By Ignatius Okorocha
Alarmed by the incessant extrajudicial killings of innocent Nigerians by Police personnel in parts of the country, Senate on Wednesday asked the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, to arrest and prosecute erring Police officers.
This is as the Upper Chamber has mandated its committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to investigate human rights abuses by Nigerian Security agencies and make recommendations for reparations.
It also enjoined various security agencies in the country to establish hotlines to enable Nigerians report abuses by their agents while calling for the establishment of a Special Bureau Unit that monitors the conducts of its officers, arrests and charges erring ones.
These resolutions of the Senate were against the backdrop of a motion on the “need to check the culture of arbitrariness and brutality of Security Operatives to Nigerians,” sponsored by Senator Oluremi Tinubu (APC – Lagos Central).
The President of the Senate,Ahmad Lawan, while commenting on the recent activities and extrajudicial killings by men of the Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS), called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of those involved.
According to him, any security personnel involved in the killing of innocent Nigerians must be made to face the full weight of the law.
“I think that this is a situation that should be properly investigated. The recent incident should not be swept under the carpet.
“Those involved in the recent incident should be arrested and prosecuted. There are good people in all the security agencies just as there are had people.
“Scrapping of agencies might not be the right thing to do. Rule of law should be the guiding principle. If anyone does the wrong thing, they must be prepared to face the consequences.
“Like some of us indicated, there are good elements in SARS, and they have been doing a wonderful job. If you scrap SARS for example, you lose the chance of getting those that are doing well to continue to do so.
“Anybody in SARS or any security agency that commits excesses should be prosecuted. The law should take its full course.
“It is not enough to dismiss them from service, what does the law say if he kills someone? This is not acceptable. In fact, it makes Nigeria like some of our colleagues have said, a laughing stock.
“We have the jurisdiction and constitutional mandate to review the laws governing the operations or establishment of these agencies,” Lawan said.
