IKENNA OBIANERI writes that family members and victims who suffered extra-judicial killings in Anambra State are crying for justice as the state government and the Nigeria Police have neglected the IGP panel report
No doubt, since his assumption of office, the acting Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has carried out quite a number of reforms and measures, which to a large extent, have instilled some level of discipline and sanity among the personnel on the police force. Members of the public, especially those who have suffered one form of police brutality or the other, are quite commending this effort, which is usually seen when there is a new man at the helm of affairs.
The IGP’s measures and efforts have also seen errant police officers who have exhibited one form of negative attitude or the other, against members of the public across the country, being disciplined and sanctioned.
For instance, the acting IGP’s efforts have been seen to have yielded dividends in some states such as Rivers, Edo, Lagos, Kogi, etc., where police officers who unleashed public assaults and one form of atrocious act or the other on residents have been seen sanctioned and measures put in place to forestall such occurrence.
But, worthy of note, is the fact that the police boss has yet to look into or make public, the panel report of the Anambra extra-judicial killings set up by his predecessor and the immediate past IGP Usman Alkali Baba.
And the continuous delay and non-release of this IG panel report on the Anambra killings has continued to fuel speculations, among victims and family members, that the police authorities may have swept the report findings under the carpet or are shielding the officers concerned as findings from competent sources in the police, showed that the officers fingered in the allegations have been transferred and have resumed work at other stations.
An anonymous blog some months ago published a report, that indicted the officer-in-charge of Rapid Response Squad, Anambra State Command, the PPRO of Zone 13 Headquarters, Ukpo-Dunukofia, and an Inspector attached to the RRS, as some of the principal officers allegedly involved in the extra-judicial killings.
The report exposed shocking revelations that trended for many days about the existence of a “criminal ring” in the state police formations, comprising some police officers and other civilians in the state allegedly involved in illegal detention, kidnappings, extrajudicial killings, and human organ harvesting and trading in the state police formations.
Following these weighty allegations, the immediate past IGP, Baba had set up a special investigation panel which was said to have commenced investigations following weighty allegations of extrajudicial killings, corruption, and high-handedness leveled against some senior police officers, then serving at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Awkuzu, Zone 13 police headquarters, Ukpo, and the Anambra State Command.
Officers at the Zone 13 Headquarters, Ukpo, which controls Anambra, Enugu, and Ebonyi state police commands, located on the Onitsha-Awka Expressway, same axis together with the dreaded Awkuzu police station, also known as SCID Annex Awkuzu, were particularly fingered in the weighty allegations, which generated lots of reactions across the country.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, disclosed the information on the composition of the IGP’s investigation panel and its modus operandi, as directed by the former IGP, in a statement on February 17, 2023.
Adejobi had told members of the public, especially victims and family members of the alleged extra-judicial killings that the former IGP assured that the findings of the investigations panel would not be swept under the carpet and the panel report would determine the next line of action while promising that the NPF “will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that justice is done in the cases and sanctions meted to any officers found guilty accordingly”.
The Force PPRO also stated that the investigators had moved to the scene and sites for assessment, quickly pointing out that the Anambra RRS, Awkuzu, will definitely be reorganized and sanitized to suit the present ideologies and administrative styles of the Force leadership in conformity with international best practices.
Following the development, a member of the National Youths Service Corps, posted to the state police command, Nnamdi Daniel, who was said to have “opened the can of worms” that led to the weighty revelations of alleged atrocities of the officers, was subsequently arrested and charged to court in connection to the allegations. And some days after, during a press conference, the then Commissioner of Police in Anambra, Echeng Echeng, accused him of hacking into a suspect’s account and the matter is still pending at a court in the state.
Apart from reported extrajudicial killings, hacking into suspect’s bank accounts, and withdrawing suspects’ money, illegal arrests, including impunity, among others, were part of the offenses of the officers, a situation which generated public outcry and criticisms, thereby leading to the setting up of the investigation panel.
In the face of public outcry and criticisms that trailed the allegations, Christian Aburime, the Press Secretary to the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, had in a statement in February, said the governor had asked the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Chika Ifemeje, to immediately call for and review all the files of cases being handled by the said police officers and their formations.
But to date, no further development has been heard on the matter as both the force headquarters and the state government have remained mute. Even though, the force headquarters promised to invite the victims or family members to testify with evidence. None of these happened.
Efforts to get the Force spokesman, Adejobi to speak on the matter have been abortive as he has remained silent despite several inquiries by our correspondent. Even the Anambra State attorney-general, Ifemeje, on inquiry on the telephone, said, “The state governor has not given any further directive on the matter and I will not do so without his directive”.
However, during a stakeholder engagement forum for ‘Victims of extra-judicial killings in Anambra’ held in Onitsha, Anambra State, on Wednesday, a former chairman, of the Nigerian Bar Association, Onitsha Branch, Mr John Ifijeh, called on the acting IGP to release the report and adequate sanctions meted to the officers, if found guilty.
Ifijeh, who noted that the forum was aimed at interfacing with victims and family members who had suffered extra-judicial killings with a view to providing solution and justice, lamented that every effort towards ensuring justice for the victims and family members has met a brick wall, wondering why it is so.
Flanked by other members, he said, “It is a serious concern to us that the report of the investigation panel set up by the immediate past IGP on the allegations of extra-judicial killings in Anambra has not been released seven months after it was constituted.
“We are calling on the current IG Egbetokun to, as a matter of urgency, release the findings of the investigations and ensure justice is done in the cases and sanctions meted out to the culprits if found guilty accordingly.
“In the light of the serious allegations leveled against the officers, the police invited the indicted officers to the Force Headquarters in Abuja after which they after returned to their respective posts after some days in Abuja. Till today, nothing has been heard about the matter.
“Releasing the panel report will ensure justice to the families of the victims who suffered these extra-judicial killings in the hands of these police officers and also ensure sanity in the force. We learned that the indicted police officers have returned to work, it is not supposed to be so.
“The panel report must be released by the Police Service Commission to the media and the public to demonstrate to us that they mean business in bringing sanity to the police force. A lot of people suffered victims and they are looking at the police for justice.”
A family member of a victim who was at the forum, who gave his name as Uche Anozo, said, “We appealed to the new IGP to release the detailed report. My junior brother who just came back from abroad was framed up by the police as he was coming home to Onitsha in 2022 and the money in his account was drained by the police officers.
“He was also detained for three days at Awkuzu SARS for no reason. The police headquarters promised to invite victims to come and testify, but we did not get any invitation. So, we are asking them to release the investigation they have carried out for justice to prevail.”
Another victim identified as Uche said, “I was also a victim of the police brutality in Awkuzu RRS. I had gone to pick up my elder brother who returned from abroad in early 2023 and as we were driving home, we met some police officers who stopped us at Nkwelle junction, along the Onitsha-Nteje-Awka Expressway.
