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Deplores Court’s Ruling On Pregnant Single Cops

The unlawful detention by the Nigeria Police of a member of the National Youth Service Corps who currently works as a software developer with a PR/Communications firm (name withheld) in Lagos State has been described as one of the most heinous crimes against humanity amongst the police that ought to be eliminated. HURIWA said there are several armed robbers embedded within the Nigeria Police Force causing grave damage to the institutional image of the Nigeria Police Force wondering why the nation’s police hierarchy are not perturbed by the multiple cases of armed robbery involving their service men. 

This was the conclusion of the leading civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association Of Nigeria (HURIWA), in reaction to the information in the media that a police team picked the intern after complaining about his hairstyle, labelling him a ‘Yahoo boy’ (internet fraudster). 

According the statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the Civil Rights group said it was animalistic and primitive that the NYSC’ member Mr. Daniel was slapped, assaulted and taken to Araromi Police Station at Adamo in Ikorodu where he was asked to pay for his freedom just  as the alleged police personnel have been identified as CP Strike Team, Anti-Cultism and Anti-Kidnapping Unit (Ikorodu annex).

HURIWA which has specifically lamented that the pattern of systematic dehumanisation of Nigerian youths by the police on nebulous and unlawful grounds have become very entrenched within the ranks and file of the Nigeria Police Force regretted that some uniform men have become armed robbers under the guise of arresting those they wrongly termed as fraudsters without any shreds of evidence or empirical proofs  even as a friend of Daniel, identified as Patrick, recounted the ordeal of his friend at the weekend, revealing that the victim is “very traumatized”.

HURIWA quoting media account of the incident  as recalled by a credible eye witness states thus: “Daniel is a corps member serving in Lagos, his family are based outside the State. He was forcefully taken from Adamo street in Ikorodu. He and others were in a car looking for fuel and food when they were stopped. The police ordered all out, searched them and the car but found nothing.”

Continuing with the narration of the encounter with the police, the eye witness spoke further: “One then shouted ‘This one na Yahoo boy, see him hair’. Daniel told them he had a legitimate job but they didn’t listen. He was beaten and his shirt torn. They took him away and kept him in detention, was not allowed access to his family. At the police station, they demanded N150,000, later reduced it to N100,000 then N50,000. Explaining that he didn’t have money to pay, the policemen mocked him and said he will remain there till Monday for refusing to cooperate”.

HURIWA recalled that the  eye witness stated also that: “After several calls by friends and colleagues to the authorities, Daniel was released. The Chief Officer at Araromi Police Station apologized and gave him N500 for transport. Daniel mentioned that they were about 14 of them detained unlawfully as at 8pm on Friday. Their families don’t know they are there. One was picked from a keke and, from what I heard, would be taken to Ikeja on Saturday. We don’t know what will become of those guys, they are helpless”. 

HURIWA said “these gross human rights abuses by the police which have dovetailed into pure criminality and armed robbery are to put it mildly a grace violations of the fundamental human rights provisions of chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

Similarly, Human Rights Writers Association Of Nigeria (HURIWA) has described as unsustainable and unconstitutional the decision of the Abuja federal High Court validating a regulation of the Nigeria Police Force that prohibits single female police operatives from getting pregnant whilst unmarried.

“Why would single police operatives who are women being sacked for becoming pregnant but their opposite gender of same single status are not dismissed even with cases of many of them putting many girls in the family way?”

HURIWA said the decision of the Court was sequel to an action filed by Nigerian Bar Association querying the legality of the provision which, it argued, was not only in conflict with the 1999 constitution (as amended), but also amounted to discrimination against an unmarried female police officer.

Citing the case of Omolola Olajide, a female police officer that was sacked in Ekiti State on January 26, 2021, for being pregnant while unmarried, the NBA maintained that such discriminatory Regulation has also rendered many female officers childless for fear of being sacked.

The NBA said, “The male police officers and married female police officers in the Nigeria Police Force are not subjected to similar discrimination, sanction, opprobrium, and indignity.

The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), Police Service Commission, and the Nigeria Police Force were listed as defendants in the suit.

Delivering his judgement, Justice Ekwo upheld the submissions of the AGF.

According to him, the suit lacked merit, stressing that such unmarried female police officers were aware of the regulation before they joined the force.

He said, “Where a law or regulation of an establishment identifies gender attributes or faults and seeks to regulate the vulnerabilities capable of negatively affecting the progress of such gender, such law or regulation is a warning aforehand and cannot be said to be discriminatory.

“In my opinion, the essence of this suit is to use the provision of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, to lower the moral and professional standard of the NPF and this court will not give its imprimatur to such venture.

“It is my finding that in all that the plaintiff has posited, it has not pointed to any aspect of the regulation complained of, which violates the interest of public order or public morality, which will make it reasonably justifiable to invalidate Regulation 127 of the NPFR and I so hold.

“I find that the regulation in issue, in this case, is about conduct and nothing more. I find no compelling reason for this court to disrupt the discipline of the force or interfere in the regulation of the conduct of officers of the NPF….”

HURIWA has therefore urged the Nigerian Bar Association to proceeding to the Court of Appeal to quash the bad verdict of the Federal High Court which effectively legalised discrimination on the basis of gender and status of the female police operatives which is offensive to Section 42(1) of the Nigerian Grund Norm.