Kaduna State Judicial Panel of Inquiry into Acts of Police Brutality and Other Related Abuses has asked Kaduna and Federal Governments to order the Police to release corpses of persons they deposited in the mortuary to relatives and petitioners for burial.
The Chairman of the panel, Justice David Nyom, who stated this in a report presented to Kaduna State Deputy Governor, Hadiza Balarabe Monday, December 13, noted that the bereaved could not afford the bill charged by the hospitals and for the fact that it was the Police who deposited same.
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Nyom said the panel recommended prosecution of some erring police officers as well as the compliance by the Police of rulings/orders of the High Courts.
According to him, the panel heard a total of 43 petitions out of the 64 petitions it received after evaluating the evidence and considering the exhibit tendered and admitted.
”Six petitions were struck out on the application of Petitioners and or Counsel, and 13 others struck out due to lack of merit,’’ he noted.
The Chairman said the panel recommended payment of compensation to 23 petitioners in the total sum of two hundred and seventy-one million five hundred thousand naira for deaths, injuries, permanent incapacitation, and others.
It also recommended the prosecution of some erring police officers as well as the compliance by the Police of rulings/orders of the High Courts.
Receiving the report, the Deputy Governor thanked them for the report but called for quick devolution and decentralisation of policing in the country to enhance effectiveness and restore the confidence of the people.
Balarabe described policing in the country as a “national emergency,” promising that the state government would study the report and its recommendations and issue a White Paper in response.
According to her, “Every state government is aware of the prevailing anomaly in policing: the deployment in all the states of police officers controlled by the Federal Government but whose operations are funded by state governments.
”As recommended by the APC Committee of The Federalism chaired by our Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, it is time to devolve policing powers and institute the necessary safeguards for lawful conduct and the protection of human rights.
“The crisis of policing remains a national emergency. It is in the interest of everyone that our country builds an efficient police force, large enough to be effective, sufficiently decentralised to understand the terrain and build local support, properly trained, equipped and resourced for the job and operating with the highest regard for the law and rights and dignity of citizens.
“As I receive this report, I wish to register the gratitude of the Kaduna State Government, to Hon. Justice David Shiri Wyom and the seven other members of this Commission of Inquiry for their service.
“The government will study the report and its recommendations and issue a White Paper,” she added.
