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Apo Killings: Commission orders exhumation

Posted by By Sun News Publishing on 2005/07/15 | Views: 585 |

Apo Killings: Commission orders exhumation


The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the killings of six Apo youths, yesterday ordered that the bodies of the deceased should be exhumed for autopsy.

The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the killings of six Apo youths, yesterday ordered that the bodies of the deceased should be exhumed for autopsy.

Ordering this, the Chairman, Justice Olasumbo Goodluck, told Chief Medical Director of the National Hospital, Abuja to direct the Chief Pathological Officer to conduct the test. He said that the result should be presented to the Commission with identification of the deceased as well as any aspect that could assist the commission on its assignment.

According to a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report, the Chairman asked families of the deceased to submit representatives for blood test while the police should witness the overall exercise and take the responsibilities.

Counsel to the families of the deceased, Mr Amobi Nzelu and Mrs Mary Ogbegolu, had earlier filed an application praying the Commission to allow the deceased's bodies to be exhumed for autopsy. They had also requested that the bodies be preserved in the mortuary.

The appellants, on behalf of deceased's families, alternatively urged the Commission to release the bodies to their various families for proper burial.
The deceased are Anthony Nwokike, Chinedu Meniru, Ifeanyi Ozo, Isaac Ekene, Paulinius Ogbonna and Augustina Arebun.

The applicants told the Commission that the bodies had been buried by the police at Utako, Abuja, in the presence of the members of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Garki Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Abdulsalam Othman, who is now at large and the driver of police van No. NPF 453.

Justice Goodluck said although copies of the application had been served on all the parties in the matter, none had responded. She said the Commission's terms of reference include determining the identity of those killed in Gimbiya street, Abuja on June 8, as well as ascertaining the conditions surrounding their death.

``It's clear that the killing falls under unnatural death and based on Section 35 (a) of the Tribunal act, the Commission has the power to order for autopsy," Goodluck said, adding that the result of the test would assist the commission in its work. He said that the commission was not authorised to hand over the bodies of the deceased to their families.

Goodluck expressed the hope that after commission's report, the appropriate authority would take a decision on the issue but said that the bodies would be deposited in the mortuary after the test, adding that the commission decided to take evidence from the parties mentioned because they had knowledge of the exact place the bodies were buried.

Meanwhile, a witness, Nnamdi Kama, led in evidence by counsel to Ohanaeze, Mr Orji Nwafor-Orizu, told the Commission that he had a phone call from Ifeanyi Ozo, one of the victims in the Gimbiya street incident.

The witness said he demanded N70,000 from the late Ozo who was his master but he told him to call by 8.30 p.m and when he did the line was noisy.
Kama said Ozo told him that at that time, he had a problem with a person driving a BMW after they had a collision.

He said Ozo told him the person slapped him and he returned the slap.
'But when I called Ozo the following morning, there was no response from him until I heard that he had been killed by the police,'' he said.

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