DEADLIER THEY'VE BECOME.....

 

THIS SARS INFECTS DEADLIER…..

…''We must not make a scarecrow of the law,
setting it up to fear the birds of prey,
and let it keep one shape, till custom make it
their perch and not their terror''.

William Shakespeare; Measure for Measure

         

      Scenarios where people are beaten to death, asked to lie in dirty gutters, denied access to food and medical care, subjected to torture, beating and even gun shots by law enforcement officers is really sad, we are in the 21^st century and operating a democracy for the love of God! The extortion, bribery that takes place on a daily basis, we do not even want to talk about. Is it the unlawful execution of suspects? These people executed like that, are they living in a different planet where respect for human dignity does not apply?  Where is their right to live?

     Why is it that when the word SARS is mentioned, panic engulfs the atmosphere?  SARS is an arm of the Nigerian Police created to curb armed robbery thus the name Special Anti Robbery Squad. So can someone tell me why people who are not armed robbers are scared of SARS or anything connected to them? We are not saying that they are not doing their jobs, but, we sure do have a lot of questions for them.

 Are they aware that:

Ø An accused/arrested person has a constitutional right to counsel?

Ø An accused /arrested person is presumed innocent until proven guilty?

Ø An accused/arrested is entitled to bail and that “Bail is free”?

Ø An accused/arrested person should be arraigned before a court of law within a reasonable time which ideally shouldn’t be more than 24 hours or at most 72 hours if it is a weekend?

Ø An accused/arrested person has the right to remain silent which includes not writing a statement until after consultation with his lawyer?

Ø An accused/arrested is still a citizen of this country and should be accorded all his rights until he is proven guilty by a court of law?

Ø An accused/arrested person should not be beaten, subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment?

Ø Every citizen has rights enshrined in Chapter four of the Nigerian Constitution?

Ø The constitution is supreme and supercedes every other law to the contrary?

        It is reasonable to assume that since Nigeria operates democracy, things are supposed to be remarkably different from what was obtainable during the military regime, that citizens will have rights and will be allowed to enjoy their God given rights, sadly, the reverse seems to be the case with the increasing rate of torture and dehumanizing treatment meted out to citizens of this great country. The flagrant abuse and infringement of people’s Fundamental Human Rights have provoked us to ask the question, are we truly a democratic state or is this just another form of military regime but by men in mufti? A situation where a person is arrested for an offence and detained indefinitely without arraignment, subjected to torture and inhuman treatment just because he is accused of an offence amounts to a gross violation of his Fundamental Rights. What happens when finally, the person is proven innocent, what form of apology or compensation can equate the psychological, emotional, physical, social, spiritual etc trauma the person has been put through?

     Recently, there has been a lot of reported incidents of abuse of rights by law enforcement officials particularly SARS. Complaints which we choose to term silent complaints (because people are so scared after their experience that they choose to remain anonymous) have been made and independently corroborated of the unconstitutional and inhuman things that happen in the so called SARS Cells. Word has it that many innocent people have lost their lives in those Cells or simply disappeared without a trace and all their family can say is that he was arrested; at times, they can’t even find their corpses. We pause to ask, who gave them the right to execute people? Who made them judges? Do they have the right to take life?

     Furthermore, there have been cases where people were arrested for offences not even remotely related to robbery and we ask on what basis? Do they have jurisdiction? If they do not have jurisdiction, doesn’t it make that arrest unlawful? Isn’t it false imprisonment? We also need to know what laws they operate with because frankly, we do not think they have rules.

Moreso, we cannot ignore the extortion of innocent citizens by the so called police officers who are supposed to serve the citizens. When a person is arrested, instead of charging the person to court or granting him bail, the person is asked to pay a huge sum of money to secure his release. Eye witnesses have reported countless times that the officers are always counting money like cashiers in banks or traders in the market place when it is not pay day and we ask, who now is the robber or the criminal?

           The injustice, indiscipline, corruption and lawlessness that takes place on a daily basis in our law enforcement offices should be checked. We are raising an alarm because innocent people are dying; people are maimed for life without ever having their day in court. We shall ask again, who gave them the right?

         The innocent and ignorant citizen most of the time is at loss on what to do and so will willingly pay any price for freedom because; freedom is golden as they say. Permit us to use the word menace but seriously, this is a menace that is slowly and silently killing our Nation, because even when the complainant drops the charges against the accused, the officers will not release the person unless he “drops something” in their language. Why is this so? Mr. IGP Sir, please we are pleading with you to please call your men to order. Torture is not known to Nigerian Law, unlawful killing and maiming of citizens by its own police officers has never and will never make any nation great.

       Not very long ago, a legal practitioner who went to bail a client at SARS office was unlawfully arrested, detained, harassed and embarrassed before his client, thereby tampering with his ego amongst other things. We are insulted and offended by that, though he has since sued for damages. We encourage more people to sue, may be they will hear us from there.

       With the manifest injustice that these law enforcement officers have done, it won’t be unreasonable to say that they have done more harm than good. May we ask, how many armed robbers have they prosecuted or convicted in the recent past? That brings us to the question why a police officer who is not a trained lawyer is allowed to be in charge and prosecute a case? What business does he have in the court room, if not to tender evidence after a thorough investigation? Does he know the law? This alone is injustice on its own. We shall no longer turn a blind eye. It is unlawful, unacceptable and a contrast to the rules of fair hearing and justice. In fact, it is repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience.

    We are trying to rebrand our Nation, the New Nigeria, we humbly but strongly suggest we start with our law enforcement officers as a law lecturer once said, “it is unlawful to be lawful in a lawless society”;  when they become law abiding, the citizens will no doubt follow suit.

     Finally before we conclude, may we use this avenue to call on the President Federal Republic Of  Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan who is the chief security officer of this great country, the Chief Security Adviser, the Inspector General Of Police, the Human Rights Commission, Public Complaints Commission, Law enforcement Officers, Legal Practitioners, all well meaning Nigerians, and the World Health Organisation (Yes! The WHO should collaborate with the Human Rights Commission and begin to compile figures accruable to this SARS Disease) all hands must be on deck to fight this menace of man’s inhumanity to man. We are not asking for the office to be shut down, ( though that’s debatable). All we are saying is that elections are here, let us truly feel the dividends of democracy, let our votes indeed count because we believe that it is only when our Fundamental Human Rights are protected and respected, that we are truly democrats. A stitch in time saves nine.

 Long live The Federal Republic of Nigeria!

 Long live The Nigerian Police Force!

 Long live The Nigerian Citizenry!

Questions and comments?

mersimlawquest@gmail.com