The Sunday Trust of 26 December, 2010 carried the distressing
story of how the brutality of a Divisional Police Officer (DPO)
at Rigasa neighbourhood of Kaduna led to the death of a
nine-month pregnant woman, Binta, and her baby.
Binta’s painful journey to death, as reported in the paper,
started when her three year old child lost a slippers belonging
to a co-tenant who used the opportunity to insult Binta
continuously. For the sake of peace, Binta bought a pair of new
slippers and sent it to the co-tenant. Instead of receiving it
and let the matter die, the co-tenant beat the daughter who took
the slippers to her and also engaged the nine-month old Binta in
a fight. By the time she was done, Binta was bleeding.
Not satisfied that she has beaten the hell out of Binta, she
went to the divisional police office and lodged a complaint that
Binta has fought her. The DPO ordered three policemen to arrest
Binta immediately. She was taken to the police station and
detained all night in spite of pleas from her relations and
husband. The complainant was not arrested.
When the police realised that her condition may lead to death,
they called her brother whose name they found on her cell phone.
With him, the police conveyed her to a nearby clinic in a police
van. The clinic declined to treat her seeing her condition and
referred them to Yusuf Dantsoho General Hospital at Tudun Wada,
Kaduna. There, Binta gave birth to a baby girl who died five
minutes later. And Binta too died that evening.
The husband called the DPO on phone and told him that he, the
DPO, has killed his wife. It was then the DPO ordered the arrest
of the complainant who is renowned in the neighbourhood for her
quarrels. It was too late. She has run away.
A number of things made this story very sad. One, the brutality
and subsequent death was over a bathroom slippers of just N80
(50 cents)!. The DPO should have reconciled the two instead of
killing one of them and her baby.
Two, relatives of the deceased begged for Binta’s bail but the
DPO denied it and insisted on incarcerating the woman even as
she was bleeding from the beating she received from the
complainant. He was so heartless an animal that he even refused
to allow her drink water which she asked the husband to provide
her with.
Three, unlike Maimuna who survived her serial rape to demand for
justice, Binta did not survive to even tell her story, let alone
demand for justice. Nor would her baby girl know the
circumstance that killed her mother, for the baby died
immediately after her birth.
Four, the response of the Kaduna Police Command is most
irresponsible. All it did was to transfer the DPO to another
division, as if he did nothing wrong. The Commissioner of Police
even refused to answer a question raised by a journalist about
the incident at a press conference. The command is keeping the
result of the autopsy hidden.
This story, like that of Maimuna, epitomises the callousness of
many in the Nigerian Police. By the refusal of the Kaduna
command to sanction the DPO, the Police have clearly chosen to
side with him in the case. It is not worth any punishment, in
their judgement. The police by their action are asking the
nation the following questions: So what, if a Nigerian loses his
life in a police cell? How many such deaths happen across the
country every day in police cells? Why would Binta’s be
different even to warrant a whole oga DPO to be reprimanded? It
is normal!
It is this camaraderie that damages the police beyond
correction. The good among them are not ready to punish or
expose the bad. The guilty is hidden and protected, unless he is
inconsequential when he will be used as a sacrificial lamb. That
is why Inspector Dantalle escaped from being charged in Kano
despite his participation in the rape of Maimuna. The girl
insists that he too raped her. But the police commissioner only
demoted him to sergeant. Nigerian Police Force!
The police should not therefore blame the public for any
generalisation. The Police force is one of the worst
institutions of government in Nigeria and one of the worst human
rights violators in the world. There is no crime that its
personnel have not been committing in this country. They rape
the vulnerable; they kill at the slightest provocation; many
have been caught in armed robbery; they provide politicians with
the security cover to rig elections and harass the opposition;
they extort money from drivers; they hesitate to provide
security to civilians when their help is needed; just name it.
Only few people were able to come outsatisfied after having any
business with the Nigerian Police.
The only two explanations they give to their incapacity are
their inadequate numbers and lack of sophisticated equipment. If
we may ask, did the DPO in Rigasa need three policemen to arrest
a pregnant woman? Did he need any equipment to detain her in her
bleeding state under the subhuman conditions of the Nigerian
police cell, without food or water? All he needed to do was to
behave like a human being, not an animal who is animated by the
little bribe from a complainant to kill an innocent mother and
her baby. It is that humanity that is missing in the Nigerian
police. Its personnel could freely engage in human right abuses
with impunity. And because their officer corps is raised through
such a regime of violations it hardly reprimands its
subordinates for any misdeed. Instead, the subordinate is
encouraged by the assurance of espirit de corps to violate the
rights of Nigerians again and again. The police have lost the
power and wisdom of self-control.
