The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 general elections, Omoyele Sowore, has said police treat Nigerians like commodities.
The pro-democracy activist said this in reaction to a comment by Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi seeking Nigerians’ support for the force.
Adejobi said personnel of the Nigeria Police Force were no strangers or foreigners and appealed to Nigerians to work together to have the police force they desire and deserve.
“We are your brothers, sisters, uncles, nieces, nephews, wives, husbands, relations, and part of society.
“The police force belongs to all of us, and we deserve the best in this country,” Adejobi wrote on X on Wednesday.
Reacting, Sowore said the police would gain more support from Nigerians if they would treat them like human beings and not commodities.
He said, “The @PoliceNG has never treated Nigerians as their brothers and sisters; never; Nigerians are always treated like commodities to be discarded and destroyed at the slightest provocation or no provocation at all.
“You have sacrificed innocent Nigerians just to please the powerful and connected or even nonentities – men and women- who could pay you to do evil against our people.
“Many are languishing in jail today because @policeng opted to frame them up for a fee. Many are disabled because you shot at them at close range because you wanted to prove they committed crimes they didn’t commit, and many were killed because they refused to bribe your men/women at illegal checkpoints.
“How do you turn around and claim we are brothers and sisters when all we see and hear is the pain, anguish, destruction and death you visit on compatriots?”