The Sunday Trust of 26 December, 2010 carried the distressing story of
how the brutality of a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at Rigasa
neighbourhood of Kaduna led to the death of a woman, Binta, with a
nine-month old pregnancy. Binta's painful journey to death, as reported
in the paper, started when her three year old child lost a slippers
belonging to a co-tenant who used the opportunity to insult Binta
continuously.
For the sake of peace, Binta bought a pair of new slippers
and sent it to the co-tenant. Instead of receiving it and let the
matter die, the co-tenant beat the daughter who took the slippers to her
and also engaged the nine-month old Binta in a fight. By the time she
was done, Binta was bleeding.
Not satisfied that she has
beaten the hell out of Binta, she went to the divisional police office
and lodged a complaint that Binta has fought her. The DPO ordered three
policemen to arrest Binta immediately. She was taken to the police
station and detained all night in spite of pleas from her relations and
husband. The complainant was not arrested.
When the police
realised that her condition may lead to death, they called her brother
whose name they found on her cell phone. With him, the police conveyed
her to a nearby clinic in a police van. The clinic declined to treat her
seeing her condition and referred them to Yusuf Dantsoho General
Hospital at Tudun Wada, Kaduna. There, Binta gave birth to a baby girl
who died five minutes later. And Binta too died that evening.
The husband called the DPO on phone and told him that he, the DPO, has
killed his wife. It was then the DPO ordered the arrest of the
complainant who is renowned in the neighbourhood for her quarrels. It
was too late. She has run away.
A number of things made this
story very sad. One, the brutality and subsequent death was over a
bathroom slippers of just N80 (50 cents)!. The DPO should have
reconciled the two instead of killing one of them and her baby.
Two, relatives of the deceased begged for Binta's bail but the DPO
denied it and insisted on incarcerating the woman even as she was
bleeding from the beating she received from the complainant. He was so
heartless an animal that he even refused to allow her drink water which
she asked the husband to provide her with.
Three, unlike
Maimuna who survived her serial rape to demand for justice, Binta did
not survive to even tell her story, let alone demand for justice. Nor
would her baby girl know the circumstance that killed her mother, for
the baby died immediately after her birth.
Four, the
response of the Kaduna Police Command is most irresponsible. All it did
was to transfer the DPO to another division, as if he did nothing wrong.
The Commissioner of Police even refused to answer a question raised by a
journalist about the incident at a press conference. The command is
keeping the result of the autopsy hidden.
This story, like
that of Maimuna, epitomises the callousness of many in the Nigerian
Police. By the refusal of the Kaduna command to sanction the DPO, the
Police have clearly chosen to side with him in the case. It is not worth
any punishment, in their judgement. The police by their action are
asking the nation the following questions: So what, if a Nigerian loses
his life in a police cell? How many such deaths happen across the
country every day in police cells? Why would Binta's be different even
to warrant a whole oga DPO to be reprimanded? It is normal!
It is this camaraderie that damages the police beyond correction. The
good among them are not ready to punish or expose the bad. The guilty is
hidden and protected, unless he is inconsequential when he will be used
as a sacrificial lamb. That is why Inspector Dantalle escaped from
being charged in Kano despite his participation in the rape of Maimuna.
The girl insists that he too raped her. But the police commissioner only
demoted him to sergeant. Nigerian Police Force!
The police
should not therefore blame the public for any generalisation. The Police
force is one of the worst institutions of government in Nigeria and one
of the worst human rights violators in the world. There is no crime
that its personnel have not been committing in this country. They rape
the vulnerable; they kill at the slightest provocation; many have been
caught in armed robbery; they provide politicians with the security
cover to rig elections and harass the opposition; they extort money from
drivers; they hesitate to provide security to civilians when their help
is needed; just name it. Only few people were able to come outsatisfied
after having any business with the Nigerian Police.
The
only two explanations they give to their incapacity are their inadequate
numbers and lack of sophisticated equipment. If we may ask, did the DPO
in Rigasa need three policemen to arrest a pregnant woman? Did he need
any equipment to detain her in her bleeding state under the subhuman
conditions of the Nigerian police cell, without food or water? All he
needed to do was to behave like a human being, not an animal who is
animated by the little bribe from a complainant to kill an innocent
mother and her baby. It is that humanity that is missing in the Nigerian
police. Its personnel could freely engage in human right abuses with
impunity. And because their officer corps is raised through such a
regime of violations it hardly reprimands its subordinates for any
misdeed. Instead, the subordinate is encouraged by the assurance of
espirit de corps to violate the rights of Nigerians again and again. The
police have lost the power and wisdom of self-control.
