Mindless Show of Force by Police

Notes for File

Nigerian security operatives’ penchant for dehumanising and harassing unarmed and harmless civilians continued on Tuesday, October 20, 2021, during the commemoration of the #EndSARS anniversary.

While bandits are having field day in kidnapping students, travellers, villagers and blowing up rail infrastructure in some parts of the country, heavily armed security agents turn their weapons on unarmed civilians at every slightest opportunity.

During the commemoration of the #EndSARS protest, there was heavy police crackdown on journalists, activists, musicians, and Nollywood actors and actresses at Lekki Toll Gate and other parts of the country.

A video clip shared by some of the protesters showed an ARISE NEWS Channel reporter being harassed by security operatives at the Lekki Toll Gate.

In the video, policemen were seen forcing the female reporter to submit a drone which the TV Station had deployed to monitor proceedings at the protest anniversary grounds.

In another video clip, a man identified as Uber driver was beaten severely by policemen while blood gushed out from his mouth as the officers tried to drag him into their waiting van.

Another video showed another journalist being dragged by his belt to the police van parked nearby.

The harassment of civilians was not restricted to Lagos.

In Enugu, a combined team of security personnel, made up of the Nigeria Army and the police, dehumanised journalists who were on duty to cover the peaceful protest.

A BBC reporter and her cameraman were allegedly ordered by a riot police team in 14 security vans to sit on the bare floor, while their camera, microphone and other working equipment were confiscated by the operatives.

Other protesters were arrested and maltreated before they were later released.

Also protesters who gathered at the Unity Fountain in Abuja, and were proceeding to the National Assembly to continue their protest, were stopped by security agents, comprising policemen, soldiers and operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, who mounted a barricade.

In Ilorin, Kwara State, policemen dispersed protesters who gathered in front of MAMTESS supermarket at Taiwo Isale to begin their protest.

Unfortunately, the police and other security agents demonstrated a show of force against harmless civilians to disrupt a peaceful protest in a democracy, while heavily armed bandits are planting landmines on rail lines unchallenged.

The questions all the enumerated harassment have raised are: What lesson did the police and other security agencies learn from the #EndSARS protests? Will police brutality ever end?