POLICE units across the country have been ordered to end with immediate effect the act of parading suspects before the public, a long-held practice of the Nigerian police.
The order was given by the acting Inspector-General, Mohammed D. Abubakar, who cited the need to respect for the rule of law for the new order.
According to Abubakar, the parading suspects was unlawful and unconstitutional.
The IGP further directed that the media could be only be informed through briefing on the achievements of the police, but not by parading suspects.
“When big time suspects are charged to court, the media could get their pictures in the court,” he added.
The IGP also argued that parading suspects had not helped the police as pressure is usually mounted on the police once suspects are paraded.
The new directive may have weakened many state commissioners of police who prefer to parade suspects in order to showcase their achievements in checkmating criminals within their areas of jurisdiction.