The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) has demanded that all the police officers who participated in actions that led to injury or death of Nigerians must be brought to justice.
This was disclosed by the Ekiti State Governor and NGF Chairman, Kayode Fayemi, on Thursday after the governors, held a meeting with the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu.
The meeting was scheduled to deliberate on issues related to the #EndSARS nationwide protest and over the activities of the now-scrapped Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) unit of the Nigerian Police Force.
Read here the communique from the Governors’ meeting with the Inspector General of Police pic.twitter.com/jotM3grsfX
— Kayode Fayemi (@kfayemi) October 15, 2020
Backstory
This week, Nairametrics reported that Amnesty International said the Nigerian Police Force has killed 10 persons since the anti-police brutality protests started last week.
“So far, Nigerian Police have killed at least 10 people since the start of protests against callous operations of SARS,” said Amnesty International.
The IGP told the NGF about the newly formed Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit, which was created after SARS was scrapped and added that after a psychological evaluation, the newly formed SWAT officers would be posted to all states (50 per state).
He added that he would leverage on the Police Act 2020 to carry out more reforms in the Nigerian Police Force (NPF).
After discussions, the NGF agreed to support the IGP in his bid to carry out more reforms in the service towards achieving greater transparency and accountability. They urged for more meetings in the Nigerian Police Council.
The Governors also urged the IGP to convene a meeting of all stakeholders and agree on a format of engagement with all state officials, in order to address the concerns.
They advised that throughout the reform process, the room for consultation may include sessions and direct feedback from the public.
“All police officers who participated in the abuse or actions that might have led to injury or the death of innocent citizens must be fished out and brought to book, while other Nigerians who have been adversely affected by Police brutality or other actions that were injurious to them or their loved ones, should be compensated,” the NGF stated.
The Governors urged the IGP to forge stronger relationships between the State governments and the Civil society to improve civil relations between the public and the police.