's wife uses her brother who works in an oil company and moves about with Police Mobile escorts to constantly harass him. They simply wanted to get him detained again.

“RULAAC brought this matter to the attention of the PPRO and drew his attention to the IGP's directive restricting invitation or arrest to minor offences during this pandemic. Moreover, there was curfew in Imo State at the time which attracted penalties for breach. It is a very far distance between Ngor Okpala and the State Police Headquarters.

“The State PPRO, Mr. Orlando, in his response said: ‘Please let him go to the said office, if they are on illegal duty they won’t invite him to the office, they won’t even drop invitation letter, so there nothing bad in him reporting to the State Intelligence Bureau with the said letter’.

RULAAC declared that it is the climate of impunity created by the failure to rein in these corrupt and unprofessional officers and check their excesses that has emboldened them and imbued in them the feeling that they can do whatever they like and get away with it.