Juliana Francis
Some years ago, the Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, Lagos State used to be the pinnacle of Police investigation, where many aggrieved Nigerian from Lagos and Ogun states, were sure to get justice.
It used to be the formation where high-profile criminals and cases were moved to either Lagos or Ogun commands.
For some years now, the glory appears to have departed from Zone 2 Police, with many of the police personnel turning the formation into a market square, where the highest bidder, no matter his or her crime, goes Scot free, while the Nigerian without money stews and gnashes teeth over deprivation of justice.
It has become a police command, where black becomes white and white could become black, depending on who is paying the piper and dictating the tune.
Aside from the ongoing extortion at Zone 2, another constant complaint against the formation has been a flagrant disregard for rules and regulations, lack of adherence to the Administration of the Criminal Justice Act, and unabated human rights violations.
The police at Zone 2 continue to arrest people on the proxy, detain suspects for weeks over minor offences without charging them to court and then extort both suspects and complainants. There are also too many created units, which people are grappling to understand.
But on the 20th of July, the new Assistant Inspector General of Police, in charge of Zone 2, Mohammed Ali Ari, vowed to change the status quo, with adherence to procedural investigations and respect for fundamental human rights being uppermost on his table of challenges to tackle.
Ari talks tough, stressing that he was not in Zone 2 for a tea party, but to key into the vision of the current Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun and ensure that aggrieved Nigerians who walk into Zone 2 command seeking justice, get it.
It was to this end that he invited different media organisations to an interactive parley, where so many issues bedeviling Lagos and Ogun state commands were brought to his attention by journalists.
These issues include, but are not limited to marauding cultists and cultism, escalating kidnapping cases, too many checkpoints, police harassment of young Nigerians, extortion of Nigerians, and violations of the rights of suspects, just to mention a few.
Ari explained that the media interaction was deliberate, “this is because it has been acknowledged globally that no one does it alone and this is community policing in action.”
He also said: “I was deployed to this command a few months back as the AIG to oversee the affairs of Lagos and Ogun state commands. My job here is mainly supervisory but as an operational officer, I would do more than supervision which I have started. For example, patrolling especially at night, and supervision of officers and men to ensure that Lagos and Ogun states are relatively calm.
“Once Lagos is calm, Nigeria is calm. It is in this connection that I had to go to Lagos Command last month to address officers and men on the need for them to be up and doing, and to ensure that crime rate is brought to the minimal tolerable level.”
The AIG opined that the appointment of Egbetokun was a blessing to the Nigeria Police Force and the nation because of his vision for the Police.
He stated: “The IGP community policing model, which is about policing with a human face and respect for fundamental human rights and above all, his spirit of crime fighting like a lion is what we will all embrace and champion.
“He has started well on the right footing by collaborating with the Chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Dr. Solomon Arase, with a view to accelerating promotions of deserving officers and men who had put in their best in crime fighting and are keeping the nation peaceful.
“The IGP has also rolled out welfarist principle for officers and men of the force to ensure optimum performance.”
Ari, who used the opportunity to urge journalists to cooperate and partner with the IGP, promised to ensure officers and men under his watch key into the policing principles and policies of Egbetokun, with emphasis on “respect for human rights, no room for extrajudicial killing and unnecessary abuse of powers.”
The AIG, who said that he operates an open-door policy, urged Nigerians to take advantage of this to report any case of abuse of their rights to the Human Rights Desk of the zone.
He was also advised to make the parley a regular affair so that he could be able to keep abreast of happenings in many communities in Lagos and Ogun states.
