#EndSARS Campaign: Why The Government Must Ensure Safety Of Protesters

By Ben Onyekelu Olisa

INTRODUCTION

Nigeria, according to Transparency International has the worst Police force in the world; albeit the NPF and Federal Government had baselessly debunked the obvious true report. This glory she enjoys with the tag of poverty capital of the world. Seventy percent of the Nigerian population has no access to clean water, while 27.1 % of her total populace is unemployed with underemployment pecked at 28.6 %. What this means is that 21.7 million Nigerians are unemployed. When this two are summed up, one gets 55.7 % unemployment and underemployment; that’s over 50% of the Nigerian populace. With this, an average Nigerian hardly sees a future in the nation.

According to trading economy statistics, over 36% of Nigerian Youths are unemployed. A few that secured employment are poorly remunerated. In the public sector, it’s a different ball game as an industrial strike is as frequent as breakfast in the tables of various professions. A clear case is that of ASUU that has been on strike for six months. This places education at risk in the country. The average Nigeria youths feel sad and disappointed in the nation as no meaningful programs have been put in place to help their poor situation due to bad leadership. With all these in place, the only sector giving relives to the youths of Nigeria is Technology and entertainment sector because they afford the opportunity of self-employment. The tech sector has not only made a lot of young people employed, but it also made them employers of labour and that contributes to the economy of the nation. This goes a long way to change the narrative of President Muhammad Buhari who regarded the youths as lazy.

The attempt and struggle to be free, succeed, and progress where the government failed has been made a nightmare by the Nigerian Police Force, especially through her unit FSARS. They continue to indiscriminately kill, arrest and harass innocent youths without regard to their fundamental rights. The writer never wishes to say that there are no youths committing crimes with technology. The fact that SARS has done more harm than the objective it was created for calls for urgent action. The protest for scraping of special anti-Robber Squad and Reformation of Nigerian police has been one of the trending issues in the world recently. It started after a video clip of how SARS killed a Young person at Ugeli, Delta state and made away with his Lexus Jeep flooded the media. That was not the first time the media is traumatized with horrible occurrences of such manner.

As of Friday, October 9, it was the most trending issue in the world, as reported by BBC. The protest is largely being led by celebrities and has gotten the attention of the world. Even though the protest is largely organized and peaceful, the Nigerian police force in didn’t leave the path of brutality and unlawful resistant, mayhem has been unleashed on honest protesters. Some deaths has been recorded as police opened fire on innocent unarmed youths. In some part of the country, a lot of live videos exposed the ungodly attitude of the Nigerian police to block the citizens from exercising their inalienable rights. On 10th of October, Saturday, Gov. Seyi Makinde confirmed the Killing of a protester Jimoh Isiag and wounding of 7 others by the Nigerian police at Ogbomosho, Oyo state. There are several reports of human right violations, throwing of Tear Gas to disperse the peaceful protesters and at worse, opening fire at unarmed innocent citizens whose only crime is asking to be alive.

This article is an attempt to show the need to protect these protestors as it is a sacred right enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It further recommends solutions to the current issue ravaging the nation.

THE TERM ‘RIGHT’ AS ENSHRINED IN NIGERIAN LAW

Right, according to the Law Dictionary, is defined as:

Any right granted by the laws of the state.

Fundamental human rights are those right which is natural, enshrined in the laws of the nation, that spells out the privileges it accords to her citizens.

Right in its greenest are privileges enjoyed by citizens of a nation which often assign duties and obligations to them. The concept of right is interwoven in the fact that law ipso facto should be about the people and not the other way round.

The concept of rights started since long ago but was popularized by many facets and events, including the 1866 Bill of Right, 1879 French Revolution where the people opposed the government to access their rights, the American revolution of 1765 – 1783, the declaration of Independence, 1948 universal declaration of Human Rights and so many on. These events and more shaped the world’s events and enthroned the need for human rights. The essence of these rights was echoed by Thomas Jefferson of the United States of America during the declaration of American independence in 1776. He was vociferous and vivacious when he declared thus:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Progressively, he postulated in more clear words that:

“… to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”

With the above, it’s deserved that the governed, Nigerian citizens deserve the best of protection and attention from the government as they register their displeasure using the instrument of peaceful protest.

