As the nationwide protests against the police brutality enters day five, Lagos lawyers also took a stand to add their voice to outcry against the decay in the police force.
The lawyers went on a protest match from Ikeja Under bridge to the State Police Command and ended it at the state government house in Alausa, Ikeja.
In a statement signed by the convener of the protest, Inibehe Effiong sent to PREMIUM TIMES, the lawyers said they are also victims of police harassment, brutality, corruption and impunity, which will not make them sit on the fence and watch Nigerians protest.
“Our protest is meant to highlight how the decay in the police affects lawyers and the citizens generally,” the statement reads.
The lawyers demand that the culture of extra-judicial killings of the police must come to an end and bail should be free not just by words alone but also in action.
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“Despite the dissolution of SARS, we have seen the systemic impunity in the police is still pervasive. Peaceful protesters and journalists are being killed and molested, which gives an impression that the government is deceitful,” the statement reads in part.
“So beyond the disbandment of SARS, fundamental reforms have to be carried out in the Nigeria police including proper training and adequate funding.
The lawyers also advocated that all the families of the victims killed by SARS be compensated while the officers found guilty of extra-judicial killings should be arrested and prosecuted.
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