Onitsha Central Police DPO advises lawyers to desist from “bogus petitions” against suspects

By Ononye VC
The Divisional Police Officer incharge of Central Police Station (CPS),Onitsha,Mr Rabiu Garba has advised lawyers wishing to defend their clients to desist from writing what he called,”Bogus Petitions” to the police in a bid to outwit defendants brought before the police.
Mr Garba who is a Chief Superintendent of Police said in a City Radio,Onitsha Wednesday phone in programme that such petitions are capable of misleading the police when in most cases,some of the matters were trivial and bogus.
He pointed out that not all cases were supposed to come before the police since according to him,most of them were civil matters meant to be decided by the courts.
On the issue of of vigilante operatives,the DPO disclosed that though covered by law in some states, vigilante operatives are not authorized to detain suspects,humiliate or torture people in their offices but to promptly hand over such suspects to the police for appropriate action.
According to him,it would amount to illegal detention if vigilante operatives arrest and detain such suspects in their offices without handing them over to the police.
He clarified that policemen who go for official arrest must identify themselves clearly to suspects before executing the arrest and also follow the lawful procedure of search and arrest in accordance to proper and lawful police procedure.