Sani to Security Agencies: Embrace Non-Violent Policing, Respect Human Dignity

 

Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, has urged security agencies across the country to prioritise non-violent methods in the discharge of their duties, warning that force must never be applied vindictively or outside the boundaries of the law.

Speaking in Abuja on Thursday at an event marking the International Human Rights Day, the governor — represented by his deputy, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe — said security operatives must resist the temptation to use excessive force, especially against individuals who pose no threat.

According to her, force or lethal force should only be deployed in “very extreme cases” where it remains the only available option to avert an imminent threat to life.

She noted that the 1999 Constitution, under Section 34, guarantees the right to dignity of every Nigerian, prohibiting torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, slavery, servitude and forced labour. Similar safeguards, she said, are embedded in global human rights instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Despite these provisions, Balarabe lamented that abuses by state and federal law enforcement agencies remain widespread. The major challenge, she argued, is finding the balance between protecting human dignity and ensuring proportional use of force when necessary.

“Proportional force is a legal safeguard against abuse by state actors,” she stated. “Exceeding the threshold becomes a violation of the very rights it seeks to protect.”

She stressed that no statute expressly defines what constitutes proportional force, adding that each incident must be judged on its own merits.

Balarabe highlighted Kaduna State’s adoption of a “carrot and stick” security framework, combining non-kinetic peacebuilding with kinetic military action when dialogue with armed groups fails. The approach, she said, has contributed to improved stability in the state.

The deputy governor reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to upholding human dignity while supporting law enforcement agencies to perform their duties responsibly.