Police brutality on young lawyers

However the law cannot operate effectively in isolation of the police. The police are in place to provide the hand needed to make the effect of the law felt. Legal practitioners {lawyers} are interpreters of the law, gentlemen with objectives to safeguard the interest of both the law and the society, which is slightly similar […]

However the law cannot operate effectively in isolation of the police. The police are in place to provide the hand needed to make the effect of the law felt.

Legal practitioners {lawyers} are interpreters of the law, gentlemen with objectives to safeguard the interest of both the law and the society, which is slightly similar to the objectives of the police force. It then means that legal practitioners and the Nigeria Police Force are not enemies but are meant to work together for the peace, sanity and progress of the society at large. Where one is absent and the other is present in a crisis situation the other should act according to guiding principles to ensure that the interest of justice prevails.
But just like most things in Nigeria, the reverse is the case. A police officer regards a lawyer in an unfriendly manner; some even see lawyers as a threat, while some feel intimidated by the fact that one is learned and the other is lettered. Unfortunately this unfriendly atmosphere finds its way into any transaction or relationship between a legal practitioner and a police officer, creating a hostile environment between the two parties, which is not the way forward.
On July 18, 2013 at about 12.00 am around Barnawa Complex, Kaduna, a young lawyer witnessed two people quarrelling under the heat of passion and decided to intervene. While trying to do so, five police officers on patrol, alighted from a vehicle and inquired as to what was going on, they then decided to arrest one of the quarrelling parties without arresting the other. The young lawyer, present at the scene before the arrival of the police officers and perceiving this act to be unjust, objected on the grounds that if any arrest must be made then both parties must be arrested. He was asked to introduce himself which he did, and it was at that point that the young lawyer was subjected to assault, degrading and embarrassing treatment and then taken to Barnawa Police Station to spend the night for no just cause.
On July 25, 2013 the said young lawyer wrote a petition to the Commissioner of Police, Kaduna Division demanding public apology in two national dailies and compensation for breach of fundamental human rights. A meeting was scheduled by the Administrative Officer of the Kaduna Command of the NPF, where the Divisional Police Officer of Barnawa Police station promised to produce the erring officers to face the wrath of the law, but till date nothing has been heard from them.
Another young lawyer within Kaduna jurisdiction suffered chest pain for two weeks because he was hit with the butt of an assault rifle by a police officer in front of Sabo Police Station in the presence of other police officers, yet they refused to identify the erring police officer. An official report was made to the Divisional Police Officer of the station who promised to do something about the incident but nothing was done. Nigeria cannot continue like this if we truly desire to save the future. Superior officers are supposed to take action when a report is made against a subordinate and not to shield any defaulting officer from answering his wrongs. The essence of sanctions is not based on malice but to serve as deterrent to others.
The assault rifle a police officer wields is not a license to do and undo or to act beyond the powers provided by the laws of the federation because nobody is really watching. Everyone now hides under the cloak that corruption is in the country and so, tends to do things anyhow because they know the system is not going to hold them responsible.
Another young lawyer still within Kaduna jurisdiction was assaulted and brutalised by officers of the police force. He sued for breach of his fundamental human rights, got judgment in his favour but the bank account of the Nigeria Police Force, Kaduna division could not be traced to enforce the judgment. This is sad!
The general duties of the Nigeria Police Force as conferred upon them by the Police Act is the prevention and detection of crime, apprehension of offenders, preservation of law and order and the protection of life and property. While carrying out these duties, a police officer shall not conduct himself in such manner as to bring his private interest into conflict with his public duties or in such manner as is likely to cause suspicion in the mind of any reasonable person that he has used his public position for his private advantage.
If legal practitioners can be assaulted by police in the guise of carrying out duties, how much more the ordinary citizen who is ignorant of his rights as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? The superior police officers who are well educated should strive to inculcate discipline in their subordinates to prevent unfortunate acts like these from happening at all, if not, it would only get worse and one can only imagine what the worst would look like.
Daniel Bulusson practice law in Kaduna.