I have watched television and read newspapers in Nigeria in the last couple of years that I have been back in the country and each time the DSS, Nigeria Police, and other security agencies including Nigeria Army, Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) and the Nigeria Navy parade "Criminals", I am simply saddened by this unparalleled anomaly.
Here is a link to a parade of "terrorists" by the Department of State Security (DSS) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4blMRpI6ek0 I watched this and the thought going through my mind was "here we go again".
The individuals paraded were not spoken of as being alleged "spiritual head of Boko Haram" or "terrorists", the spokesperson for DSS simply stated, that is who these men were and warned the public about them. This gives the impression that they have been tried and convicted, but this is not the case. These men were investigated and arrested by DSS, they are yet to be presented before a court of competent jurisdiction, they have not been given their rights to speak with a lawyers who can defend them in court.
As much as I abhor and find absolutely despicable the activities of Boko Haram, Kidnappers and other criminal, I find it difficult to stomach the decision of the state security agencies to parade these men and in some cases women before the media without having a chance to speak to a lawyer or having their day in court first.
I remember a friend who worked in government in Nigeria and closely with an ex-President telling me a story that he heard from the ex-President. Here is a summarised version of the story:
The Nigeria Police, the DSS and Nigeria Army were asked to investigate and find a violent criminal that escaped. The thought was that the criminal will be in one of three neighboring communities, hence each agency was tasked to take one community, go through with a fine tooth comb and bring back the criminal if found there.
The officers of the agencies left and when they returned, their findings and report were as follows:
The Nigeria Army reported back to the Presidency and said that they have gone through the community assigned to them with a fine tooth comb. They experienced what they assumed might turn out to be resistance hence they razed down the entire community. "We did not find the criminal, but we can assure the President that if the criminal was there he will be among the dead as there is no life left in that village your excellency".
The DSS came back to inform the President that they have completed their assignment successfully. They have used their intelligence sources and every man in the community has been interrogated. All of them remain suspects, so they are in SSS custody till confession is obtained on the where about of the criminal. "It has been a very successful exercise your excellency"
The Nigeria Police came back to the President shooting in the air celebrating their success of having found the criminal. The President came out with a view to sight this violent criminal and was shocked to see a talking, weeping, bleeding and brutalized Chimpanzee. The Chimpanzee was crying out a confession, "I am the man, I killed many police men during most of my armed robbery escapade, I stole cars and sold them in Togo, I am the owner of all the 55 AK47 guns that the police have at the back of their vehicle".
As ridiculous as this may sound to many, it is actually not too farfetched because we have security agencies that more often than not do not follow best practice standards, they have been reported to carry out extra-judicial killing, assaults and torture of criminals before they are presented to judge and jury.
I have watched operations of Metropolitan Police in London, read reports on MI5, FBI, CIA and other international security agencies around the world, but I have no recollection of any of them parading criminals and or terrorists immediately they are caught and celebrating their success in front of the media before the alleged criminal or terrorist has had his or her day in court.
It is heartbreaking when one hear of instances where alleged criminals were said to have put up some resistance and the police killed the entire gang or the living ones were said to have escaped. It is even more painful that sizable number of the arrested criminals are hardly ever convicted and sentenced, at least we don't get to hear of their conviction and sentence. I strongly believe there is greater impact when we celebrate conviction and long sentences for criminals than when what we have is questionable arrests and parade that some have consistently said leads to nowhere.
Finally, I can not but mention the concern that is often raised when one see the Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC), the Nigeria Army and Navy and other agencies take on the role of the Nigeria Police and one wonders why they will not just share the information with the Police or hand over the alleged criminals to the Police that has constitutional responsibility for internal security.
Let me test waters here and find out how many Nigerians will comment and stand up to be counted as being against what can be described as unjustifiable and by all international standards, illegal parade of individuals as "criminals and terrorists" before they have been through any form of court process.
