Lagos lawyer,Femi Falana has cautioned the police over use of torture to extract information from suspects under detention.
According to him,the new police act prohibits torture and prescribes 25 -year in prison for any police officer/officers found guilty of torture.
He gave the warning in Lagos,during the unveiling of Complaint Response Unit (CRU) for the Lagos State Command by the Acting Inspector General of Police IGP Olukayode Adeolu Egbetokun.
To ensure compliance,he said magistrates would be assigned to visit and inspect police formations on monthly basis.
Falana,who commended Egbetokun for being an upright cop,said: “We met 34 years ago. Since then, I have never heard any negative report about him.
He urged the police to be upright and diligent in carrying out their professional duties, saying that by doing that, they will have no course to be afraid.
“We represent those who bring cases against you, and we also defend you when frivolous cases are brought against you. I have represented the military and police personnel more than any other group or persons in the country. I will give the IG the utmost support in Lagos,” Falana added.
IGP Egbetokun,who also commissioned a number of completed projects including police clinic at MOPOL 22 premises at Oduduwa, GRA, said that his visit to Lagos State Police Command was with nostalgic feelings and like killing two birds with a stone.
He said the first was to commission the CRU and to have quality interaction with his officers and men.
He commended the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State for complying with his order on creating Complaint Response Unit.
He assured that introduction of CRU was not to witch hunt the police, rather to make officers and men rise to their professional responsibilities.
He said:“This is not to witch-hunt the police, but to promote and enhance accountability. We don’t want complaints to be made in the social media by members of the public anymore, but to the CRU. We will equip the unit, train and retrain officers who will man them including oversees training.”
He said that his policing strategy is aimed at modern policing, adding that community policing would be rebuilt to diverse community policing.
He urged the officers to be carry out their duty diligently saying that everything is about getting result.
He added:“We will together change the police narrative in this country for better. We must stop extortion because extortion is giving us bad name. God bless officers who are doing the right thing. We have a President and Commander-in-Chief who is committed to the welfare of the police. You will be given necessary tools to work, but you must shun misconduct. You must show excellence performance,” the IGP tasked officers and men of Lagos State Command”.
