Critical Analysis of The Police Power To Stop And Search In Light Of The Rights To Privacy And Personal Liberty Of Person

Abstract

The rights to privacy and personal liberty, and security of person are often infringed upon, especially by those in power or authority. These are rights susceptible to derogation at any slight opportunity to do so. The irony is that such derogation occurs majorly by those sworn to promote and preserve these rights. There is a perennial occurrence of the violation of human rights generally by the Nigerian Police Force. A specific function of the police where the abuse of the powers vested in the force is often glaring is the police's power to stop and search. The power to stop and search has often been accompanied by grievous bodily harm, torture, assault and battery, all forms of abuse, and, most times, ultimately, death. It is disturbing, saying the least, that irrespective of the national, regional, and international laws and human rights instruments criminalizing the acts mentioned above, law enforcement bodies still champion the inimical cause of brutality and abuse of power.   How do we curtail or truncate such corruption, seeing that the vesting of certain powers in the police is inevitable?  This paper seeks to educate on the history and structure of the police and policing in Nigeria to date and the police's statutory powers. It also aims to enlighten the inherent rights of the human person by their status as a human being, emphasizing the rights to privacy and liberty. Finally, it seeks to criticize the permissive and oppressive derogation from such rights and recommend possible ways for effective change from the malign status quo, which continuously cripple every effort to move forward.