The Case for Abolition
My father told me a story recently. He was in Warri, on the road at night with some friends, when they were stopped by the police. His friends were hostile, but my father was calm. Eventually, they gave the police officer some money, and they left. I’m not sure what year this was, but it was at least 3 decades ago.
He told me this as the #ENDSARS protests began, as a cautionary tale. The message behind it being that the police have always been like this, and one simply has to manage it.
I have never had an experience with SARS, but I know several people who have, including my brother. Their stories are horrific, ranging from extortion to sexual harassment and threats of physical and sexual violence, and murder. I grew up hearing stories about the Nigerian Police Force, what they do, what they’re like; violent, corrupt, poorly managed, poorly funded. My mother also has a story about being harassed by the police. In hers, she went to report a stolen car, and was almost stalked by an officer who shared her last name. The Nigerian Police Force are a normal part of life. You expect them to be corrupt and violent, the same way you expect to have malaria every other month, or you expect terrible traffic on the Lekki/Epe Expressway. I have gotten used to the sight of men in police uniforms carelessly brandishing assault rifles.
The #ENDSARS movement, the protests, the incidents of police brutality at these protests (firing live rounds at peaceful protesters, assaulting and illegally detaining protesters, killing protesters and bystanders, as well as the events of and post-October 20th) have made something glaringly obvious. The problems with the Nigerian Police Force do not begin and end with the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), they’re endemic and they’ve been happening for too long. The term “police reform” has been thrown around, but I think the logical end of this conversation needs to be abolition.
I learned of the concept of abolition earlier this ear, as the “Black Lives Matter” movement led to calls to “Defund the Police” and “Abolish the Police”. The former I understood, as even I could see that the police force in America was grossly overfunded and over-militarized, but the latter was strange to me. Why would you remove the very system that exists to uphold law and order? However the truth is that the police do not uphold law and order. It should, in a normative sense, but the reality is very different.
Abolition is rooted in the idea that the police, as an institution, are deeply flawed and cannot be reformed, and as such must no longer exist. The existence of the police is itself a result of white supremacy and colonisation, and the activities of the police are harmful to communities, specifically poor, Black ones. In America, the police force originated from slave catchers. It was established by white slave owners to protect their interests and “police” their property - Black people. In Nigeria, we never had slave owners, we had colonisers, same difference.
The Nigeria Police Force is a direct product of colonisation, established by white people to protect their interests, “their” property, “their” resources, and to keep us - Black people who had very little say in how we were governed- in line. The Niger Coast Constabulary and the Royal Niger Company Constabulary (two early components of what is now the Nigerian Police Force) were established in 1894 and 1888 respectively. The police were not established to protect and serve us or to maintain law and order in our communities. It was established to protect the colonisers and ensure that we did not interfere.
Over a hundred years and passed, and I don’t think things are different. The political elite use the police as either their own personal security, or as a tool to make sure poor people don’t get on their nerves. Abolition is not the elimination of law and order, because the police, in Nigeria, America and many other countries, do not enforce laws or uphold law and order. Protests in Ogbomosho, Abuja, Surulere and several other places devolved into violence. Post-October 20th, as Lagos State sank into chaos, the Nigerian Police Force failed at its primary responsibility - maintaining law and order.
The Nigerian Police Force is known for corruption, ineptitude and human rights violations. This has been the norm for decades, and SARS is merely a microcosm of the police. The “few bad eggs” argument that many political officials enjoy giving, is flawed, because the system itself does nothing to prevent these bad eggs from becoming police officers, or to hold these bad eggs accountable for their actions. If the hardworking members of the police force are aware of the crimes of these few bad eggs, but do nothing to prevent their actions or punish them, are they not complicit? Are they not as guilty as their peers?
I am aware that the concept of abolition is very American, rooted in American politics and American concepts. The Nigerian Police Force cannot be defunded because they, like many other components of the Nigerian society, are grossly underfunded. Abolition within a Nigerian context would bear some similarities, but look very different.
Abolition requires communities to create alternative forms of policing, forms focused on protecting the welfare of the society. The welfare of a society cannot exist without resources and basic amenities, which will have to be provided at a grassroots level. The Nigerian government has regularly failed to do this, going as far as to hoard palliatives that should have been distributed during the lockdown. However I saw a version of this amenities provision during the #ENDSARS protests. What the Feminist Coalition did during this time was not just necessary, it was also radical. Feeding thousands of people, providing accessible and free healthcare, security, and a network of legal aid across the country to get people out of police custody as quickly as possible. I never believed we could have that in Nigeria; the certainty that whatever you needed would be provided, and it would be free, or at least subsidized.
A lot of crime within society comes from inequality. The absence of food, healthcare, basic necessities, as well as the glaring oppression that comes with being poor, often pushes people into crime. Addressing inequality will eliminate the need to steal, for instance. Yes, this does not apply to all forms of crime, as some crime comes from actual cruelty. An alternative form of policing is therefore necessary, that is focused on keeping the community safe. If you call an emergency number during an emergency, someone should be there to help you.
Abolition is necessary; because the police have failed us. Policing has failed us. The people who should maintain law and order have, on numerous occasions, done nothing while people are in distress. For decades Nigerians have lived in fear of being harassed, extorted, unlawfully imprisoned, tortured or killed by the police. The police have become a weapon of the political elite. Abolition is necessary; because my friends are all afraid of the police, and although I’ve been lucky so far, my luck might run out.