The Coalition of Public Interest Lawyers and Advocates (COPA) has urged security operatives to fish out personnel involved in alleged extrajudicial killings during the March 30 to April 13 COVID-19 lockdown in the country.
A statement issued on Thursday in Abuja by Mr. Pelumi Olajengbesi, National Coordinator of COPA, stated that the alleged extra-judicial killings by security agents had continued to rise more than the COVID-19 death.
Olajengbesi stated that reports by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) indicate that 18 Nigerian citizens had been allegedly killed by security agents enforcing the lockdown directives.
He said that the sanctioning of those involved in the killings would serve as a deterrent to other trigger-happy cops who have such counterproductive intentions.
“It is incredible that we have lost more lives to our murderous officers than we have as a nation to the virus for which a lockdown order is in effect in the first place.
“It is instructive that this official figure does not, and cannot, reflect the real figure(s) of lives taken by trigger-happy and belligerent cops during this period given that not all deaths under same circumstances may be reported.
“It is sadly but easily predicted that more lives will be lost if a timely intervention by the hierarchies of these agencies and government is not effected with alacrity.
“These men and women who have had their lives cut short are reported mostly to have been citizens who sought to earn a meal or meet pressing social needs.
“This hints on the need for governments to act with more understanding and temperament through its enforcers, rather than sanction the use of excessive force by officers by refusing to call their agents to order,” Olajengbesi said.
According to him, coronavirus is the enemy and not the people and as such the objective of the lockdown should be to save lives and not to take it under the guise of enforcing government directives.
“From Kano to Kogi, Ogun to Lagos, Abia and so many others states in the country, reports are rife of police officers and soldiers allegedly abusing their powers by the application of excessive force during this time.
“The coronavirus pandemic will test us as a people.
“It is our civic duty to keep the peace during this time and that ultimately translates to protecting and emphasising the rights of the people even during such a difficult time,” he said.
