Mohammed Adamu, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), has charged personnel of the force to be professional and civil in the discharge of their duties but must protect themselves against those who try to assault them.
This comes hours after the force, in response to Amnesty International (AI), claimed 22 of its personnel were extrajudicially killed by ENDSARS protesters, lamenting that the international human rights agency failed to mention the death of the officers suggesting discriminatory attempt on its part.
“It also beggars imagination that Amnesty International failed to mention or pay tribute to Police officers who were gruesomely murdered during the protests while serving their fatherland,” a statement by Frank Mba, force spokesperson reads.
“The Force decries the discriminatory tendencies exhibited by Amnesty International as seen in the report.
“One wonders if in the estimation of Amnesty International, police officers are not also human beings equally entitled to the protection of their fundamental rights to life and dignity of human person.”
However, speaking during an assessment tour of the Federal Capital Territory Police Command on Friday, Adamu said the nation relies on the force to prevent criminality, hence personnel of the force must continue to performing their duties.
“The unity of this country lies in the support that is given to police officers because if you are demoralised, the tendency is for criminals to take over the public space and the country is relying on us to make sure that the public space is not taken over by the criminals. So no amount of provocation, no amount of insult would make us shy away from our responsibilities.
“Inasmuch as we are aware that the government is behind us; so, we would encourage you to keep performing your duties.
“We would encourage you to be professional, to be civic, but if anybody touches you, if anybody comes to assault you, you can also protect yourself.
“When we talk of human rights, the police are human; so, the rights of police officers would also be protected. So, we are sending the message that legally, we have the right to protect ourselves but while we are doing that, we make sure that until we are endangered.”
