I am currently handling a matter with the police, specifically the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), force headquarters, Abuja.
Unfortunately, whenever I have an interaction with the police or have a matter with the police my morale always gets dampened because I am constantly reminded by the actions and the inactions of the police officers that the Nigerian police is far from changing for the good. They will always remain a bunch of corrupt, power-drunk and lawless individuals, even the ones who pride themselves as elite police officers; they are all birds of a feather.
The crux of the matter that I’m currently handling with the police is that my client (who is now the suspect) collected money from an acquaintance, (the complainant) and the agreed time that he ought to give back the money passed and he didn’t give back the money; after so much back and forth, the lender decided to report the matter to police.
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Mind you, what transpired between them as you can see from the summarized version of the brief is totally a matter of simple contract which is totally under the purview of civil dispute which the police have no jurisdiction over; the police by law have no jurisdiction to entertain any civil dispute no matter how prolific or high profile it appears, once it is civil in nature, it is no longer it’s no longer the purview of the police.
The core functions of the Nigeria police force as provided in section 4 of the Police Act, 2020 is to fight crime, prevent the commission of crimes and protect the lives of citizens and their properties. Debt recovery or delving into the arena of civil dispute is not covered as one of their functions and whenever the police delve into a civil dispute they are acting ultra vires (i.e. beyond their power) which is only orchestrated by corruption and abuse of power.
I remember a senior police officer who is also a friend asking me one time while I was in her office how she can twist a civil dispute into a crime so that she can step in and act because she was interested in the matter. Being interested in the matter could only mean that she’s likely to have collected money from the complainant or have entered a deal of what she will get with the complainant and this is why most police officers always try to get involved in civil disputes, especially in debt recovery; they often enter into a deal with the complainant to take off a certain amount of percentage from the money when the money have been recovered. I have seen it happen many times and I’m sure no police officer can feign ignorance to this.
There have been a series of directives from the Inspector General of Police charging police officers not to get involved in debt recovery. A police officer becoming a debt collector makes a total mockery of the force but due to corruption in the force, those directives from different Inspector Generals are yet to yield fruitful results.
This is also an indictment on the citizens who help police abuse their powers by taking civil disputes to the police. The proper procedure is, if you are being owed or if you are aggrieved by anything else that falls under the purview of civil dispute is for you to go to court. Go to court for the recovery of the debts and seek other accruing damages the court can grant, the court has the jurisdiction and never the police. Go to court for your civil disputes, the court has jurisdiction and never the police. The police are not a debt recovery institution. The court in so many cases has awarded damages against the Nigerian police force and its officers for jumping into the arena of civil disputes to act as a judge and as an executioner.