Generally, extra-judicial killings, summary and arbitrary executions in Nigeria were considered as part of the necessary evil of military dictatorship that dominated the polity of the country from independence to 1999. This is principally because once the military takes over the governance of the country they immediately suspend the Constitution (the supreme law of the land, which, amongst other things, guarantees and safeguards the fundamental human rights of the citizens) from operation. In the absence of the Constitution, the legal protection afforded individuals ceases to exist paving the way for arbitrary rule. However, the perpetration of extra-judicial killings under democratic administration, which is bound to protect and enforce the Constitution, raises a number of questions particularly as to whether the nation's democratic rule is in some way a mere extension of its military style leadership. This paper considers the reason-d'être of the continuation of the involvement of security forces, especially the police, in extra-judicial killings in spite of the existence of democracy in Nigeria; what is the implication of this trend on the rule of law and what measures ought to be taken to reverse it? In this analysis, the paper adopts the doctrinal methodology.
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