How Nigerian police reportedly display unidentified gunmen as "innocent citizens"

Orlu in Imo State suffered another wave of devastation on Sunday when a hotel, fifteen businesses, and a residential structure were set on fire, claiming two lives. Residents fleeing the area blamed security officers for the devastation, while some said it was the work of unknown gunmen. However, amid the grief and tears, police reportedly displayed people unrelated to the incident.

Gideon Dominics, a Facebook user, took to his page to lament the suffering of his cousin, Elvis Okafor, who was detained by police in Okporo-Orlu while attempting to get food for his sick mother and then wrongly displayed as an IPOB/ESN member.

“This is my younger cousin Elvis Okafor; have you ever noticed how theatrical Nigeria is? A little child who went to the store to get food for his ailing mother has become a member of IPOB? A kid who returned from church without eating anything now wields a pistol as an ESN member? Chineke tiling. You see the Nigerian enchantment? Is this how innocent individuals are falsely accused on a regular basis?”

The police had broken into Comr. Gloria Uzoma's uncle's home wrecked everything and taken the guy away. Later that day, his family saw him parading as an ESN member.

“Please assist me in any manner you can.

The army came to (EBENESE, in Umuezenachi IHioma Orlu, Imo State) with vehicles, including an armored car and six Hilux, and took away my uncle (Ikechukwu C Adidiri), a 60-year-old innocent guy. They just snatched him up from his home yesterday as he was dining with his children and brother, set fire to it, abused his daughter and brother, and drove him away in a Hilux to an unknown location, only to see him displayed as a kidnapper today without any inquiry. Kindly assist my Uncle in whatever manner you can. Kindly assist in rescuing Ikechukwu Adidiri... He is blameless!”

On May 28, 2020, Casmir Ibe, a resident of Rivers State who had traveled to Imo in preparation for his late father-in-funeral, law's was apprehended by police and suspected of being an 'unknown gunman.' When the matter became viral on social media, Bala Elka, the Imo State police command's spokesman, informed the media that it was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. According to reports, he said,

“That is why the inquiry has termed an investigation; he was not picked up at his home. He might have been in the wrong place at the wrong moment. If he is innocent, the inquiry will establish this. That is why we are delaying. Nobody is crucifying him by claiming he committed the crime. We conduct an investigation.

“You were discovered in the location where this event occurred; it is conceivable that you were a participant or that you were just there at the wrong moment; it is also possible that he saw something as a consequence of being there at the wrong time. Thus, it will undoubtedly assist at the time of interrogation. ”

The Nigeria Police Force, NPF, was rated 127th out of 127 nations on the 2017 World Internal Security and Police Index, WISPI, by the International Police Science Association, IPSA. Nigeria's police force has a checkered history of human rights violations and extrajudicial executions. The police often arrest members of the public on the basis of plausible or improbable cause, reasonable or irrational suspicion, with or without investigation.

The Endsars protests of October 2020 were a wave of demonstrations that swept across the country's main cities. Nigerians wanted reform of the whole police system, but in an ironic twist, the same police were deployed against protestors. In Lagos state alone, Chief Pathologist John Obafunwa verified 99 corpses to be those of murdered #EndSARS protestors shot at the Lekki Tollgate.

Human Rights Watch, an organization that monitors and reports on human rights abuses occurring across the globe, found that Nigeria's police force has the worst rate of human rights violations in the world.

According to a 2010 study titled "Everyone's in on the game: Corruption and Human Rights Abuse by the Nigeria Police Force," "the police often gather up random people in public areas, including mass arrests at restaurants, marketplaces, and bus stops." Plainclothes police officers have been known to pose as commuter minibus drivers, pick up unsuspecting passengers at bus stops, and transport them at gunpoint to local police stations, where they demand money in exchange for their release.”

Eleven years later, the same heartbreaking occurrences continue to occur to people.

It is anticipated that the Imo state administration would intervene and urge police to exercise due diligence so that innocent people may return to their everyday lives.