The Nigerian Police have remained silent over the case of officer S. Miri of Police divisional headquarters, Trademore Estate, Lugbe in Abuja who was captured on camera attesting to harassing two women and disrespecting the office of Inspector General of Police.

In the video clip shared on Twitter and which has since gone viral, a yet-t0-be identified lady accused officer S. Miri of turning deaf ears to their complaints and subjecting her and a friend to harassment and extortion.

The ICIR tried to verify the video and visited the Police divisional headquarters in Trademore Estate, Lugbe. At the station, this reporter met with the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO),  Bob Stephen as revealed by True Caller app –  he refused to state his name or give any information concerning the case of Miri.

He, however, said that all questions be directed to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command Public Relations Officer (PRO), Anjuguri Manzah.

Upon further persuasion, officer Stephen suggested that this reporter wait for the DPO. According to him,  DPO was on special assignment, for he was among the contingent deployed to provide security for President Buhari as he departed for the UK.

When The ICIR contacted Manzah on his mobile phone, he said the case of Miri was being handled by the Force’s PRO, Frank Mba at the Nigerian Police Headquarters, Louis Edet House.

Mba ignored calls and did not respond to messages sent to his phones on WhatsApp, though he read it.

On Twitter, The ICIR also reached out to Markus Ishaku Basiran,  head of Nigeria Police Force (NPF) Complaint Response Unit and he responded saying:

“The office of the Force Public Relations Office retains the mandate to engage with the public under whose auspices can we speak. Reach out in that direction.”

There have been many cases of harassment, extortion and extrajudicial killings perpetrated by policemen in the past years.

A search on the number of deaths caused by policemen between 2018 and 2019 could not be determined. However, The ICIR found a research by Ukoji Vitus, Ayodokun Abiola and Eze Victor, with the title Nigeria Watch: Eight Report on Violence (2018), published in March 2019.

It was indicated in the report that fatal incidents that resulted in deaths of 917 people were caused by government security operatives.

” Government security operatives, on the other hand, were involved in fatal incidents that resulted in the death of 917 people. The army, police, customs, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and prisons services actually perpetrated 109 extra-judicial killings in 48 incidents across 23 states, ” the report stated.