**Police’s use of live bullets on protesters primitive, criminal
HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) a pro-democracy and Non-government body, has condemned the Nigeria Police Force, FCT command for the brutal, reckless and unprofessional conduct that the operatives put up during the third day by detaining several individuals who gathered at Moshood Abiola Stadium to protest on Saturday.
The Rights group affirmed that these illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional arrests occurred just outside the stadium, the designated area for the protest. Initially, organizers sought permission to use Eagle Square but were denied access.
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) authorities had secured a court order confining the protesters to MKO Abiola National Stadium. The Rights group has also condemned both the Lagos and Abuja high courts for making ‘ghosts orders’ limiting ‘unknown protesters’ to designated spots for peaceful protests and these illegal orders have done grave damage to the credibility of the court system in Nigeria.
This reputational damage done to the court system by the actions of two judges who made unconstitutional order limiting the enjoyment of the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental freedoms of the citizens will have far reaching implications and has diminished the respectability of the judiciary in the eyes of right thinking members of the global community.
HURIWA citing media report affirmed that on the third day of the protest, the demonstrators were absent from the stadium in the early morning. However, by around 11 AM, small groups began to reassemble. As the numbers grew, police responded with gunfire and teargas, leading to multiple arrests.
HURIWA lamented that even journalists present at the scene were also detained, although they were subsequently released after identifying themselves and were instructed to vacate the premises immediately.
The Rights group described these gestapo type operational mode of the police as reminiscent of a military dictatorship. “Nigerians must wake up from slumber and not allow the manifestation of the North Korean or Russian’s Putin type of totalitarianism in Nigeria. We must defend the Nigerian democracy.”
Speaking about these arrests in Abuja and the killing of some protesters in Suleja Niger state on the first day of the protests by suspected stray bullets of armed security services, the Rights group said professional policing of protests which are in practice all over the democracies of the World frown at the deployment of brute forces and the use of live bullets to shoot at unarmed and peaceful demonstrators.
“We in HURIWA, wholeheartedly condemn these despicable, reprehensible and criminal approach of the operatives of the Nigeria Police Force especially in the federal capital territory just as we are demanding that the Inspector General of Police and the police service commission must identify the trigger happy police operatives in Abuja and Suleja who shot live bullets at protesters who did not pose any danger to the lives of these brutes in police uniform.
“We condemn the Kaduna State police commissioner who said that henceforth protesters will be treated as violators of the law. HURIWA said the poor approaches to law enforcement devoid of any kind of respect for the fundamental rights of citizens shows that there is the immediate need for a comprehensive reforms of the current security architecture in Nigeria with specific reference to the Nigeria Police Force.
“These campaigns of brutality and dehumanisation of protesters in Nigeria by the police will have significant repercussions if not now but in the near future. These unprofessional and criminal conducts of the police seen extensively all over the country will reignite another #ENDSARS PROTESTS that may take the security services unaware unless those police operatives who shot at protesters are identified, prosecuted and sanctioned in accordance with the provisions of the laws of Nigeria. The police operatives behaved so crudely without any regard to the fundamental principles of human rights and the rules of engagement.”
