Senate Condemns Harassment, Extortion Of Motorists, Commuters By Police
The Nigerian Senate has condemned the continuous extortion and harassment of motorists and commuters perpetrated by officers of the Nigerian police monitoring highways.
This was sequel to a motion moved by Onyekachi Peter (APC, Ebonyi North) at the plenary session on Wednesday.
Four days ago, a video surfaced on the internet where some officers of the Nigerian police attached to Ekpoma division in Edo State ran over a handcuffed man with a Sienna patrol vehicle for allegedly refusing to allow the officers to check his mobile phones.
The man sustained varying degrees of injuries in the process before he was rushed to the hospital for treatment.
On Saturday, the Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Dankwara said the officers involved in the act have been arrested and detained.
At the plenary today, Mr Peter said the stop and search operation conducted by officers of the Nigerian police on highway is an attempt to take “undue advantage” of motorists and commuters.
He prayed to the Senate to call the Inspector General of Police to direct its officers to stop the extortion and harassment of motorists and commuters plying highways in the presence of conducting stop and search.
Many of the senators amended and added to the prayer of the motion when it was thrown for debate.
Simon Mwadkwon (PDP, Plateau North) made an additional prayer that the Nigerian police should embark on training and retraining of their personnel to ensure that the officers are civil while carrying out their operational duties.
Other senators who contributed to the motion are Ishaku Abbo (APC, Adamawa North); David Jimkuta (APC, Taraba South); Victor Umeh (APGA, Anambra Central) and Barau Jibrin (APC , Kano North).
The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio however granted the prayer to encourage the Inspector General of Police to train and retrain its officers in order to be civil to citizens.
Mr Akpabio also urged the IGP to set up a committee to investigate the extortion, harassment and killing accusations against the Nigerian police officers.
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