Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
A group on the platform of “Bail Is Free Campaign Organisation” has called for adequate funding of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in order to curb sharp practices in the system.
Addressing Journalists at the secretariat of Nigeria Union Journalists (NUJ), Edo State Council, Coordinator of the group, Oni Edigin said that they are out to sensitize the people on the need to make the country safe as well as assisting the police as an enforcement agent.
According to him “the police are our pride that can never be undermined. Therefore, we have vowed to uphold the power of fairness and egalitarian society and no other organization or institution can jeopardize it.
“Today, a fair percentage of police in Edo State have been remodeled and sharpened for good works and have awakened their spirit of professionalism, accountability, transparency and also protection of lives and properties.
“We are currently on advocacy for the reformation of Nigeria Police Force on how to better their lives, families and to fully discharge their services.
“Our general objective is to assist the Federal Government of Nigeria to stop corruption in her institution, particularly the Nigeria Police Force who have the ultimate great value to the nation building”, he said.
The Bail Is Free Campaign Organisation Coordinator, however remarked that the police sometimes still engage in sharp practices in the cause of discharging their duties to the people.
“So many times, a suspect will be detained in the cell, in the name of investigation without court order, a reliable surety will even come soliciting for their bail, the police will deny them bail.That is an abuse of Police Act Section 62 No.2.
“We noticed on different occasions, suspect will be charged to court all because they refuse to cooperate with police fraudulent extortion, especially when they find out that the Bail is Free Group is involved.
“So many times a suspect will be brought to the police station with severe injuries probably after being beaten up by some youth or group of vigilantes, police will receive the suspect without interrogating the jungle justice of the people that brought the suspect.
“Still, the police will detain suspects even without medical attention. See Section 1, Sub Section (b) of Police Act 2020. We are getting complaints on a daily basis that some police officers are collecting money from citizens in order to grant access to suspects’ relatives in the cell.
“We discovered from experience that if a citizen reported an officer to superior officers for unprofessional conduct, the matter will be hidden under the carpet”, he said.