Popular entertainer, Femi
Kuti, has called for comprehensive reform of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF)
which he said requires a complete reorientation.
Femi Kuti believes the Police
Force is important to curbing crime but must work for law-abiding Nigerians,
not against them.
He said this while addressing the media at the New Afrika
Shrine, Lagos where a protest against Police brutality took place on Friday,
April 5, 2019.
The protest was in reaction to the fatal shooting of Kolade
Johnson, a 36-year-old who was killed on Sunday, March 31, 2019 when the
Special Anti-Cultism Squad (SACS) of the Lagos State Police Command was
attempting to arrest another man because of his dreadlocks in the Mangoro area
of Lagos.
Kuti said that the protest is not an
attempt to undermine or scrap the Police Force but to demand a reform of the
system that'll make it work in the interest of the people and not kill them
unlawfully.
Describing
Kolade's fatal shooting as one too many tragic excesses of the Force that
should not be condoned, Kuti said a change is important.
"We're not against the Police. We're saying the complete
orientation of the Police must change into positiveness.
"The Police works for us and must defend its citizens. The
Police cannot go and kill its citizens. We pay our taxes so the Police must
defend us.
"We're not saying scrap the Police Force, of course, there'll
be crime. If Police is properly equipped then Police can protect us against
crime," he said.
At
least a dozen people participated in the protest on Friday, demanding justice
for Johnson, the deceased father of one, and an end to Police brutality in the
country.
Segun 'Segalink' Awosanya, an activist and major campaigner
against Police brutality, called for the scrapping of all 'killer' Police
squads in the country.
While
addressing the group of protesters on Friday, Awosanya said killer squads in
the Nigeria Police Force have been working against the interest of the Nigerian
people for too long and must be stopped.
The
activist focused his demand against the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad
(FSARS), the Special Anti-Kidnapping Squad (SAKS) and SACS, units that he said
enjoy a free reign of impunity because they operate without a visible command
and control structure.
"When our country is saddled with a Police Force that
operates outside the bounds of law, without operational restraint, what we get
are not only killer squads that reign supreme but a Police Force that has gone
rogue killing and maiming defenceless citizens.
"The lives of all citizens matter and we must continue to
demand that men and women of the Police Force respect the sanctity of life and
the lives of all Nigerians.
"In light of the foregoing, therefore, we restate that all ad
hoc squads within the Police Force be scrapped and their responsibilities
transferred to the discernible structures within the Police Force," he said.
Awosanya
added that the operational responsibilities of the accused units can be
properly handled by the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence
Department (FCIID) and its substructure, the State Criminal Investigation and
Intelligence Department (SCIID).
Other
demands made by the activist include the implementation of new and updated
operational guidelines and use of arms which respect Nigerians' rights to life;
the payment of monetary compensation to all families of citizens killed by
rogue operatives; and the criminal prosecution of police officers named in the
killings of Nigerians.
He
also called on the National Assembly to pass the Police Reform Bill, set to be
laid before the Senate on Tuesday, April 9, and pass it to President Muhammadu Buhari for
assent. He further called on the president to sign the bill without delay so
that Nigerians don't continue to endure an unjust system.
"I'm hopeful and expectant that when this bill comes, within
the same week the president will sign it into law because anything short of
that, we'll take to the streets and we'll not go back in until that bill is
done because we're the ones dying not their children," he told Pulse.
Awosanya
added that the operational responsibilities of the accused units can be
properly handled by the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence
Department (FCIID) and its substructure, the State Criminal Investigation and
Intelligence Department (SCIID).
Other
demands made by the activist include the implementation of new and updated
operational guidelines and use of arms which respect Nigerians' rights to life;
the payment of monetary compensation to all families of citizens killed by
rogue operatives; and the criminal prosecution of police officers named in the
killings of Nigerians.
He
also called on the National Assembly to pass the Police Reform Bill, set to be
laid before the Senate on Tuesday, April 9, and pass it to President Muhammadu Buhari for
assent. He further called on the president to sign the bill without delay so
that Nigerians don't continue to endure an unjust system.
"I'm hopeful and expectant that when this bill comes, within
the same week the president will sign it into law because anything short of
that, we'll take to the streets and we'll not go back in until that bill is
done because we're the ones dying not their children," he told Pulse.
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