The Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, in a bid to strengthen the criminal justice system and standardise investigation processes in the Nigeria Police Force, has ordered a streamlining of all police investigative processes.
The move, according to the IGP was to prevent duplication of investigation via indiscriminate petitions and transfer of cases initiated by individuals and groups who had been indicted in initial investigations as a way to frustrate diligent investigation process and truncate criminal justice delivery.
The Force spokesperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, revealed this on Tuesday in a statement obtained by our correspondent.
Adejobi said the IGP gave the directive while reviewing and dealing with files/cases in response to complaints on indiscriminate transfer of cases from zonal/state commands and other investigative units of the NPF by operatives of the Force Criminal Investigations Department, Force Intelligence Bureau, and other Force Headquarters-based investigation outfits under the guise of re-investigation at the prompting of indicted parties.
He said, “The IGP stressed that the situation had often given rise to parallel investigations by multiple units leading to conflicting arrests of parties, and different outcomes even when such matters had been conclusively investigated and charged to court.
“He further warned that transfer or taking over of cases from commands/formations to FHQ-based outfits must only be carried out upon approval of a written petition to the IGP which would serve as authority for any of such action.
“The IGP equally appealed to members of the public to be on the same page with the police leadership in its bid to sanitise the process and strengthen our criminal justice system. He has similarly warned that officers found culpable of colluding with lawyers of, or indicted parties to abuse police investigative process would be sanctioned accordingly.”