IN yet another brazen assault on fundamental human rights, policemen attached to the Owutu police station near Agric bus stop in Ikorodu, Lagos State, allegedly stripped an unnamed young man naked last week. His crime, according to eyewitnesses, was that he refused to allow the policemen to go through his mobile phone. In the bizarre video captured by some internet-savvy members of the public and uploaded on the internet, the young man could be seen pleading with the policemen not to allow him suffer unjustly as they beat and kicked him, slapping his bare butt. It will be recalled that last December, a man was allegedly stripped naked by the police in Delta State for refusing to give a bribe. Strangely, and quite uncharacteristically, the Lagos State police command is yet to comment on the incident in Ikorodu.
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To all intents and purposes, the incident in Ikorodu was unfortunate. It was grosteque. Regardless of the alleged crime for which the unnamed citizen was apprehended, it was unconscionable to have beaten and stripped him naked under any guise. Truth be told, stories of police lawlessness in Ikorodu and elsewhere are legendary. When they are not harassing motorbike and taxi cab drivers, policemen routinely stop young men, particularly those carrying backpacks, on the road, searching their phones and bodies to ferret out evidence of internet fraud. The situation is so bad that it has spawned a crude joke in the country to the effect that if the police did not find anything incriminating in your bag, they would still arrest you, charging you with possession of a bag into which you intend to hide a yet-to-be-stolen laptop!
In the absence of a credible counter narrative, it is safe to assume that the bizarre incident in Ikorodu was not in any way informed by a quest to uphold law and order. Since when has it become a crime to refuse unwarranted searches on your person? What kind of police force restricts freedom of movement through trumped-up charges? Why must Nigerians subject themselves to the indignity of a phone search by the police just to feed the suspicion that they are internet fraudsters? And even if the police have credible evidence that a particular person apprehended on the streets is an internet fraudster, is enforced search of his handset or laptop on the streets the way to go? Is that how police in civilised crimes operate?
Particularly in the last four years, the officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force have routinely exceeded their briefs, circumscribing the freedom of movement under various guises. They have committed jungle justice and imposed a reign of terror on the populace in the name of fighting crime. Indeed, it took sustained public outcry for the police to even speak of reforming the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), an outfit notorious for gross abuse of human rights. In effect, Nigeria has become a police state and in spite of the assurances given by the newly-appointed Inspector General of Police, Mr. Muhammed Umar, there is as yet no inkling of change in the horizon. The police continue to treat those they are paid to protect with utmost disdain, refusing to let go of the inherited feeling of superiority and overlodship over the civilian populace.
In fairness to the Lagos State police command, it has lately demonstrated zero tolerance for the kind of lawlessness exhibited by the police in Ikorodu. On several occasions, it has made an example out of policemen extorting or harassing the populace, which is why we urge it to look critically into the current issue and ensure that justice is done in the case. On its part, the Lagos State government, through its Ministry of Justice, must take more than a passing interest in the case and ensure that the policemen who carry out the stripping incident in Ikorodu get the treatment recommended by the laws of the land. Barring any distortions to the narrative, it would be well within the victim’s rights to press charges against the police. Fundamental human rights is more than a concept.
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