Police Beats Female Politician To Death In Ondo State

Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase

Life counts for nothing with the Nigerian police. In a troubling new case that should   engage the attention of the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, some policemen from the Ondo State Command recently stormed the Akure home of a female politician, Ronke Adelugba, 50. By the time they left, Adelugba was only a lifeless body, having been brutally beaten to death by the unconscionable agents of the state.

The seven-man team went beyond the brief of enforcing the law, as using excessive force on a lone woman is an indefensible act.

According to media reports, the police invaded Adelugba’s house on the pretext of attempting to arrest some hoodlums who were smoking marijuana in her area. When police found nobody, they decided to search for the suspects in the woman’s house. Searching for Indian hemp smokers is good, but using lethal weapons to do so is not proportional to the alleged crime. The woman refused the request, citing the fact that the police did not have a warrant. For resisting them, the police reportedly beat her up, and hit her with a gun butt. Death followed, though the Ondo State police command claimed that the woman slumped and died shortly after the police exited her residence.

Adelugba died a needless death. This is incomprehensible and sad. The impunity of the police is yet to abate despite the pledge by the top hierarchy to bring about change. The policemen are supposed to protect Nigerians, not murder them. Harassment, torture, rape of female detainees, and shooting of innocent civilians have become part of policing in Nigeria. Killings at checkpoints are rampant. Commercial bus drivers and conductors have been despatched to the great beyond by policemen seeking to collect bribes of as little as N20. It is common to hear of suspects dying in police custody.

In a September 2014 report, “Welcome to hell fire: Torture and other ill-treatment in Nigeria,” Amnesty International, a human rights organisation, said the police detained and tortured civilians to extort money or force a confession out of them. This is a gory truth about police operations in Nigeria. Amnesty said, “Some of the torture techniques include nail or tooth extractions, choking, electric shocks and sexual violence.” How horrible to face such unforgiving viciousness.

The practice has festered because many killer-cops manage to escape justice. In October 2011, a youth, Emmanuel Victor, was returning from church when he urged policemen to stop extorting money from motorists at a checkpoint in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital. A policeman shot him dead in the presence of his mother for daring to challenge him.

The same horrible fate befell Ugochukwu Ozuah, 36, in Lagos, just five days after his wedding in September 2012. He was gunned down without provocation. His killers are still probably on the loose. But as recently as mid-August this year, David Legbara, a commercial bus driver in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State, was fatally shot by a policeman on stop-and-search duty over his refusal to pay a bribe of N100. These killings are too numerous to ignore.

Compared to other jurisdictions, the pervasive use of deadly force, torture and killings are signs of a dysfunctional police system in operation in the country. The police and the public view each other with suspicion, instead of partnering in ridding our communities of crime. The alarming indices should bother the Muhammadu Buhari Administration and spur a clampdown on errant officers.

Policing might be a challenging job, but it is not an alibi for law enforcement agents to throw caution to the wind. So, how do we get the police to imbibe the culture of responsibility and adherence to the rule of law as is being done elsewhere? First, put all the masterminds of recent cases of abuse and death by police personnel on trial. An officer is likely to weigh his action when he sees that his colleagues are facing trial and are being sent packing from the force.

Second, introduce transparency into police operations. This has the capacity to engender efficiency and force them to be accountable. The Police need substantive reforms. Arase should give explicit guidance on what constitutes “reasonable force”. The trust and mutual respect must exist between the law enforcement community and the citizens they serve must be built and sustained. But first, Arase should get to the root of Adelugba’s death. The policemen responsible for this must be brought to book. The dead is no more, but her family will be comforted if the killers are made to pay for her murder.