The image of the police is in its hands. It can improve it by
standing up to those who violate its ethics among its rank and
file, if it likes. Who is surprised that the DPO of Kwali before
whom the complaint of Maimuna’s rape and sex-slavery was brought
pleaded with her relations to “forgive his men”? Who is
surprised that the Police command in Kano has not reprimanded
him too? They have grown through the rank and file of one of the
most corrupt institutions in the country. They cannot be
different. Ringim has the arduous task of proving himself
different by changing the pattern of behaviour of his officers.
He must punish where punishment is desired. He must show his men
that Nigerians are more important than the uniforms the police
wear.
On our part, I think Nigerians have been handling the police
with kid’s gloves. We let them go with literally anything. We
call ourselves educated when we do not even know the basic
elements of our rights. There are institutions we can use to
seek redress, not simply sitting down and crying before a
newspaper reporter. The judiciary is there. Nobody is above it.
What stops victims from lodging their complaints immediately
their rights are violated with public complaint commissions,
with their elected representatives, with their pastors and
imams, with the human rights groups in their states, with just
anyone they revere?
The police, for example, shiver at the sight of a lawyer and
immediately start to do the right thing. Why do we fail to avail
ourselves with the services of lawyers? If the victim cannot
afford one, what of the state legal aid that offers free legal
services just as does the NBA to such poor victims? Going public
should even be the last resort, though the radio and the
newspapers have been forthcoming here.
Educating us on our legal rights I think is the best
contribution any government or private agency can offer towards
curtailing these abuses. It will yield more dividends than
concentrating on the present approach that is largely
post-mortem and very costly. Let people know that where the
police are involved in a violation, very little would naturally
come out from them. They cannot be judges in their own course.
This is a basic presumption in law. Recourse must be found in
avenues outside the rotten department. Had the relatives of
Maimuna not sought the help of the Hisbah and human rights
groups in Kano, her case would not have been heard by the world.
The police would have suppressed it as they suppressed millions
of human rights abuses before. Even now, I agree that a more
prudent independent investigation needs to be carried out by an
independent body on Maimuna's case as suggested by many
contributors.
Since the story of Binta broke out last Sunday, I have been in
contact with Sister Maryam Uwais to learn what the women groups
can offer on this. Fortunately, she has been in the picture too
and has discussed it with Hajiya Saudatu Sani of WRAPA. Maryam
also assured me via email that “FIDA, PSC, the NHRC and a few
other NGOs have also joined WRAPA in ascertaining the fact in
the Rigasa matter, which is the first step.”
The DPO in Rigasa was instrumental to the death of Binta. He
should be charged with voluntary homicide. Simple. Binta did not
need to be his mother before he could know that a bleeding
pregnant woman requires urgent medical attention, not detention
in a filthy police dungeon. His classroom training must have
told him that his most important duty as a policeman is the
protection of life, not destroying it. Here, he chose to destroy
both the mother and her baby. His training also must have taught
him the principle of fair hearing, the right for the accused to
be heard before he is charged.
It is, however, regrettable that his practice taught him
something different. It taught him to take bribe, take sides and
kill the life. In addition, it taught him that he is a sacred
cow.
Not this time. After killing his victim, the coward rushed to
cover his ass by ordering the arrest of the complainant and
seeking a transfer. He got it. But Binta too will get justice,
even in her grave. The cow must be slaughtered this time. Let
the coward be rest assured.
This case makes me to suggest the formation of an NGO that would
specifically address issues bordering on police human rights
abuses. It can be called “Friends of the NPF” or any other
suitable word because the Police force cannot have better
friends than members of such organisation. The police should not
see this as a threat but rather as an aid that will help them
solve one of their most pressing problems. Saving the police
from itself must concern every Nigerian, in my estimation. The
abuses are just too many and endemic for the force to extricate
itself from. It requires a concerted external pressure. The
cases are also too many for existing NGOs to be tackling while
they also address their primary areas of concern.
The funding of such a group should come from individuals, groups
and the government, which can channel its own through the NHRC
and the police departmental vote. Such a group should be
composed of human right lawyers, interested ex-police officers
with proven integrity, human rights groups, community leaders in
its branches and interested individuals. It could even be formed
jointly by human rights groups. I hope readers will help to
refine this rudimentary idea and go ahead to source the people
who would be ready to follow it up to fruition.
Bauchi,
28 December 2010