THE endemic nature of the brutality and reckless killings of citizens by some members of the Nigerian Police Force is not only worrisome but raises critical existential questions, amidst human vulnerability. It is instructive to note, once again, that the massive protest by youths in 2020 to push for the scrapping of SARS, a Special Anti-Robbery Squad in the Nigeria Police, was a culmination of the various brutality and extortion visited on youths across the country.

    WHILE the Nigeria government and police authorities promised sweeping reforms in the force as a fall-out from the protest, the outlandish misconducts of some personnel, particularly as it concerns careless killings, have continued unabated. 

THE reckless killing of a budding pregnant legal practitioner, Bolanle Raheem, by ASP Drambi Vandi, a cop attached to the Ajah Police Station, a unit noted for notoriety, on December 25, 2022, when the deceased and her family members were returning from church, was a pathetic climax of the damning records of police excesses in recent times. There were cases of police killings in 2022 which included that of Gafaru Buraimoh, who was killed by a stray bullet on December 7, 2022, at Ajah.

APART  from these heinous killings, two businessmen, Igwe Odinaka and Chikere Obieche, were killed on April 24, 2022, by a drunk policeman at a friend’s birthday party in a hotel bar at the Gowon Estate in Lagos State. Koleosho Abayomi, a security guard at the Lekki Peninsula Scheme II, Eti Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State, that got killed  on September 28, 202, was another victim of police killing.

OTHER  unfortunate mortalities caused by police excesses were those of: Paul Durowaiye who was killed by a cop in Kogi State; Godsent Obhafuoso that was killed on August 13, 2022, during a burial in the Esan North-East Area of Edo State; Oliver Ezra Barawani who was killed on June 4, 2022, in Taraba State; Emmanuel Joseph that was fallen by police bullet on May 27, 2022, in Calabar South, Cross River  State; Toba Adedeji, a journalist covering a protest, that was killed on May 23, 2022, in Osogbo, Osun State; and Emeka Uwalaka, who was shot by a policeman on July 11, 2022, in Umuokomoche, Owerri West Local Government area of Imo State.

PAINFULLY enough, these needless shootings and killings have been mostly, redundantly, and irresponsibly blamed on accidental discharge or refusal of the victims to submit themselves to stop and search order. We are of the opinion that it is a case of one death too many!

AS some police personnel have regrettably turned the Nigeria space to a killing slab, The Hope, once again, stresses the need to interrogate this monstrous manifestation that is perpetuated by licensed agents of government. We are aware of the psychology of police personnel that gives them the sense of infallibility, incorrigibility, and invincibility when in uniform. This air of immunity from questioning is perhaps responsible for the way they perform their duties.

THE HOPE  calls on the Police to review its recruitment policy to guarantee that only people with appropriate emotional stability and requisite resilience are brought into the service of the Nigeria Police.

THE Police Service Commission may want to take a cue from the DSS, another agency of government, in emplacing the right template for personnel recruitment and training. We are of the belief that Police authorities should carry out consistent checks on their men at the various police stations and formations, using gatekeepers like the police marshal, which should be made effective.

 IT is also imperative that periodic evaluation of the cognitive and mental health of personnel is carried out, to prevent invalids from handling dangerous weapons that are ordinarily meant to protect citizens, which are now being turned against them as preys.     

THE HOPE  notes, with great concerns, the lack of discipline in the police, which we believe is responsible for unacceptable attitudes like drunkenness while on duty. Similarly, the larger-than-life attitude of the corrupt political class has psychologically   induce police personnel that are posted to guide them, as the cops get violated by their sense of selective opulence.

TO this end, the political class must be disciplined and live up to expectations in order to command respect of security agencies in the country, and stop being a bad influence on police personnel . 

DELIBERATE efforts should be made to scrutinise environments where police stations are located, to rid them of sales and circulation of combustive elements like liquor and hard drugs. To stop  the existing latitude for senseless killing, claims of accidental discharge must be thoroughly interrogated, to hold people that are liable from the point of arm procurement to usage accountable, with appropriate sanctions imposed when culpability is established.

EVERY  efforts must be taken quickly to reassure members of the public who are jittery about their safety in their daily interaction with armed police personnel .

THE higher authority must respond urgently to find a lasting solution to the bad image which careless  arms handling by junior officers of the police  has brought to the force. Henceforth, cases of careless killings by police personnel should thoroughly investigated and prosecuted while the  victims should get compensation from the federal government .