The act of the Imo State government sending legal practitioners and government spokesmen to media stations to defend the gestapo style of arrest of Uche Nwosu is unbecoming. The arrest has no legality in it in totality, the process of the arrest is unconstitutional and fundamentally wrong.
You can not just abduct a citizen in a public place while shooting several shots with the risk shooting worshipers, causing panic and pandemonium and making people go run helter-skelter running over each other so as not to get shot.
There are rules of engagement even in international armed conflict; some of the rules of engagement as regulated by the international humanitarian law is that you are not permitted to attacked a person in a midst of civilians, if a suspect is extremely dangerous and armed, the rule of engagement is to disengage him first and make sure that civilians are cleared off the areas to avoid huge impact of collateral damage. This is international armed conflict between two warring nations or countries.
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When you want to arrest a citizen, the law enforcement agents involved in the operation should bear in mind that their foremost function as an agency of the state as provided in the police act is protection of lives and properties. Protection and safeguard of lives should be their watchword.
Opening fire in church premises on Sunday afternoon while effecting the arrest of unarmed civilians is totally unprofessional and the officers involved in that operation should be made to face the music of the law.
Before we ask ourselves what is the reason for the arrest, what was Mr. Uche Nwosu accused of, it is pertinent to condemn in totality the process involved in the arrest, if we don’t condemn this and call for redress then who knows who next the police can arrest maybe in the mosque or church premises or other public places while releasing several shots in the air to the risk of worshipers or innocent citizens around.
Nobody, absolutely nobody should support this process of arrest even if you are affiliated to the Nigerian police or the IMO state government or you are a long standing enemy of Mr. Uche Nwosu, everyone should objectively condemn what’s wrong and that’s why we are rational human beings.