• Dithering of Force PRO
• Falana’s stance, the law’s stance
The Police Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi has equivocated too often within a tiny time frame. Within two days, Adejobi released two seemingly self-contradictory statements. His initial statement, a tweet was a reaction to an assault of an armed police officer that read the riot acts to civilians who dare return attack on their persons by Police Officers. Adejobi had in a tweet on Saturday, September 17, 2022, said, “Even if a policeman on uniform slaps a civilian, the civilian has no right to retaliate more so if he’s on police uniform; it’s an act of disrespect to Nigeria, to beat an officer on uniform, the disrespect is not to the policeman but to our nation, and it’s a crime as enshrined in our criminal laws.”
The Chief Superintendent of Police reacted to a viral video of a man dragging a rifle with a policeman during a heated argument and suspicious molestation over his phone. Simply put, the Force spokesman warned citizens against assaulting Nigeria police personnel on duty even if the latter is the assailant. He stated further, “So it’s not a case of what the policeman did that led to it, but the reaction of the civilians who actually assaulted the police. If the police assault a civilian, you report and actions will be taken to rebuke him, not to take the law into your hands.” The statement sparked backlashes and petitions calling for the resignation of CSP Adejobi. Barely few hours after the alleged vexing tweet, Nigeria’s front-line human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), took a swipe at the FPRO as he also charged the Inspector General of Police to sack him if he fails to withdraw the statement.
This was on Sunday, September 18, 2022. Describing the police spokesperson’s comment as “inciting and provocative”, Falana clarified that while civilians are required to respect police officers who are discharging their lawful duties, police officers are equally mandated to respect civilians. His statement read in part: “The highly inciting and provocative statement which has giv en the misleading impression that the Nigeria Police Force has authorised its officers to slap citizens and subject them to other forms of torture without any challenge whatsoever. “If the statement is not withdrawn within the next 24 hours, the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Usman Alkali Baba, should not hesitate to replace Mr. Adejobi with another police officer who has unqualified respect for the fundamental rights of the Nigerian people.” He stressed that while the penalty for assaulting or slapping a police officer is 3 years’ imprisonment under the Criminal Code, the penalty for a police officer assaulting a civilian is 25 years under the Anti Torture Act of 2017, and the victim may sue for monetary compensation under the Anti Torture Act and the Constitution.
Falana stated, “Civilians are required to respect police officers who are discharging their lawful duties. The penalty for assaulting or slapping a police officer is 3 years’ imprisonment under the Criminal Code. “In the same vein, police officers are equally mandated to respect civilians. Indeed, section (2)(b) of the Anti Torture Act, 2017 states that torture is deemed committed when an act by which pain and suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person to punish him for an act he or a third person has committed or suspected of having committed. The penalty for assaulting a civilian is 25 years under the Anti Torture Act of 2017. In addition, the victim may sue for monetary compensation under the Anti Torture Act and the Constitution.” On same Sunday, the FPRO fired another statement claiming his initial comment that Nigerians have no right to retaliate if assaulted by the police was taken out of context by the media and mischief makers.
Adejobi out rightly posited that the police is committed to protecting the rights of citizens uniformed or not, urging the public to disregard malicious publications that read otherwise. The statement entitled, “We don’t condone indiscipline, violation of human rights – FPRO” was backed with a rider, “As Police Reacts to Lagos Trending video of civilians assaulting Policemen in Uniform,” was gentle and police-friendly compared to his initial tweet that took the form of a riot act. The statement read, “It has become pertinent to emphasise that the Nigeria Police Force has been a vanguard of sustainable democracy in the country via the aggressive protection of the fundamental rights of the citizens and other members of the Nigerian society. This has been evident in the continuous sanctions meted out by the Police authority on officers engaged in violation of individual rights, as well as extant laws when reported via any of the available police complaint channels.
“The Force Public Relations Officer reacted to a trending video where some individuals grievously assaulted a police officer, and attempted to disarm the officer by dragging his loaded AK47 rifle, restating the law on serious assault as enshrined in Section 356 (2) of the Criminal Code Act of Southern Nigeria with explanations. However, some media platforms deliberately misquoted it as endorsing violence by uniformed officers against members of the public. “Where a public officer acts contrary to the provisions of extant laws, there are channels to report such conduct and get prompt justice, particularly in the Nigeria Police Force. In the extant case, the individuals resorted to self-help and assaulted the officers, attempted to snatch the officers’ firearms, and in so doing breached the law. It is trite that two wrongs cannot make a right, as such whatever the provocation, the action of the individuals were wrong in all ramifications as they would have reported the matter for prompt action. Emphasis on this has been misrepresented across media platforms as a single tweet in a thread was mischievously read out of context with a mischievous caption “No Nigerian Has the Right to Retaliate when Police Slaps You… “.
“The Force urges well-meaning members of the public all of whom are strategic stakeholders in policing across the country to disregard the malicious publications as the current police administration is committed to ensuring that the rights of all citizens, uniformed or not, are protected across board. “Furthermore, the Force urges the Nigerian populace not to take laws into their hands whenever they have unpleasant encounters with police officers. Complaints arising from such encounters can be reported via the Police Public Relations Officers (PPROs) of the various Commands, the Complaint Response Unit (CRU) and via official Police accounts across social media platforms. Similarly, the idea of pouncing on and beating up Law Enforcement Agents carrying out their public duty by members of the public whom they serve is criminal and disrespectful to our beloved nation, Nigeria, and must not be allowed to exacerbate.”
