The Rule of Law And Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has condemned the shooting of human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore by a female police officer, Altine Hyelhira Daniel, in Abuja.
The activist was said to have been speaking with a detachment of police officers stationed at the public facility when the female officer fired at him.
Protesters had converged on the fountain area at 8:30 am. But the police allegedly denied them entry into the place.
Many people also sustained varying degrees of injury during the incident.
Okechukwu Nwanguma, Executive Director of RULAAC described the action of the police officer as reckless, unprofessional, and contrary to professional standards as stipulated in the NPF Code of Conduct and Rules of Engagement as well as the Police Act, the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and other regional and international human rights standards that Nigeria is signatory to.
Nwanguma asked the Police Service Commission to ensure that appropriate disciplinary measures are taken against the said police officer and others responsible for the criminal and unprofessional conduct.
The statement read, “RULAAC has received with utter astonishment the shocking news of the shooting today of Omoyele Sowore, human rights activist and publisher of Sahara Reporters at the Unity Fountain, Abuja during a peaceful protest by Citizens groups against worsening insecurity in Nigeria.
“Sowore was shot in his right thigh by a female Police Officer identified as Hyelhira Altine Daniel, a member of one of the police teams deployed to the Unity Fountain to break up the peaceful protest against insecurity in Nigeria. Sowore has been rushed to a hospital.
“The shooting was unprovoked, unwarranted and unjustifiable as neither Sowore nor any of the other protesters was bearing arms or posed any threat to the police officers or anyone else.
“The conduct of the police officer is reckless, unprofessional, and contrary to professional standards as stipulated in the NPF Code of Conduct and Rules of Engagement as well as the Police Act, the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and other regional and international human rights standards that Nigeria is signatory to.
“The conduct of the police officer amounts to an abuse of firearms and an attempt to murder Sowore who is not a criminal and was not committing any crime at the time she shot him.
“The resort to excessive brute force by police to suppress peaceful exercise of constitutionally protected freedoms of expression, assembly and movement is a cowardly attempt by an incompetent government to instill fear among the citizens and to intimidate them into abandoning their civic duty of demanding good governance and the fulfilment of the primary purpose of government which is security and welfare.
“It is a shame that a police force which is itself also a victim of neglect by the incompetent government and which has thereby been rendered shamefully incapable of protecting its own personnel and infrastructure from constant attacks by bandits across the country could find strength in turning their weapons against unarmed citizens merely for peacefully demonstrating against insecurity which has exposed the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the same police.
“We condemn the action of the police officer and hereby call on the Police Service Commission to ensure that appropriate disciplinary measures are taken against the said police officer and others responsible for the criminal and unprofessional conduct of abuse of firearms and attempt on the life of Sowore.”
