•IGP Kayode Egbetokun
The National President Committee For Defence Of Human Rights (CDHR), Comrade (Dr) Kehinde Prince Taiga, has expressed concern over the character of personalities that move around with police escorts and urged Inspector General of Police (IGP) Olukayode Egbetokun, to commence the process of profiling people before assigning police to them.
Speaking against the backdrop of prevailing situation in society today where individuals with criminal records and fraudulent means of livelihood were seen in public space with police escorts attached to them, Taiga, noted that such undeserving privilege must be properly checked in the interest of a decent society we all craved.
He described the situation where a country with a huge security manpower deficit would be allocating police escorts to inconsequential individuals as highly unreasonable and a disservice to the nation, noting that the earlier the police Boss put a permanent stop to this abnormal policy, the better for the masses who are now very vulnerable in the society.
Making the stand of the body known in a statement made available to newsmen in Warri yesterday, Taiga lamented a situation where known criminals like ‘Yahoo Boys’, ‘Money Launderers’, Land Grabbers and dubious characters would be flaunting police escorts and even using them to oppress the people they have cases with either in police stations or courts.
According to him; “We recently conducted a survey on those private individuals that were seen with police escorts in public places and we realized that must of them made their money through dubious means and they use their I’ll-gotten wealth to secure police escorts with which they further commits more crimes and oppress those they perceived as their enemies in the society”.
“We are therefore using this medium to call on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kayode Egbetokun, to immediately commence the process of profiling all those that had been assigned police escorts with the intention of pulling out those allocated to people who doesn’t deserve them in the interest of the nation”.
“We can’t be complaining that we lacked adequate security manpower to combat the huge crime rates in the country today and yet we are busy allocating the scares security personnel to undeserving individuals in the society while the generality of the people are not well protected”, it stated.
The body also carpeted the Police and the Judiciary on the issue of placing priority on ‘highest bidder’ while handing both criminal and civil cases in the society, stressing that more often the policemen and judges gives preferential treatments to the rich even when they are the culprits against the poor complaints whenever such matters comes before them.
“We have watched with keen interest how this ugly trend where both the police and the judiciary tends to favour the rich against the poor in the society, even when the rich individuals have been found guilty of the crime committed and we are saying enough is enough of this miscarriage of justice”.
“Therefore, we wish to use this opportunity to call on the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and Chairman, National Judicial Council (NJC) Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, to bring about the needed reforms in the judicial system and bring to an end the corruption, mostly Per-Incuriam judgement and misrepresentation of justice in the country today, inorder to build trust and confidence in the common man on the nation’s justice system”.
On the Ember month, CDHR, also call on IGP Egbetokun, to read the Riot Act on professional misconduct to his men and officers across country, as this is the period where they would want to indulge themselves in some sharp practices out of the desperation to making quick money for the purpose of celebrating the Yuletide with their families.
He noted that such call to be of good behavior by men and officers of the Nigerian police this festive period had become necessary as the people are always at the receiving end of these sharp practices at a time like this, adding that such desperation would not augur well, considering the present harsh economic situation in the country today.
