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Also condemning the murder, rights activist, Mr Femi Falana, SAN, urged legal practitioners to end extrajudicial killings in the country.

Falana, in a statement, said: “The cruel killing of Mrs Bolanle Raheem provides an opportunity for the Nigerian people led by lawyers to address the root cause of the extrajudicial killing of unarmed citizens by law enforcement officers. On July 15, 1981, Dele Udo, a United States-based athlete and a potential world beater in the 400 metres was shot dead by a trigger-happy policeman at Ojuelegba in Lagos State. That was the beginning of the reckless shooting of unarmed citizens by armed policemen and armed soldiers on the roads.

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“It is pertinent to note that despite the demand of the human rights community for fundamental reform of the curriculum of the police academy the training of police cadets has remained as brutish as it was under the British colonial regime. Upon their graduation, the recruits usually unleash violence on a society that had dehumanised them in the police academy. Having been brutalised themselves, they derive pleasure in subjecting suspects to physical, mental and psychological torture. During the interrogation of a suspect, it is not uncommon for a policeman to threaten that ‘I will kill you and nothing will happen.’

“Nigerian lawyers must ensure that Mrs Raheem does not die in vain like others who were dispatched to their untimely graves before her. Indeed, the best tribute that the NBA can pay to the deceased is to use her cold-blooded murder to mobilise the Nigerian people to end police brutality in Nigeria. To start with, police checkpoints must be removed from Nigerian roads. The roads should be patrolled by combined teams of officers from the police and road safety commission.”

Besides, the rights activist said: “The NBA should prevail on the Federal Government and State Governments to publish the reports and implement the recommendations of the judicial panels. Otherwise, the NBA should adopt legal measures to compel the Governments to implement the recommendations.

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“Furthermore, the NBA should mount pressure on state governments to enact laws for the establishment of human rights bodies to protect the human rights of citizens. This was the principal resolution adopted by the National Economic Council after the #EndSARS protests.”

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