By Ayo Kehinde
Following Monday’s order by the police authorities banning the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squads, FSARS, State Anti-Robbery Squads, SARS from routine patrols on the streets and highways in response to protests by Nigerians, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu has issued a fresh, comprehensive order.
Adamu invoked the Force Accountability Policy of the Nigeria Police Force, which holds any officer professionally and criminally liable for the consequences of their actions and directed the Heads of Police Formations, Commands and Units to, as a matter of urgency, compile all cases of abuse of power and violations of the rights of citizens by Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squads, FSARS, State Anti-Robbery Squads, SARS, Intelligence Response Team, IRT, and Special Tactical Squad, STS and other police teams and forward the reports to his office not later than October, 19, 2020.
He said; “The returns to include the dates of the incident, venues of the incidents, the Special Team involved, details of the officers involved, details of the incident, fatalities/injuries/damages, if any, actions initiated by the Head of the Command and the current status of the matter.”
In a letter titled; Order and Directives: Restrictions on theOperations of the FSARS, SARS, IRT, STS, State Anti-kidnapping Units and Other Special Units Under Any Nomenclature that Operates in Mutfi, Across All Formations, Zones and State Commands. and signed by him, the IGP, restated the need of his officers and the rank and file to obey the principles and protocols on fundamental human rights and dignity of every persons as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution and statutIGP es of the African Union and the United Nations, to which Nigeria is a signatory.
“In essence, no component of our laws or international protocols authorises the unlawful killing or degrading treatment of fellow citizens as law enforcement agents and no element of our professional training or ethical standards permits any police personnel to deploy lethal weapons either consciously or otherwise as provided in our statutes and in Force Order 237. Unfortunately, all recent incidents of abuse of police power violated these provisions,” he said.
Accordingly, he said; “Any police personnel that, henceforth, abuse his or her powers in a manner that degrades, endangers or threatens the life and other fundamental rights of citizens shall be promptly arrested, processed through our internal disciplinary machinery and if found culpable, shall be dismissed from the service. In addition, such personnel could be charged to court in consonance with their level of criminal liability in the instance”
Apart from restating the recent ban placed on FSARS, SARS, IRT, STS and other police units that operates in mutfi, from routine patrols, excerpts authorised missions for specific security breeches including armed robbery and kidnapping, he ordered that no police personnel should conduct, “indiscriminate, unathorised and degrading search of mobile phones, laptops and other electronic devises of citizens”
He directed the Force Public Relations Officer, DSP, Frank Mba to disseminate the order to members of the public as well as dedicated phone lines.
