A Borno State High Court has awarded =N=100 million (about US$670 thousand) in damages to the survivors of the late Alhaji Baba Fugu Mohammed, a 72-year-old citizen extra-judicially killed by the certain specific officers of the police because he was the father-in-law of the leader of Boko Haram.
The 72-year-old Alhaji Fugu Mohammed had voluntarily surrendered himself to the police after being told by his family that he was wanted by the police. Sometime afterward, while in police custody, Alhaji Mohammed was killed, his body dumped in a mass grave along with other extra-judicially executed suspects.
No charges were proffered against him. There was no arraignment, no trial. Nothing.
Apparently, he had given his son-in-law a house which was subsequently used as the headquarters of Boko Haram. For whatever reason, certain specific officers of the police thought this was reason enough to kill him.
Alhaji Mohammed's family told the Borno Hgh Court that their father and grandfather had given the house to his daughter's husband long before the formation of Boko Haram. Far from making a contribution to the group, the late Alhaji Mohammed just provided a home for his grandchildren and helped support a son-in-law whose poverty was probably a contributing factor to his later radicalization.
If the police had any information to the contrary, they should not have killed him. They should have kept him alive, taken him to court and presented whatever evidence they felt they had so all of us could rationally come to a conclusion as to what really happened. Only a court of law is constitutionally empowered to determine guilt or innocence.
I don't understand why our country is plagued by so much violence. It is not just the police killing people, but also people killing the police. I am critical of the police for their many extra-judicial killings, but I am just as opposed to the murder of police officers.
So much violence. So many families left in so much unnecessary pain.
The police have a thankless, low-paid job that brings them criticism, disdain and fear, and very little in the way of respect, financial security or protection from unchecked violence. But they can't keep randomly killing citizens who have NOT been convicted of any crime. It is too much and no one is safe.
For the sake of =N=20 at checkpoints, a three-year-old girl, as well as the drivers and passengers of commercial vehicles have been killed.
There are many reasons why the relatives of suspects don't come forward to help put their kinsmen in jail, or to help the security agencies preemptively stop their relatives from acts of violence. Among these reasons is the relatives' fear of what would happen to their relatives in police custody should they help the police catch them. Indeed, different district police commands have been known to detain the innocent relatives of suspects indefinitely, effectively holding them ransom until their relative turns himself or herself in, which rarely happens. Why would you want to go to the station to put yourself at risk of that?
A police force cannot be effective without the cooperation of the citizenry. In our particular case, the police can't really criticize people for essentially covering up for their relatives when the police are themselves frequently guilty of covering up (or attempting to cover up) the criminal actions of policemen. They denied that there were any extra-judicial killings in Maiduguri until exposed by pictures, video and the army's refusal to participate in the coverup.
This isn't helping.
The late Alhaji Mohammed's survivors have been awarded =N=100 million in damages. They owe the verdict to the power of video and the internet in the 21st Century.
A similar thing happened with the Miss Uzoma Okere case. Without the power of tiny phones to capture video and upload them to the web, she would have been just another Nigerian citizen brutalized by enlisted soldiers acting on the orders of a commissioned officer. But with the video having gone worldwide, there was nowhere for the Navy (or the judicial system) to hide. Miss Okere was awarded a judgment against the Navy, and =N=100 million in damages. The Navy is appealing the Uzoma Okere judgment, insisting the =N=100 million award is excessive.
There is far too much violence in Nigeria. Violence against uniformed officials of state, and violence by uniformed officials of state. We have so much to do before we can say we live in a safe, secure, stable environment. Reform, restructuring and transformation can't wait another day. Alas, I fear we will have to endure much more violence ahead. It makes me sad.
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