By George Ozalla
Mr Frank Tietie, Executive Director of Citizens Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights (CASER), has called for a decentralized police system to address Nigeria’s growing problem of jungle justice and insecurity. Tietie believes that allowing states and local governments to oversee their own policing could reduce instances of jungle justice, extrajudicial killings, and other security challenges.
According to Tietie, the current federal-controlled police system has been “rendered woefully incompetent and deeply entrenched in corruption.” He lamented that the lack of effective policing in rural areas has led to a sense of lawlessness, where people take the law into their own hands.
Tietie cited several high-profile cases of jungle justice in Nigeria, including the Aluu4 incident in 2012, where four University of Port Harcourt students were killed, and the more recent killing of 16 Northern hunters in Edo State on March 28, 2025. Tietie further emphasized the need to intensify pressure on the National Assembly to decentralize the police system.
The CASER executive director argued that a decentralized police system would bring policing closer to the people, reducing the likelihood of jungle justice and extrajudicial killings. He stressed that the practice of jungle justice is a blatant violation of fundamental human rights and contravenes the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria and international agreements.
Tietie urged Nigerians to be resolute and demand reforms to the police system to prevent further loss of lives to jungle justice and extrajudicial killings!