These inalienable rights, which is an international law captured in the whole of 30 articles of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, should be respected by Nigeria since by the virtue of Nigeria joining United Nations, pledge to abide by her rules on human rights protection.

Moreover, the international law/treaty, on domestication, in line with the position of section 12 of the constitution of Nigeria 1999 (which hereinafter shall be regarded to as CFRN 1999) became parts and parcel of our laws. From section 33 to 46 (chapter 4) of CFRN 1999 houses the fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens.

The freedom of expression and freedom of assembly as captured in section 39 and 40 of CFRN 1999 builds the ground for every Nigerian to protest and express their dissatisfaction, vexation and views about policies and events in the nation. By the virtue of the above-stated facts, these protestors deserve the very best of protection for daring to exercise their rights, for an attempt to show that Nigeria is still a democratic society. The most honourable thing expected of the federal government is to listen, as a matter of urgent to their plight, and put to an end the very factors that led to the coordinated exhibition of grievances. The federal government as a matter of urgent should call to order, the Nigerian police force in the various state of the federation to see to the safety of the protesters and also ensure the safety of life and properties. Our leaders should also go beyond rhetoric and invest action to make sure lives aren’t lost.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The protest to end police brutality in Nigeria is an outstanding issue that is not new. It is of evidence that Nigerians are no longer happy with the ugly state of their police force; it is a call for reforms. When a wall is broken, the proper thing for the builders to do is fix it. Bribery and corruption in the force continue to dye the nation black. It has been recounted severally on how lives were lost to trigger happy policemen and rights, violated because of the failure of their victims to bribe them. There have been times they killed because of #50. The federal government must begin to look into the angle of proper education for this force as that will enable them to learn the etiquette of the force. The newly signed Nigerian Police Act, 2020 is a walk in the right direction if it’s speedily implemented.

In the same line of thought, reformation of Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) at a critical time like this is not only unrealistic but factually ‘suicidal’ for Nigeria since the unit has allowed a lot of bad eggs to take over the narrative. We may wake up one day to see our young people all dead for having a smartphone and laptop. This may sound undesirable and funny, yet we live in a nation where possibilities are made possible at the blink of an eye. SARS has become worse than robbers they are created to fight; they became criminals in uniform. They have been repeatedly accused of abductions and kidnapping by Rivers State Government. Many reports have it that they move around with POS machines in their ungodly act of extortion. They desert their duty for cybercrime meddlesome which is under the EFCC according to EFCC establishment act, 2004. They often abduct their victims and empty their bank accounts with threats of murdering them (which they’re earnestly doing). Even after several bans on their illegal operations by the Inspector General of Police, they continue to exhibit their supreme ownership of violence against the Nigerian youths. To this end, the total disbanding/scrapping of the unit is highly recommended, and a new unit opened and empowered by law with clearly defined limits and mode of operations.

This new unit must be properly trained to know that having a nice car, being tech savvy, wearing a hairstyle (dread), wearing expensive designs are never evidence of cyber criminality.

Conclusively, the lives of Nigerians are in danger in their own country, and that’s a slap on the integrity of Nigeria. The writer is of the humble impression, that the Nigeria police force is reformed, and meritocracy made a priority in the recruitment of forces as they will be dealing with humans and not animals. The moment animals enjoy more freedom more than citizens, we lost a nation already. Nigeria in the sincere perspective the writer should be a nation of hope and not a hawk to the aspirations of her people as Gbemisola Adeoti clearly showed in his work ‘Ambush’.

Ben Onyekelu Olisa is a law student and can be reached through:Onyekelu4olisa@gmail.com, 09067227182 (WhatsApp\ Text)