TRACKING>>Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has said that the House would not accept extra-judicial killings, harassment, intimidation and other forms of violence unleashed on innocent citizens by some men and officers of the police.
The speaker described as unfortunate a situation where police officers, saddled with the constitutional responsibility of protecting lives and property of citizens, turn round to be against the citizens.
Declaring open a public hearing by the House Committee on Police Affairs chaired by Rep. Usman Kumo, the speaker bemoaned the recent alleged extra-judicial killing of a footballer by policemen in Sagamu, Osun state.
”More than any other institution of the state, it is the police that relates to the citizens daily. In many communities across Nigeria, the police is the only representative of the Nigerian state and the connection between our citizens and the state is often defined by their interactions with the police.
“It is unfortunate and entirely unacceptable that the relationship between the police and many of these communities is now defined by fear, mutual antagonism and an absolute loss of faith in the ability of the police to protect and to serve.
“In the last few days, we have all witnessed as the city of Sagamu in Ogun state has been unsettled by an orgy of violence resulting from the extra-judicial killing of a young footballer by officers of the police.
“Citizens who gathered to protest this killing were soon themselves at the receiving end of police bullets. This is not an isolated incident. We are daily inundated with news reports of interactions between citizens and the police resulting in the injury and death of those citizens.
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“Reports of police harassment of young people have become so rampant that they barely even break through the news cycle except when public anger becomes so great that it results in a breakdown of law and order.
“We can no longer stand for this and we will not. This House of Representatives has a responsibility to speak for our citizens and we will continue to do so even when it is inconvenient,” Gbajabiamila stated.
Also, he said that although, the public hearing with the theme: ‘Repositioning the Nigeria Police for an enhanced delivery” may come with some uncomfortable truths, the police should take home the contributions of stakeholders as they would be the ultimate beneficiary.
The speaker noted that when the agencies that should protect the lives and property of the people become predatory, they lose the faith of the public and become incapable of delivering on their responsibility.
“When the public are as afraid of the police as they are of the criminals and perhaps even more so, the very fundamentals of our nationhood are at stake. We are confronted with an urgent need, deserving of our utmost attention and dedication.
“We must fix the police, restore public confidence and make the institution once more deserving of the true faith and support of the Nigerian people.
“This public hearing has been convened to examine the ways we in the House can act to improve the capacity of the police to deliver on its obligations.
“We cannot do that job effectively if we do not first allow for an honest assessment of our current reality. We will not achieve much of substance if we shy away from confronting the failures of recruitment and training, remuneration and welfare, responsibility and accountability that have left us with a national police force that is too often unfit for that purpose,” he added.
