The House of Representatives will collaborate with national leadership of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), as the parliament works on new legislations to address police brutality and human rights violations.
This is as National President of the NBA, Olumide Akpatta, has given assurance that his association would ensure a good collaboration with the House with a view to coming up with good legislation to address the issues.
The House had last week passed some resolutions to address the issue of police brutality against Nigerians, one of which is to amend the constitution and come up with other legislations to curb the excesses of the police personnel.
The Speaker who received the leadership of the NBA on a courtesy call on Wednesday, said the provision of Section 215 (5) almost gives the police absolute immunity against their excesses, hence the need to amend that section, noting however that the House cannot do it alone.
“I want to use this opportunity to congratulate Nigerians out there, who have been part of this struggle, and I want to appeal at the same time that we should apply the brake, perhaps, a little and see what will be done. In the House, before the protest, we made a statement, I made a statement on the floor of the House. We made far-reaching resolutions. We’ve been very proactive on this issue. We’re determined to pursue the resolutions of the House forcefully, for want of a better word.
“Our resolutions included that we discovered section 215 (5) almost gives absolute immunity to the police over what they do. So, for a start, we feel we should begin with amending the constitution and delete that offensive section. I believe it was well-intended but now it’s obnoxious. From that, we can raise any other reforms to look at the complaints from the public, from the NBA, the civil societies etc.
“We’re waiting for the IGP to send us the list of policemen that had complaints against them in the last five years. We’re also waiting for the list of the victims so that they can be compensated. We’re beginning the budget process, and we want to make sure that there’s a line item that ensures they’re compensated”, the Speaker said, and he charged the NBA to help in identifying police stations where people may be illegally detained so they could be freed.
Akpatta in his remark earlier, informed the speaker that some Nigerians were being detained at different police stations unnecessarily, calling on him to intervene. “We at the NBA are resolute to collaborate with you on the issues,” he submitted.
