Usman Baba, inspector-general of police (IGP), says officers who collude with lawyers of indicted persons to frustrate investigation processes will be punished.
According to a statement on Tuesday by Olumuyiwa Adejobi, spokesperson of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the IGP made the pronouncement in response to complaints about “indiscriminate petitions” requesting transfer of case files from one unit to another.
The NPF said such petitions lead to duplication of investigations and negatively affect criminal justice delivery.
He added that, as a result, the IGP has ordered a review of investigative processes in the force.
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“The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, psc(+), NPM, NEAPS, fdc, CFR, in a bid to strengthen the criminal justice system and standardise investigation processes in the Nigeria Police Force, has ordered a streamlining of all police investigative processes to prevent duplication of investigation via indiscriminate petitions and transfer of cases initiated by individuals and groups who have been indicted in initial investigations as a way to frustrate diligent investigation process and truncate criminal justice delivery,” the statement reads.
“The IGP gave the directives while reviewing and dealing with files/cases in response to complaints on indiscriminate transfers of cases from Zonal/State Commands and other investigative units of the Force by operatives of the Force Criminal Investigations Department, Force Intelligence Bureau, and other Force Headquarters Based Investigation outfits under the guise of re-investigation at the prompting of indicted parties.
“He stressed that the situation has often given rise to parallel investigations by multiple units leading to conflicting arrests of parties, and different outcomes even when such matters have been conclusively investigated and charged to court.
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“The Inspector-General of Police has therefore warned that transfer or taking over of cases from Commands/Formations to FHQ-based outfits must only be carried out upon approval of a written petition to the IGP which will serve as authority for any such action.
“The IGP equally appeals to members of the public to be on the same page with the Police leadership in its bid to sanitise the process and strengthen our criminal justice system.
“He has similarly warned that officers found culpable of colluding with lawyers of, or indicted parties to abuse police investigative process will be sanctioned accordingly.”
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