The Global President of One Love Foundation, Chief Dr. Patrick Osagie Eholo(FoNS) otherwise known as Ultimate Equal has tacked the IGP over neglecting their Constitutional role of protecting ordinary Nigerians.
In request, OLF asked for equitable posting of police of at least twenty (20) policemen per electoral ward.
Also says with police strength of Three Hundred and Seventy One Thousand, Eight Hundred (371,800) personnel and Eight Thousand Eight Hundred and thirteen (8,813) electoral wards minimum of twenty (20) Police Officer should be posted to each electoral ward.
"The Police have become a commodity which is being purchased and hijacked by the VIPs at expense of ordinary Nigerians. Foreigners getting police protection at expense of Nigerians.
"Prince Harry couldn’t get Police Protection in England but if he come to Nigeria, he will have truckload of Police."
A Human Right and good governance advocate, Patriot Patrick Eholor have tackled the Inspector General of Police. Mr. Kayode Egbetokun over what he described as surcharging of the masses of Nigeria and posting Police Officers to unconstitutional unit called the VIP protection Unit.
In a letter dated 16th February 2024 written on his behalf and that of his organization called One Love Foundation by their Lawyer.
In the strongly worded letter, their Lawyer, Barrister Robert Igbinedion captioned “DEMAND FOR THE DISBANDMENT OF VIP PROTECTION UNIT AND YOUR COMPLIANCE WITH VARIOUS PROVISIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION OF FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA 1999 (AS AMENDED) WITH REGARDS TO EQUALITY OF NIGERIANS WHICH THE NIGERIA POLICE FORCE IS IN FLAGRANT BREACH”
he argued that the Nigeria Police Force was established under the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) as a law enforcement agency of the Executive arm of the Federal Government of Nigeria and are bound by various provisions of the Constitution in their establishment and day to day activities including the provisions of Chapter 4 Section 42of the Constitution and as well as Fifth Schedule thereof amongst other binding provisions.
For avoidance of doubt permit us to reproduce the Provisions of Chapter 4 Section 42 (1)
“A citizen of Nigeria of a particular community, either ethnic, place of origin, sex, religion, or political opinion shall not only that he is such a person:-
b). Be accorded either expressly by , or in the practical application of any law in force in Nigeria or any executive or administrative action, any privileged or advantage that is not accorded to citizens of other communities, ethnic groups, places of origin, sex, religion or political opinion.”
Section 15 (2) states of the Constitution provides
“Accordingly, national integration shall be actively encouraged,
Whilst discrimination on grounds of place of origin, sex, religion. Status, ethnic or linguistic association or ties shall be prohibited”.
As a country, we are far behind in meeting the United Nations recommendation for number of Police needed to Police the citizenry, one wonders why the little we have are being hijacked by a few privileged individuals under the Illegal and unconstitutional VIP protection unit and Policy presently being implemented by the Nigerian Police Force under your Command where individuals and organization after having paid money to police officers and their superiors get the benefit of having publicly funded Police Officers attached to themselves to act as status symbol and perform many domestic chores for them.
Sir, a quick internet search will reveal that Nigeria Police Force is staffed with about Three Hundred and Seventy One Thousand, Eight Hundred (371,800) personnel.
If this figure divided by 8,813 electoral wards that will give an average of about 20 Police personnel per ward, some rural communities have up to two(2) wards meaning that they can be allocated up to forty (40) police officers. Some fairly big communities have up to four (4) wards meaning that up to Eighty (80) Police personnel can be posted there to man the area.
However, the Police are hardly visible and accessible to the ordinary Nigerians and various communities in time of need because of the so called Illegal and unconstitutional VIP protection Unit which was inherited by your office and which you continue to implement.
It may interest you to know that a foreigner coming into Nigeria can easily arrange to have Police escort lead him out of the Airport to any part of the Country while there are several communities in Nigeria who cannot get Police presence despite years of request
There exist several police Stations/Post which were constructed by efforts of communities in Nigeria and left unused for several years as officers has not been posted there.
In many
instances, there are more Police Officers attached to individuals than are
available at the Police Station whose Jurisdiction covers entire Local
Government Area.
Over the
years, successive Inspector General of Police have tinkered with the lofty idea
of doing the right thing by scrapping the VIP Protection unit, so that personnel can be posted equitably to
all nooks and crannies of Nigeria like it is done in all civilized countries
but it ended up becoming worse. I am sorry to inform you that things are
getting from bad to worse under your watch, someone have to do the right thing
even if the havens fall.
Sir, just
recently Prince Harry, the second son of King of England who presently live in
the United States of America applied for special police to protect him whenever
he comes back home and offered to pay for the services but the application was
refused and even his eventual lawsuit challenging the refusal decision was also
refused by court with a fine of Fifty Thousand Pounds awarded against him as
Legal Cost. But if today Prince Harry were to come to Nigeria, he will have
several motorcades and convoy of Policemen at the click of a finger for as long
as he wants.
The very idea
of having a VIP protection unit is unconstitutional and illegal, more illegal
is the now entrenched practice where VIPs pay individual Police officers
because it is against the Code of Conduct as enshrined in the Constitution.
More
worrisome is the fact that most of the VIPs already live in bullet proof houses
and drive bullet proof cars, hence they pay for and use police escort as a mere
status symbol, merely helping with house chores, acting as drivers and running
errands for the VIPs, their wives and children since they hardly spend time in
Nigeria, leaving the officers redundant several months in a year.
The ills,
illegality and unconstitutionality of not distributing Nigerian Police Officers
in line Constitution and the needs of the Nigerian populace is too numerous to
mention here.
Patriot
Patrick Eholor and One Love Foundation through their Lawyer, Barrister Robert demanded that the policy should be scrapped
and discontinued with immediate effect in order not to continue to insult the
collective psyche of Nigerians tax
payers who understand how the Police functions in civilised climes.