The
image of the police is in its hands. It can improve it by standing up to
those who violate its ethics among its rank and file, if it likes. Who
is surprised that the DPO of Kwali before whom the complaint of
Maimuna's rape and sex-slavery was brought pleaded with her relations to
'forgive his men'? Who is surprised that the Police command in Kano has
not reprimanded him too? They have grown through the rank and file of
one of the most corrupt institutions in the country. They cannot be
different. Ringim has the arduous task of proving himself different by
changing the pattern of behaviour of his officers. He must punish where
punishment is desired. He must show his men that Nigerians are more
important than the uniforms the police wear.
On our part, I
think Nigerians have been handling the police with kid's gloves. We let
them go with literally anything. We call ourselves educated when we do
not even know the basic elements of our rights. There are institutions
we can use to seek redress, not simply sitting down and crying before a
newspaper reporter. The judiciary is there. Nobody is above it. What
stops victims from lodging their complaints immediately their rights are
violated with public complaint commissions, with their elected
representatives, with their pastors and imams, with the human rights
groups in their states, with just anyone they revere?
The
police, for example, shiver at the sight of a lawyer and immediately
start to do the right thing. Why do we fail to avail ourselves with the
services of lawyers? If the victim cannot afford one, what of the state
legal aid that offers free legal services just as does the NBA to such
poor victims? Going public should even be the last resort, though the
radio and the newspapers have been forthcoming here.
Educating us on our legal rights I think is the best contribution any
government or private agency can offer towards curtailing these abuses.
It will yield more dividends than concentrating on the present approach
that is largely post-mortem and very costly. Let people know that where
the police are involved in a violation, very little would naturally come
out from them. They cannot be judges in their own course. This is a
basic presumption in law. Recourse must be found in avenues outside the
rotten department. Had the relatives of Maimuna not sought the help of
the Hisbah and human rights groups in Kano, her case would not have been
heard by the world. The police would have suppressed it as they
suppressed millions of human rights abuses before. Even now, I agree
that a more prudent independent investigation needs to be carried out by
an independent body on Maimuna's case as suggested by many
contributors.
Since the story of Binta broke out last
Sunday, I have been in contact with Sister Maryam Uwais to learn what
the women groups can offer on this. Fortunately, she has been in the
picture too and has discussed it with Hajiya Saudatu Sani of WRAPA.
Maryam also assured me via email that 'FIDA, PSC, the NHRC and a few
other NGOs have also joined WRAPA in ascertaining the fact in the Rigasa
matter, which is the first step.'
The DPO in Rigasa was
instrumental to the death of Binta. He should be charged with voluntary
homicide. Simple. Binta did not need to be his mother before he could
know that a bleeding pregnant woman requires urgent medical attention,
not detention in a filthy police dungeon. His classroom training must
have told him that his most important duty as a policeman is the
protection of life, not destroying it. Here, he chose to destroy both
the mother and her baby. His training also must have taught him the
principle of fair hearing, the right for the accused to be heard before
he is charged.
It is, however, regrettable that his practice
taught him something different. It taught him to take bribe, take sides
and kill the life. In addition, it taught him that he is a sacred cow.
Not this time. After killing his victim, the coward rushed to
cover his ass by ordering the arrest of the complainant and seeking a
transfer. He got it. But Binta too will get justice, even in her grave.
The cow must be slaughtered this time. Let the coward be rest assured.
This case makes me to suggest the formation of an NGO that
would specifically address issues bordering on police human rights
abuses. It can be called 'Friends of the NPF' or any other suitable word
because the Police force cannot have better friends than members of
such organisation. The police should not see this as a threat but rather
as an aid that will help them solve one of their most pressing
problems. Saving the police from itself must concern every Nigerian, in
my estimation. The abuses are just too many and endemic for the force to
extricate itself from. It requires a concerted external pressure. The
cases are also too many for existing NGOs to be tackling while they also
address their primary areas of concern.
The funding of such
a group should come from individuals, groups and the government, which
can channel its own through the NHRC and the police departmental vote.
Such a group should be composed of human right lawyers, interested
ex-police officers with proven integrity, human rights groups, community
leaders in its branches and interested individuals. It could even be
formed jointly by human rights groups. I hope readers will help to
refine this rudimentary idea and go ahead to source the people who would
be ready to follow it up to fruition.
By Aliyu Tilde
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