Lifestyle

Senate confirms former IGP Arase as Police Commission Chairman

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The Senate has confirmed President Muhammadu Buhari’s nomination of Mr Solomon Arase as Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC).

Arase’s confirmation, which took place Wednesday, Jan. 25, at plenary, was a sequel to the consideration of a report by the Committee on Police Affairs.

Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Jika Halliru (APC-Bauchi) presented the report. Haillu said Arases’ nomination was in accordance with section 154, sub-section 1 of the 1999 constitution.

According to him, sections 2 A and B of the Police Service Commission Establishment Act 2001 also required the President to nominate Nigerians of proven integrity as members of the PSC.

He said findings from the screening by the committee showed that Arase meets the necessary legal requirements and is affirmed by the committee to be the proper person to be appointed as Chairman of PSC.

He said the committee was satisfied and impressed with how the nominee competently answered all questions posed to him.

Hilliru said that given the qualifications and relevant experience gained by Arase over the years, the committee recommends that the senate confirm his appointment as Chairman of PSC.

Lifestyle

Court sentences IGP to three months in prison for contempt

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Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon of the Federal High Court, Abuja has sentenced the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba to three months in prison for disobeying a court order, Vanguard reports.

Olajuwon issued the ruling on Tuesday, November 28, 2022, following a suit filed by Patrick Okoli, a former police officer who claims he was unlawfully and compulsorily retired from the Nigerian police force.

According to the affidavits in support of the suit, the applicant was forcefully retired in June 1992.

After challenging his forceful retirement, a Bauchi high court on February 19, 1994, delivered judgment in favour of the applicant and quashed the letter of compulsory retirement.

The high court also ordered that the applicant be reinstated with all rights and privileges. The Police Service Commission (PSC) in a letter dated October 13, 2004, directed the then-IGP to reinstate the applicant and issue a recommendation for promotion in accordance with the decision of the court.

Consequently, Okoli instituted a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/637/2009 at the Abuja federal high court seeking an order of mandamus to compel the enforcement of the order of the Bauchi state high court and the directives of the PSC.

The applicant took further steps to enforce the order including approaching the federal house of representatives who then wrote to the office of the IGP.

After efforts failed, the applicant approached the law firm of Festus Keyamo, to commence a committal proceeding against the respondent.

Delivering judgment, Olajuwon held that the IGP should be committed to prison and detained for a period of three months, or until he obeys the order.

“It is unfortunate that the chief enforcer of the law is one who has deliberately refused to comply with the same law. It is important to state that obedience to orders of court is fundamental to the good order, peace and stability of a nation,” the judge held.

“It is a duty which every citizen, who believes in peace and stability of the Nigerian state, owes the nation and the court has a duty to commit the individual who has failed to carry out the order of the court for contempt, so as to prevent the authority and administration of law from being brought to disrespect and to protect the dignity of the court.

“The terms of the Orders of this Court are clear and unambiguous. This court Is satisfied that the respondent (presently and those before him) has had proper knowledge of the Orders of this Court, there is no denial of such knowledge and the receipt of Forms 48 and 49.

“The respondent filed a counter affidavit, was duly represented in court by different counsel, who stated how they had written several legal opinions which were not attended to.

“The refusal and failure of the respondent to comply with the orders of this court has been proved in this case.

The respondent, in this case, the inspector-general of police, in the person of Usman Alkali Baba, is to be committed to prison and detained in custody for a period of three months or until he has obeyed the order of this court, made on the 21st October, 2011, in all things that are to be performed, whichever period is shorter.

Lifestyle

No going back on community policing – IGP

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The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba has said they would be going ahead with the community policing system arrangements aimed at checkmating various crimes at local levels.

In his speech at the 11th edition of the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC) forum in Abuja on Thursday September 29, Usman said the force had upgraded its Police Training curriculum to cater for knowledge that will be practically used in carrying out responsibilities in line with the principle of Community-oriented policing. He said;

“Over the years, crimes and criminality have adopted a fluid nature. There was a time when society and members of the community, on their own volition, would arrest criminals in their locales and hand them over to the Police for onward prosecution and sanctions.

“However, with time, society became more and more complicit in covering up criminals amongst them and even offering protection for them against the law enforcers.

“This reality created an urgent need to domesticate the principles of modern policing as advocated for by the revered Sir Robert Peel as early as 1829.”

The IGP who was represented by a Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Force Criminal Investigation Department, DIG Johnson Kokumo, added that the force would make active various platforms such as the Public Complaint Bureau (PCB), the Complaint Response Unit (CRU) which has the capacity to receive complaints online via social media platforms that can be used for complaints, among others.

He said this would build police/citizen trust which is a fundamental basis for effective Community Policing.

Politics, World News

Human rights writers association of Nigeria slams inspector general of police.

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The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has slammed the Inspector General of Police over what it termed “open and brazen disobedience and disloyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari” who gave clear directive and instruction openly and publicly to the state governments in Nigeria to constitute, judicial panels of inquiry into police brutality which was the basis of the End SARS protests.

The group in a statement on Thursday, described the decision of the police high command under the headship of Mohammed Adamu to institute a suit at the Federal High Court seeking to abort the proceedings at the different judicial panels of inquiry in different states of the Federation, as disgraceful, and a direct affront to the authority of the President of Nigeria and an unmitigated desecration of the Constitution.

HURIWA stated that it is irresponsible, insanely irrational, and senseless for the IGP to deep his hands into the public to file a case against the same public – his employers, adding that the Nigerian people are the employers of the police.

