ABUJA — Prominent human rights advocate and legal scholar, Prof. Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, has strongly criticized the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Olatunji Disu, over his directive instructing police officers across Nigeria to “shoot on sight” anyone found in possession of illegal firearms.
The IGP issued the order during a security stakeholders’ meeting at the Government House in Makurdi, Benue State, citing President Bola Tinubu’s mandate to halt persistent killings and invoking Force Order 237 to empower officers to use lethal force against armed threats without awaiting superior orders.
Reacting to the command, Odinkalu warned that the directive is legally flawed and poses severe physical dangers to both police personnel and the general public.
Dual Level of Concern: Legality and Practical Safety
In a detailed public commentary, the former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) outlined two major flaws embedded in the IGP’s shoot-on-sight mandate:
- 1. Legal Threshold and Due Process: Odinkalu emphasized that determining whether firearm possession is lawful or unlawful falls strictly under judicial jurisdiction, not executive or administrative summary judgment by police officers.”Probable cause for arrest in connection with suspicion of unlawful possession of firearm… does not rise to justification for shooting to kill the person in possession because probable cause is not proof of illegality unless the firearm is being deployed in the commission of a crime. In that case, the justification for shooting to kill is not possession of firearm but lies in the doctrinal spectrum of self-defence,” Odinkalu stated.
- 2. Practical Safety and Tactical Realities: Addressing operational risks, Odinkalu challenged the assumption that law enforcement officers possess superior marksmanship or firepower compared to heavily armed non-state actors.”Police training these days has become worse than perfunctory & the dangerous people in arms are unlikely to have much fear for the calibre of firearms in the possession of the police or the marksmanship of many of those who have them,” he noted, adding that the directive risks triggering lethal street gunfights.
Human rights defenders have warned that summary execution mandates bypass statutory arrest protocols, search procedures, and judicial trials mandated by the Nigerian Constitution and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA).
LEGAL DANGER: Bypasses judicial trial; risks unlawful extra-judicial killings.
TACTICAL DANGER: Exposes under-trained officers to violent confrontations on the streets.
CONSTITUTIONAL: Violates Right to Life (Sec. 33) & Presumption of Innocence (Sec. 36).
Odinkalu urged the Inspector-General of Police to withdraw the directive and instead instruct officers under his command in a manner that upholds the rule of law, protects civil liberties, and avoids needlessly placing security personnel and civilians in mortal danger.
