#EndSARS: PSC, Judiciary, AGF, CBN, Contribute To Inability To Curtail The Excesses Of Police Force — Access To Justice

Access to Justice has stated that there is a need to make Police more accountable beyond the promises being made all around by the Federal Government on the reform of the Police.

It further stated that several institutions have contributed to the present challenges foisted on the citizens by the Nigeria Police Force, because of their inability to do what ought to have done.

This is contained in a statement titled “No Space Was Left To Hold Police Accountable: Reforms To Policing Require Far Deeper Changes Across Multiple Platforms, Not “Candy” Promises”, issued by the Convener, Joseph Otteh and Project Director, Deji Ajare which was made available to TheNigeriaLawyer(TNL).

“Until the #EndSARS Campaign began an unprecedented, citizen involved political action, no space was left for Nigerian people to hold the police accountable for its acts of brutality and culture of impunity. Internal processes of police accountability were mostly shambolic, pretending to be there, but giving abusers in their system basically a free pass. Every now and then, the police would pass off the impression that they were intolerant of abuses, but that was mostly a whitewash of reality.

“External processes of accountability were also lacking. The Police Service Commission, which has constitutional responsibility for the discipline of members of the police force long abandoned that mandate, which perhaps was its most important – and chose instead softer pastures to cultivate – recruitment, promotions, election-monitoring, and postings of senior police personnel. Why these matters were prioritized over disciplinary oversight of the police is a great cause for concern and makes a case for the overhaul of the Commission.

“Although the Commission’s inertness and ineffectiveness are not captured by the headlights of the current campaign, the Police Service Commission is just as complicit in the brutality and impunity of the police force as the perpetrators themselves. Without an engaged, primed and dependable Police Service Commission on the frontline of the fight, impunity will continue to flourish within the police whether it be among its regular officers or within its specialized units and whether it be SARS or SWAT!!!

The group also pointed out that the judiciary and the Central Bank of Nigeria are as guilty as the other bodies and have failed to hold police accountable.

“The Judiciary’s power to make the police accountable has also been largely stifled. Judgments against police lawlessness and abuse are met by the charge that those judgments are unenforceable given that the Attorney General of the Federation has not consented to their enforcement. The Federal Attorney General, who ought to defend the rights of the Nigerian people and the rule of law, persistently declines to give consent to enforce judgments against the Police Force.

“Even the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) plays a major part too. It defends abusive institutions by litigating against judgment creditors when they seek access to banking accounts of those institutions, alongside looking the other way when banks collude with the Police to disguise their accounts and make it inaccessible to judgment creditors.

“In sum, until now, no one has been able to call the police force to account and curtail the excesses (and brigandage) of many members of the force. There has been, as it were, a huge multilateral, multi-sectoral “gang-up” by several actors to shield the police from justice and accountability, to deny the rights of victims of police abuse and injustice and to foster the culture of impunity as it steadily grew within the police force.

“Now, the Buhari government has a far greater scope of work to do in unhinging all the points of this interlocking chain of support for and complicity in police abuses. The government must offer a robust, deep, and credible plan for police reform, including strengthening the independence of the police force, well beyond the diplomacy of a few morsels of bread and sweeteners it is putting on the table,” the statement read.