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Nigeria should probe 'killer cops'
19/11/2007 13:15 - (SA)
Lagos - The Nigerian government should launch an inquiry into several hundred people killed by police in just three months this year, says Human Rights Watch (HRW).
"On November 14 2007, Inspector General of Police Mike Okiro announced that 785 suspected 'armed robbers' were shot and killed ... between June and the beginning of September 2007. According to the HRW, at least 1 628 armed robbers were arrested during the same period,.
Peter Takirambudde, HRW's Africa director, said: "It's stunning that the police killed half as many armed robbery suspects' as they managed to arrest during Okiro's first 90 days.
"And it's scandalous that leading police officials seem to regard the routine killing of Nigerian citizens, criminal suspects or not, as a point of pride."
The New York-based rights group said that while Nigerian police admitted to having shot and killed more than 8 000 Nigerians since 2000, the true number of people killed by police over that period might exceed 10 000.
Nigeria 'experiences high levels of crime'
HRW said: "The figures suggest that police have routinely resorted to disproportionate and illegal use of lethal force and may have committed multiple extrajudicial killings in the course of police operations.
"Almost as disturbing as the numbers themselves is that leading police officials appear to regard these grim statistics as an indication of effective police work rather than as a scandal," said the group.
Many parts of Nigeria experienced extremely high levels of violent crime, owing partly to rising poverty, high unemployment and the proliferation of small arms throughout the country. Dozens of Nigerian police officers died in the line of duty every year.
Dozens of Nigerian police officers died in the line of duty every year. HRW conceded that Nigeria's police generally lacked the capacity to deal with the challenges they faced.
"Police officers are poorly trained, ill-equipped, and poorly remunerated," it said, adding that some rights abuses carried out by the police were "partly a response to public pressure to reduce the high levels of violent crime".
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