Panel summons IGP over alleged brutality
Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Musiliu Smith, yesterday, blamed the recent #EndSARS protests in the country on misconduct of some police officers.
Smith, a former Inspector General of Police (IGP), who made the declaration in Abuja during a retreat with the IGP Mohammed Adamu and police management team, decried the level of misconduct in the Nigeria Police Force saying the PSC was often inundated with complaints from Nigerians across the country.
Smith under whom the PSC had been at loggerheads with the IGP, charged Adamu to work closely with the commission on recruitment of credible Nigerians into the force.
“We are always having plenty of complaints from members of the public against police officers and I believe that the #EndSARS protests was caused by misconduct of some personnel.
“I advise that we review the arrangements being made for investigating such cases. It should be such that we will ensure that investigations are thoroughly conducted and any police officer indicted will be punished according to the law. If we do that, some of the complaints will reduce,” he said.
Smith added that the number of cases against the police was alarming, adding that the force might not be able to pay for the damages, which were awarded against it.
Speaking, Adamu noted that the retreat was aimed at bridging the communication gap and engendering a better understanding and working relationship between the Force and the PSC.
On his part, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubukar Malami, stressed the need for harmonious working relationship among agencies of government for better service delivery.
MEANWHILE, the Lagos State Judicial Panel has summoned Adamu over a case of police brutality and aggravated assault that paralysed a petitioner, Adenwale Adewuyi.
Adewuyi, 76, who was brought to the panel sitting on a stretcher, narrated through his counsel, Debo Adeleke, how police encroached on his farmlands and demolished the structure without a court order.
He noted that the IGP and his officers had frustrated all efforts to get justice and retrieve his land and urged the panel to summon the police at the next adjourned date to explain why they disobeyed the resolution of the Case Management Conference (CMC).
He said Justice Mariam O. Emeya, who oversaw the CMC, ordered the police to pay him N856.3m as compensation and to vacate his land.