According to the association, “It is an indescribable disgrace that the IGP wants the court of law to stop the victims of police brutality from ventilating their grievances before the properly constituted judicial panel of inquiry.”

“So, what is the IGP afraid of or are his hands stained with the blood of the innocent citizens killed over the many years by Special Anti-Robbery squad of the Nigeria Police Force?

“Why is the IGP scared of the truth that are coming out from the panels of inquiry and why does he not want the victims of police brutality to obtain justice?

“The suit instituted at the Federal High Court by the IGP is provocative, unconstitutional, illegal, primitive, despicable and must be withdrawn forthwith or the IGP must be asked to refund the money used to institute the matter and be fired.

“The IGP will have to state if the instruction to go to court was given to him by President Muhammadu Buhari in which case Nigerians will have to see that the President is not honest about changing the status quo of policing which is deeply enmeshed in the use of torture and extralegal executions.

“This frivolous suit shows that the police hierarchy indeed supports the use of torture and extrajudicial killings by operatives of the Nigerian police,” the statement said.

Politics, World News

IGP calls for an end to violence against Law Enforcement Officers.

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The Nigerian Police force has released statements on Twitter to address the “END SARS” protest and the killings associated with it.

Below are the statements;

“ENDSARS PROTESTERS GO BERSERK – MURDER 1 POLICEMAN, INJURE ANOTHER IN DELTA, STEAL AK47 RIFLE WITH 25 ROUNDS OF AMMUNITION.”

“The Inspector General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, NPM, mni has condemned the unprovoked and violent attack on policemen and damage to police operational vehicles and other assets by ENDSARS protesters in Ughelli, Delta State, on Thursday, 8th October, 2020.”

“The incident which resulted in the unfortunate death of one Police officer, Corporal Etaga Stanley attached to ‘A’ Division, Ughelli, Delta State who was attacked and brutally murdered by the protesters also left another, Sergeant Patrick Okuone with serious body injury sustained from gunshot by the protesters. The protesters also carted away one (1) service AK47 rifle with breach no 56-2609008 and 25 rounds of live ammunition that was with the deceased at the time of the incident.”

“The IGP, who described the incident as cruel and unwarranted, has warned that the Force will no longer tolerate any attack on its personnel or any member of the law enforcement community by any individual or group protesting under any guise.”

“The IGP notes that protest by citizens remain a legitimate means for airing their concerns and views. It must however be carried out with all sense of responsibility and within the confines of the law.”

“The IGP, while condoling the family and friends of the late Corporal Etaga Stanley who paid the supreme price in the service of our dear nation, equally commended the officers of the Delta State Police Command for exercising restraint in the face of the immoral and unjustified provocation.”

“Meanwhile, the IGP has directed the Commissioner of Police, Delta State to carry out a discrete investigation into the unfortunate incident, root-out the perpetrators and bring the killer protesters to book.”

Below are snapshots of the original tweets as posted by the Nigerian Police force.

World News

IGP disbands SARS satellite offices across Nigeria

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Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police (IGP), has banned operatives of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS), the Special Tactical Squad (STS) and Intelligence Response Team (IRT) from undertaking routine patrols as well as stop and search duties.

Frank Mba, police spokesman, disclosed the directive of the IGP in a statement on Sunday.

The directive is coming in the wake of an outrage over alleged criminal and extra-judicial actions of FSARS officers against citizens in various parts of the country.

In the statement, Mba said the IGP also directed that no officer should embark on a patrol in mufti.

The inspector-general of police, IGP M.A Adamu, NPM, mni has banned the personnel of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) and other Tactical Squads of the Force including the Special Tactical Squad (STS), Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Anti-Cultism Squad and other Tactical Squads operating at the Federal, Zonal and Command levels, from carrying out routine patrols and other conventional low-risk duties – stop and search duties, checkpoints, mounting of roadblocks, traffic checks, etc – with immediate effect,” he said.

“The IGP has warned the Tactical Squads against the invasion of the privacy of citizens particularly through indiscriminate and unauthorized search of mobile phones, laptops and other smart devices.

“They are to concentrate and respond only to cases of armed robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes when the need arises.”

Mba quoted Adamu as saying FSARS and other police tactical squads remain “a critical component of the Force in confronting prevailing and emerging violent crimes in the country”.

“He however condemns every act of unprofessionalism, abuse of human rights and high-handedness by some personnel of the Squads,” the force public relations officer said.

“He has therefore ordered the X-Squad and the Monitoring Unit to embark on immediate and massive nationwide monitoring of activities of Tactical Squads and other police officers on the road.

“They are to ensure prompt arrest, investigation and prosecution of all erring police officers who violate these directives and other extant regulations of the Force.

The IGP has equally warned that henceforth, the Commissioner of Police in charge of FSARS, Commissioners of Police in charge of State Commands and the FCT as well as their supervisory Zonal Assistant Inspectors General of Police, will be held liable for any misconduct within their Area of Responsibility (AOR).”

The police spokesman said two FSARS officers and one civilian accomplice have been arrested in Lagos for professional misconduct.

“Two operatives of the FSARS and their civilian accomplice operating in Lagos State, INSPR Sale James, INSPR Monday Uchiola and Okechukwu Ogbonna, have been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command, for acts of professional misconduct including extortion and intimidation of innocent citizens,” he said.

“The operational vehicle of the men has also been impounded and disciplinary procedure has already commenced against the defaulters.”

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