AP News, November 30th, 2007
Men carrying AK-47s leap from late-model Mercedes Benz sedans and burst into a Tex-Mex restaurant, training their weapons on tables crowded with foreign workers, greasy fajita pans, Corona beer bottles and ashtrays.
"On the ground, you white monkeys!" one bearded robber shouted at customers scrambling to the floor, as another rifle-butted the skull of a man trying to instigate a diners' revolt. "Everyone empty your pockets!"
The brazen raid was just one of many in what Nigerians call a post-military rule crime wave, and a debate over how civilian administrations are responding reached new levels in recent weeks after police announced they had killed hundreds of suspected armed robbers.
In the three-month period after President Umaru Yar'Adua's May 29 inauguration marked the first-ever hand-over of power between civilian governments, 785 armed robbery suspects died in gunfights with police, while 1,857 were arrested, Inspector General of Police Mike Okiro said.
Okiro's announcement, which landed on the front pages of newspapers countrywide, drew ire from human rights organizations, commentators, and ordinary Nigerians. They fear the focus on casualties over arrests means the brute force methods pioneered by the military and mastered by criminals had been passed along through successive civilian regimes.
"It's stunning that the police killed half as many 'armed robbery suspects' as they managed to arrest during Okiro's first 90 days," said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "And it's scandalous that leading police officials seem to regard the routine killing of Nigerian citizens — criminal suspects or not — as a point of pride."
While firm nationwide crime rates and killings involving police weren't available, Human Rights Watch cited fragmentary figures provided by authorities showing more than 8,000 people had been shot and killed by the police since January 2000.
Before the end of their rule in 1999, Nigeria's military juntas placed troops in major cities, where they patrolled streets and kept a lid on crime, along with political dissent and other freedoms. When they went back to their barracks, that left only the police.
Few Nigerians pine for the military days, but they say civilian governments haven't trained honest, civic-minded police to filled the security vacuum left when troops abandoned the streets.
"Under the military regime, we had less crime. When we saw the army, we were fearful," said Michael Padonu, a 57-year old school administrator in a Lagos slum. "Now there's less security. People don't respect the police. They're not trustworthy."
In Lagos, about two-thirds said crime was worsening in the city, according to a 2006 survey by a Nigerian think tank focused on justice issues, Cleen Foundation.
The police are known for their corruption, routinely stopping motorists and demanding bribes. Many are poorly trained. Nigerians, who say police are often in league with the criminals, call them "Kill and Go."
But Okiro, the new police commissioner, defended the rank and file, pointing out that 62 police had died in the same three-month period during which 785 armed robbery suspects died. He said the tough tactics were needed.
"We are very mindful of our constitutional role of cleansing the society of criminals. This statutory role will naturally attract the attention of human rights groups who, for obvious reasons, will want to put the performance and achievements of the Nigeria police under their searchlight," he told reporters.
On Tuesday, Nigeria said it was studying an offer for police training from Britain, which was the country's colonial master before independence in 1960. Police spokesman Haz Iwendi said Yar'Adua broached the subject recently in a meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
"The Nigerian police is not well equipped to meet the challenges of crime control," Iwendi said in announcing the measure. "But we are happy that President Yar'Adua has put security as one of his key priorities."
Due to the near lack of law and order, criminals in Nigeria think big. In recent years, Lagos, a city of at least 13 million people, has seen massive daylight robberies, including a bank heist in the city's main business area.
In another instance, dozens of gunmen took over an entire neighborhood, systematically fleecing anyone found inside their cordon.
A series of robberies at top restaurants and bars included the August robbery, witnessed by an Associated Press reporter, at the Tex-Mex spot popular with oil workers and other foreigners.
With the clientele laying on the ground, the gunmen spent about 30 minutes robbing the customers and the till — although the robbers chastely declined to rifle the pockets of the few women inside.
The man who suffered the head wound was treated at a local hospital and later released. The police arrived only after the gang left, along with most of the patrons.
After about a half-dozen brazen robberies in a matter of weeks, the gang's activities ceased. It was widely believed that the gunmen died in a shoot-out with the Nigerian police.