Here is a link to a parade of "terrorists" by the Department of State Security (DSS) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4blMRpI6ek0 I watched this and the thought going through my mind was "here we go again".
The individuals paraded were not spoken of as being alleged "spiritual head of Boko Haram" or "terrorists", the spokesperson for DSS simply stated, that is who these men were and warned the public about them. This gives the impression that they have been tried and convicted, but this is not the case. These men were investigated and arrested by DSS, they are yet to be presented before a court of competent jurisdiction, they have not been given their rights to speak with a lawyers who can defend them in court.
As much as I abhor and find absolutely despicable the activities of Boko Haram, Kidnappers and other criminal, I find it difficult to stomach the decision of the state security agencies to parade these men and in some cases women before the media without having a chance to speak to a lawyer or having their day in court first.
I remember a friend who worked in government in Nigeria and closely with an ex-President telling me a story that he heard from the ex-President. Here is a summarised version of the story:
The Nigeria Police, the DSS and Nigeria Army were asked to investigate and find a violent criminal that escaped. The thought was that the criminal will be in one of three neighboring communities, hence each agency was tasked to take one community, go through with a fine tooth comb and bring back the criminal if found there.
The officers of the agencies left and when they returned, their findings and report were as follows:
The Nigeria Army reported back to the Presidency and said that they have gone through the community assigned to them with a fine tooth comb. They experienced what they assumed might turn out to be resistance hence they razed down the entire community. "We did not find the criminal, but we can assure the President that if the criminal was there he will be among the dead as there is no life left in that village your excellency".
The DSS came back to inform the President that they have completed their assignment successfully. They have used their intelligence sources and every man in the community has been interrogated. All of them remain suspects, so they are in SSS custody till confession is obtained on the where about of the criminal. "It has been a very successful exercise your excellency"
The Nigeria Police came back to the President shooting in the air celebrating their success of having found the criminal. The President came out with a view to sight this violent criminal and was shocked to see a talking, weeping, bleeding and brutalized Chimpanzee. The Chimpanzee was crying out a confession, "I am the man, I killed many police men during most of my armed robbery escapade, I stole cars and sold them in Togo, I am the owner of all the 55 AK47 guns that the police have at the back of their vehicle".
As ridiculous as this may sound to many, it is actually not too farfetched because we have security agencies that more often than not do not follow best practice standards, they have been reported to carry out extra-judicial killing, assaults and torture of criminals before they are presented to judge and jury.
I have watched operations of Metropolitan Police in London, read reports on MI5, FBI, CIA and other international security agencies around the world, but I have no recollection of any of them parading criminals and or terrorists immediately they are caught and celebrating their success in front of the media before the alleged criminal or terrorist has had his or her day in court.
It is heartbreaking when one hear of instances where alleged criminals were said to have put up some resistance and the police killed the entire gang or the living ones were said to have escaped. It is even more painful that sizable number of the arrested criminals are hardly ever convicted and sentenced, at least we don't get to hear of their conviction and sentence. I strongly believe there is greater impact when we celebrate conviction and long sentences for criminals than when what we have is questionable arrests and parade that some have consistently said leads to nowhere.
Finally, I can not but mention the concern that is often raised when one see the Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC), the Nigeria Army and Navy and other agencies take on the role of the Nigeria Police and one wonders why they will not just share the information with the Police or hand over the alleged criminals to the Police that has constitutional responsibility for internal security.
Let me test waters here and find out how many Nigerians will comment and stand up to be counted as being against what can be described as unjustifiable and by all international standards, illegal parade of individuals as "criminals and terrorists" before they have been through any form of court process.
It is a disgrace that security agencies in Nigeria behave in this manner. I wonder whether a boycott of these hideous events by the media would send a message that this is not acceptable. I have always wondered why the Nigerian Human Rights Commission that feels that it can comment on the case of Mrs Chime has not found the time, resources to comment on this barbaric practice.
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