Recently, Amnesty International the premium International Human Rights Organisation in the World, made a statement saying a number of Nigerians died in the few days of the #EndBadGovernance Protests all across. Though this number was refuted by the Nigeria Police Force Public Relations Officer -ACP Muyi Adejobi, MNIPR, what however, is not in doubt is that there have been deaths in these protests.
It is important to state that the Nigeria Police engagement with the use of live ammunition while engaging Protesters is not International Best Practices .As a matter of fact, the use of sinister looking cannisters other wise called tear gas have been jettisoned by many countries .Most countries of the world now use water cannons and other non lethal or innocuous crowd control measures .
The inconvenient truth about how Nigerians are being engaged during Protests is that the police use live bullets to curtail or contain Protesters. This use of live bullets has led to avoidable deaths of Nigerians .Police Men close to Protesters need not be armed .Those that should be armed should be an armed squad, detached from the Protests, but close to the Policemen.
Also Policemen to be with Protesters should be those that have experience and who themselves have been forner student leaders .The Nigeria Police have great repertoire of former Student Leaders including the current Force PRO-ACP Muyi Adejobi MNIP, was a Student Leader at the prestigious University of Ibadan.
These former student leaders who are in the Police should lead the Police contingent. Being that they understand the dynamics of protests, they will speak the language of the protesters. This will bring about empathy and synergy.
In the larger approach, it is important that the Police carry out protests drills for its operatives and give them orientation on how to handle civil engagements.It is important for the operatives to understand the concept of restrain when dealing with Protests crowds . The sparing use of guns and tear gas should be the main focus.
The careless shooting of guns at every slight provocation at Protests should be discouraged. It gives the impression that our Police are trigger-happy. Even shooting into the air should be discouraged.
The Police in Nigeria should follow the examples of Lagos, Edo and Rivers commands who give water, food and snacks to protesters. This led to seamless protests in these states. As for you to be able to influence a system you must show love.
About the Author:
Douglas Ogbankwa Esq.,@douglasogbankwa@gmail.com, Lawyer , Writer and Policy Analyst is the Convener of Security Situation Room.
