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Corruption Report: Rights Group Demands Change of Leadership in NPF
Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
Following a recent report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) labeling the Police officers, judges as the most corrupt in Nigeria, a group, Office of the Citizen of Federal Republic of Nigeria, has said the report was a justification of the endemic corruption in police.
The group has called on the federal government to act quickly in ensuring that the NPF is restructured and put in a better shape in order to arrest the declining nature of its value system.
Convener of the group, Pelumi‎ Olajengbesi Esq, while addressing journalists on crucial national issues especially as it affects police, stressed the need for the federal government to effect a change in the leadership of the NPF.
He expressed worry that since the emergence of the current Inspector General of Police (IGP) that there hasn’t been meaningful development in the police, while extortion has taken a new turn. ‎
According to him, “the recent report is a justification to the fact that the NPF is corrupt‎, not just corruption, it is not in tandem with the purpose of establishing the organisation .”
Olajengbesi stated: “When the IG came on board, people who have good relationship with him and some of us who know his antecedents, we ‎know he’s well-schooled, he studied law and he has gone to many places abroad to learn so many things, we are thinking that he will use his exposure to revamp and revitalise the police values system.
“But the NPF value system is on the decline every day and we must be concerned about it. I think the report concerning the police is just an addendum. The federal government must quickly address the leadership of the NPF in ensuring that there is sanity in the system. The federal government should ensure that a vibrant leadership that understands what are the challenges is put in police,” he said.
‎The rights activist also accused the officers of the police of carrying out indiscriminate search on people especially while mounting toad blocks.
He noted that, “the Nigerian Police Act empowers the police to conduct search on anybody they suspect reasonably who have committed a crime or who may be in custody of anything that can amount to breach of security.
“However, this power is not absolute; we are worried today that NPF is beginning to use power that is vested by law in a reckless manner, that is why we are calling on the government and the leadership of the Nigerian Police to tame all the officers who are abusing the rights of Nigerians across the country.
“By our estimation‎, between 2016 and 2017 about 16 persons have been killed in Lagos, in Edo state about 11 persons have been killed within two years, in Osogbo also about 13 persons have been killed police to address the matter quickly.
“It is very clear in Section 37 of the constitution that every citizen is entitled to right to privacy‎; this right include right to private communication, tele -communications and right to privacy of their phone. So, we don’t believe that the police discretion is more powerful than the constitution,” Olajengbesi said.