Below the official portraits decorating the office of the police commis-sioner in Rivers State, Nigeria, bright stickers cling to the wall. ”I am the apple of God’s eye,” reads one. ”Police for Christ,” says another. But the pious slogans are unlikely to win trust from local people.
Nigeria’s police force regularly rapes, tortures and executes prisoners, according to a Human Rights Watch report released on Wednesday.
They blame a culture of violence and impunity for deaths in custody.
A 23-year-old worker quoted in the report recalled: ”They handcuffed me … hung me from hooks on the wall, like goal posts… They got a broomstick hair [bristle] and inserted it into my penis … They said they were going to shoot me unless I admitted I was the robber.”
Nigeria’s police force acquired a reputation for brutality during decades of military rule and torture is still seen as a legitimate way to gain a confession.
The accusation of armed robbery is a general term that has been used to cover everything from public order offences to genuine armed assault. Figures from the former police inspector general show that in 2003 the police killed 3 100 ”armed robbers”, arrested 8 300 armed robbery suspects, but only recovered 3 451 firearms.
Innocent Chukwuma, the executive director of Lagos-based Centre for Law Enforcement Education, says: ”Police often think it is easier to kill than to bring a case to court, and the courts accept confessions obtained under torture in the absence of any other evidence.”
Abot 70% of Nigeria’s prison population is awaiting trial. Some have been held for 15 years without ever seeing a judge.
”We get four or five bodies from them per week,” said one doctor, who added that corpses frequently showed signs of torture inconsistent with police accounts.
Yemi Ajayi, the deputy national police spokesperson, said: ”Suspects are presumed innocent … But in the course of performing our duties police may make mistakes.”