CITIZEN Jimoh Abduquadri, who was arrested and detained by the police on December 19 over a debt of N220,000 he allegedly owed someone simply identified as Peter, died in police detention less than 24 hours after being apprehended. Peter is said to be a brother to a policeman, and there are indications that Abduquadri’s death resulted from the physical torture he allegedly underwent at the hands of police personnel over a civil matter. The summary of the sordid narrative is that Abduquadri was arrested at 5.30 pm for owing debt and by 7.30 pm of the same day, he was already dead. However, his relations were not contacted until few minutes after midnight to come for his bail. And when they arrived at the police headquarters at daybreak the following morning, they were directed to the General Hospital, Surulere, in Ilorin, Kwara State, where they found Abduquadri stone dead with a broken skull and with bruises all over his body, evidencing that severe torture had culminated in his sudden death.
Adijat Moriyike and Ismail, mother and brother of the deceased respectively, accused the police of brutalising and breaking Abduquadri’s head with a hard object. And they called on the concerned authorities to investigate the matter and arrest the culprits. The police reportedly claimed that the 35-year-old hung himself using the cloth he wore but they could not explain away his broken head, the bruises all over his body and the blood oozing from his nostrils. Besides, Ismail, the brother of the deceased, claimed that Abduquadri was a very tall man who couldn’t have hung himself in a typically small police cell.
The matter is already generating serious controversy, necessitating the intervention of the highest police leadership at the centre. The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has visited the Balogun Fulani family of the deceased to commiserate with it and assure it that a dispassionate investigation that will lead to justice to all will be carried out. The IGP’s prompt visit to the family is a good, sensitive and sensible reaction to the matter. However, it would have been better if the IGP did not have to visit the family over a sad issue like this. That would have been the case if the police operatives had handled the matter within the precincts of the law. Abduquadri’s death naturally raises a number of posers. Why did the police get involved in debt recovery which is purely a civil matter? Even if they were approached by the aggrieved creditor, why didn’t they educate and refer him to the court to seek redress?
When has the torture of an accused become an approved procedure to elicit confession of alleged wrongdoing? Why was Abduquadri so brutally tortured that his head was broken and blood was oozing from his nose? Did he deny owing his creditor? Even in the unlikely event that he did, should he have been brutalised to get him to own up? Is it true that the creditor is an elder brother to a policeman? And did this policeman and his colleagues invoke esprit de corps to engage in unprofessional conduct that led to the death of the debtor? Is it not indicting for the police to suggest that the deceased committed suicide under their watch just few hours after his arrest and detention? And why and how did this egregious professional misconduct happen at the Kwara State Police headquarters?
The inclination towards brutality and oppression are a reflection of what is happening in the larger society. Nigeria is a place where people have the proclivity for abusing power and processes. It is common to see everyone flexing muscles at their own level, oppressing others. For instance, if someone offends you and you have a brother in any of the forces, you can get him arrested and tortured. You just mete out your own version of justice to the offender, instead of going to court to seek redress. The abuse of power and abridgment of the course of justice are not limited to situations of differences between personnel of the armed forces and civilians. Members of the services also oppress and indulge in power abuse against one another depending on their perception of seniority, with the army always posturing as if it is on top of the ladder, whereas the truth is that no hierarchical structure would permit oppression and abuse of power among the services or between the services and civilians on the basis of seniority. It is an issue of indiscipline and lawlessness, which are most unexpected from any decent person, especially from members of the regimented services.
With the prevalence of acts of indiscipline and lawlessness in the police, it is difficult to believe that reform and retraining of personnel are being carried out. Otherwise, a civil matter would not have led to death in detention, and at a state police command for that matter! It is either the police personnel were so criminally ignorant as to have taken on a responsibility that was not assigned to them or that they were simply being mischievous because of the impunity that usually attends their acts of lawlessness. There is a sense in which impunity emboldens people, so much so that the erring persons no longer care a hoot about being in breach of the law. Whatever the case, it does not bode well for the image of the police and the country to have incompetent or undisciplined and criminally brazen personnel as members of the service. The implication is that the force still has a long way to go in its often trumpeted plan to reform and prop up its personnel to embrace international best practices.
Meanwhile, the instant allegation of abuse of power which has occasioned irreversible damage should be thoroughly investigated and in a dispassionate manner, as the IGP promised the family of the victim. The culprits must be identified, tried and punished to the fullest extent of the law. Jimoh Abduquadri must not die in vain. We believe that the operatives in question are bad eggs whose actions do not reflect or represent the core values that the police hold very dearly. However, the only way the force can demonstrate this is to genuinely distance itself from their unprofessional conduct and ensure that there is no cover-up of any sort. Criminals in police uniforms masquerading as law enforcement agents and sullying the image of the police and the country at will must be exposed so that the system can purge itself of lawlessness within its fold.
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