Posted by By Emma Nnadozie on
SHOCK and disbelief greeted the disturbing news earlier in the week that a key suspect in the brutal killing of five traders at Apo village in the Federal Capital Territory and an undergraduate female friend on June 8, 2005, has disappeared into thin air.
SHOCK and disbelief greeted the disturbing news earlier in the week that a key suspect in the brutal killing of five traders at Apo village in the Federal Capital Territory and an undergraduate female friend on June 8, 2005, has disappeared into thin air. The suspect, CSP Abdulsalam Othman, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Garki Station was among ten police suspects whose professional judgement is being called to question following the killing of the six people.
The Federal Government had since set up a judicial commission of inquiry into the alleged police killing just as the government disbanded a probe panel which the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero had set up.
In spite of assurances from the police high command that it would not engage in any cover-up neither would it leave any stone unturned to get to the root of the matter even if to restore its credibility, Nigerians woke up, Tuesday, to the distressing news that Othman had bolted away.
Flashes of similar gory takes involving the police and innocent Nigerians quickly came to the fore as details of the escape of the key suspect still remains shady. The emerging scenario vividly recaptures another such ugly incident which took place at the serene University town of Nsukka in Enugu State four years ago when two teenage secondary school students who were arrested and detained in trumped-up charges were taken away early in the morning from the cell and allegedly summarily executed by the then Divisional Police Officer, Mr. Gamba Seriki.
The students, Nnaemeka Ugwoke (16) and Uzuchukwu Ayogu (17) were on errand when the DPO who was lodged in a nearby popular hotel arrested them. He forced them into the booth of his car and headed to the police station where they were detained as suspected thieves. The intervention of their parents and even authorities of their school, Nsukka High School did not convince the authorities as DPO Gambo Seriki left standing orders that they should not be released to anybody.
Early in the morning, around 3 a.m. the following day, the students were removed from the cell and taken to a nearby cemetery where they were not only summarily executed but some vital parts of their organs removed. When the two parents came around 7 am on that day to secure bail for their wards, all the policemen in the station including the DPO flatly denied ever setting eyes on the boys, let alone detaining them.
Acting on information from some inmates of the cell where the students were removed from, the parents rushed to the public cemetery only to be confronted with the horrifying sights of a large pool of fresh blood, a sheet of polythene soaked with blood and spent cartridges on the ground. Surprisingly, there were no fresh graves.
On enquiry, the parents were informed by residents in the area that they heard screams and lamentation from voices pleading their innocence and that following some gunshots, the screams ceased. It then dawned on the parents that their sons would have been victims of an organised murder.
The following day, news was received of two mutilated bodies dumped at a construction site in Obimo, a neighbouring town to Nsukka and the traditional ruler of the town, Igwe Spencer Ugwoke promptly reported the discovery to Seriki. While the traditional ruler was still tactfully delayed at the station, the bodies were surreptitiously removed in a police ALGON jeep further into a thick bush in another neighbouring town called Nkpologu.
Following the tension generated by the murder, a violent demonstration broke out and the youths, students and market women took to the streets in protest against the murder and the continued stay in office of Gambo Seriki.
Subsequently, the DPO was replaced and following investigations by the Police Headquarters in Enugu, all the policemen involved in the killing of the boys were arrested. On interrogation, some of them reportedly confessed. One of the suspects who was the driver of the ALGON jeep led detectives and family members of the murdered boys to a bush in Nkpologu town where the mutilated remains of the students were retrieved with vital organs of their bodies gone. The skull of one was ripped open and the brain removed, the eyeballs of the two were missing.
Following entreaties from different quarters, police authorities from Abuja sent detectives to Nsukka who carried out more arrests of policemen suspected to be involved in the killing. All the suspects including the DPO Gambo Seriki were taken to Abuja.
But few days later, Seriki escaped from police custody and within a short time, other policemen fingered in the killing were subsequently released while the case remains closed till date. Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) and other concerned individuals cried out for justice but all to no avail.
Today, Nigerians are witnessing, once again, a similar case in the same seat of power in Abuja. So far, one of the principal police witnesses in the killing of the Apo traders had died mysteriously.
Angry Nigerians now ask the Federal Government to ensure that the case of the Apo killings does not end up like past murders where investigations and prosecutions have remained largely inconclusive. More specifically, they want the government to ask the police authorities to fish out the missing Othman, the DPO at Garki Police Station.
Mr. Theo Nwaigbo, a Lagos-based legal practitioner who described the development as 'a sad commentary" told Saturday Vanguard that this is the time for President Olusegun Obasanjo to get into the root of alleged police extra-judicial killings in the country. 'President Obasanjo should widen the scope and terms of reference of this judicial panel to include such past cases of police killings. That can only serve as deterrent for future recklessness by people employed to protect lives."
Chairman of the Nsukka League of Friends in Lagos, Prince Obi Eze who spoke in the same vein lamented that inspite of the concern shown by President Obasanjo on the issue, some policeman still connived with their colleague who is a key suspect and allowed him to escape from justice.
'This is the time for President Obasanjo to wield the big stick. He should direct the Acting Inspector-General of Police to fish out DPO Othman wherever he may be. Enough is enough. We can't have people kill Nigerians at will and just escape from justice."
Meanwhile, pulpable fear has gripped top hierarchy of the Nigeria Police Force following the disappearance of Othman from the cell at the FCID in Abuja. Sources said that Mr. Ehindero who was infuriated by the ugly development has issued a marching order to his subordinates in charge of FCID to fish out the missing DPO within 48 hours or await for severe disciplinary action against all of them.
In spite of the fear, police sources said the Deputy Commissioner of Police allegedly involved in the killing of the traders has been pulling strings at both the presidency and other power brokers who exert some influence in government.
So far, it was learnt that entreaties are being made before the families of the deceased traders and other interested parties including their lawyer to accept monetary compensation and forget the case.
Also, contrary to reports that the commissioner of police in-charge of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Emmanuel Adebayo was interrogated and investigated over the case, police sources said he has been doing his job. Saturday Vanguard gathered that acolytes to the principal suspects in the killing have been pointing accusing fingers at the commissioner with a view to using him as a scape-goat.
However, Mr. Adebayo told Saturday Vanguard over the telephone, Thursday, that all he did during and after the ugly incident were in line with official procedure.
'Nobody reported the incident to me after it happened. I was kept in the dark until I received a signal to that effect. Allegations that I had a hand in the preparation of the signal are not true. The signal was prepared by the deputy commissioner of police. I merely addressed the press on the issue with a view to checking the riot that was spreading and in order to calm frayed nerves."