Nigeria: Dutch parties demand Nigerian gang police force

Calling the Ambassador

This is a very worrisome development that requires some action and activity from the official representation of Nigeria in the Netherlands; it must be debunked and condemned forthwith.

Whilst there might be cases of criminal conduct by aliens in the Netherlands, the idea that Nigerians can be singularly identified as a group that specifically requires the establishment of a permanent police force [1] to monitor and investigate their activities is outright discrimination and disconcerting.

This populist demand by right-leaning parties as the CDA, VVD & PVV to the Justice Minister to establish a permanent police force with Nigerian-criminal-gang tinted-glasses does not augur well for the improvement of relations between the Netherlands and Nigeria.

Nationality must not matter

Criminals should be treated as criminals and afforded the full scrutiny of the law and justice processes regardless of where they are from; the whole idea of a Nigerian crime squad is a fallacy that portends that Nigerians have more criminality than other nationalities.

It does not seem there is consideration for the fact that other black Africans can feign Nigerian-hood just as Nigerians can seek to deny that they are from Nigeria for all sorts of reasons.

One does wonder what will happen if other nationalities create the perception that they have a criminality quotient higher than a presumed norm. Would these parties also demand a British gang squad, a Polish gang squad or even a Serbian gang squad?

A level investigation field

There probably is a case for establishing and a serious crime squad to deal with particular kinds of crimes, to establish such a squad to target nationalities smacks of populist racist intent and it does not augur well for society.

There are enough laws in the land to deal with criminals, but it is not enough for suspects who have not been through the legal and justice process to be branded undesirable aliens, just on suspicion rather than legally tested evidence of the suspicion leading to conviction; where that would then make them undesirable aliens and hence candidates for deportation.

Leaning to the populist

The names of the parties calling for this atrocious exercise belie a false sense security and tolerance; the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) as the majority party in the ruling coalition does not necessarily exhibit a Christianly approach to justice as it panders backward-looking to Calvinism rhetoric.

The Party for Freedom (PVV), lead by Geert Wilders is hardly about freedom but populist doctrine that aims to fracture society and community.

The People’s Party for Freedom and Democarcy (VVD) used to be the haven for Rita Verdonk (Lady Oddjob), it is supposed to be a liberal leaning party, but they have been anything but liberal in their policies and pronouncements.

Sources

[1] News Dutch MPs demand crackdown on Nigerian gangs - News from The Netherlands – Expatica