The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), human rights bodies and the media have called for the sanitisation of the Nigeria Police Force for better service to the country.
They demanded urgent steps to strengthen police external accountability mechanisms, especially the Police Service Commission (PSC), to curb impunity in the force.
During RULAAC’s end-of-year briefing in Lagos, on Tuesday, the Executive Director, Okechukwu Nwanguma, noted that the Police Force, in a democratic society, should not be a law unto itself.
“It should uphold the rule of law, which embodies the values of human dignity rather than the wishes of the powerful leaders or political party.
“Effective external accountability processes may make the police more publicly accountable,” he added.
The briefing was to highlight some of the major human rights and security issues that featured prominently and shaped the human rights landscape of the country in 2022, as the year runs out.
RULAAC also called for adequate training, provision of necessary equipment and motivation of police to prepare them for the 2023 general elections in the first quarter of next year.
“The police are the lead security agency in election security. They will have a key role to play in providing security for election personnel and materials, political party agents, voters, election monitors and other stakeholders in elections.
“Security is key to the integrity of the electoral process and the credibility of electoral outcomes,” it stated.
At the briefing, Ohams Graham of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) wrote off the Anti-Kidnapping Unit (AKU) of Imo State Police Command, codenamed Tiger Base.
He alleged that officers of Tiger Base arrest innocent citizens on the streets and brand them criminals, just to extort them.
