Rights group petitions PSC over sharp increase in extrajudicial killings, police misuse of firearms

A rights group, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), has drawn the attention of the Police Service Commission (PSC) to the disturbing increase in incidents of Police misuse of firearms and extrajudicial killing across the country.

The group stated that the development, coming so soon after the experience of the #EndSARS protests, is a serious cause for concern and appears to be encouraged by illegal police orders banning civic protests, and the often-repeated directives to police officers by the Inspector General of Police to use force to quell protests.

A petition to the Chairman, Police Service Commission (PSC), Alhaji Musliu Smith, signed by RULAAC Executive Director, Okechukwu Nwanguma, and made available to News Express noted that ultimately, this is indicative that the Police have learnt no lessons from the #EndSARS experience.

“It was never expected that such high number of cases of unprovoked and unlawful police killings would so soon be recorded in Nigeria post the EndSARS protest,” the petition added.

RULAAC therefore called on the PSC to ensure that these cases of extrajudicial killing of citizens by police officers are not swept under the carpet, affirming that the Commission should ensure thorough investigations into these cases to ensure that the police officers responsible are prosecuted and adequate compensations paid to the victims.

The petition gave a breakdown of practical cases of extrajudicial killings and police complicity as follows:

Ekiti State

In Ekiti State, drunken policemen shot a man dead at Queens Court Hotel along Ado-Ikere Road, Ekiti State in the night of Saturday, November 21, 2020. A team of drunken officers drove into the hotel, allegedly threatened to kill some of the guests and opened fire all of a sudden and one of the hotel guests, a young man named Olaoye Abayomi, was killed.

Imo State

On Saturday, December 5, 2020 Mr. Jude Oguzie Mmezi, a native of Umuamusa Autonomous Community (Old Amucha) in Njaba LGA of Imo State was killed by a team of policemen at a checkpoint somewhere at Orodo, Mbaitolu LGA, Imo State.

Rivers State

On Thursday, December 10, 2020 youths in Rukpoku and Rumuodomayah communities in Obio Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State were reported to have occupied the streets in protest following the killing of a commercial tricycle operator by police officers. It was reported that a policeman around Rukpoku asked the Keke driver for ₦100 bribe which the driver could not provide. The police officer was said to have fired point blank at the driver killing him on the spot. The death of the tricycle operator provoked the youths and other members of the community who set bornfires on the streets in protest. The protest in Rukpoku snowballed into a full-blown riot and spread to neighbouring Rumuodomaya community. Another person was reported to have been shot dead following confrontations between the protesting youths and the police.

The petition also highlighted the “unprovoked killing of Mr. Jude Oguzie Mmezi”.

RULAAC interviewed Ichie Ken Ndukwu, a relative to the victim of extrajudicial killing in Imo State (Mr. Jude Oguzie Mmezi) and he informed RULAAC as follows:

That the victim, his cousin, was gunned down by a trigger-happy policeman on Saturday, December 5, 2020 between the hours of 9.00 am and 9.43 am at Orodo, Mbaitoli LGA, Imo State, along the Owerri-Orlu Road after he left his house in the morning of that day to attend a wedding.

That along the way, he ran into a traffic jam caused by police officers at a checkpoint flagging down many vehicles and “he parked his car by the side of the road, came down to plead with these policemen to assist him clear the road for him as he was rushing to be in the wedding service and to get back home before 12 noon for our village meeting when he was rebuffed by these policemen, with one of them asking him if he had come to teach them their work. As he turned back to walk back to his car, he was shot at, at close range on his left rib cage, while the bullet escaped from his right lower abdomen. He collapsed at the middle of the road, while these policemen jumped into their Hilux van and sped off, leaving him to bleed to death. Some good Nigerians gathered his limp body into his car and sped to the Federal Medical Centre Owerri where he was confirmed dead on arrival by the Doctors on duty.”

That his family after they received the information had “real tough time” getting the Police to ascertain the police station that covers the jurisdiction within which the incident happened. “I and some of my relations were dribbled about by the police authorities as we were made to shuttle from Owerri to Nwaorieubi severally, but for a volunteer who does not want her name mentioned that joined us to the scene of this heinous crime to let us know it is really Mbaitoli and not the Njaba Division that committed this murderous act”.

That “the actions of the police left much to be desired as they did all within their ambit to make sure we were frustrated and all tracks closed.”

That “when we told them it was done by their men, they tried to defend them by saying our inability to get the number of the vehicle they used is a problem because we cannot say for sure if it was the police or any other arm of the military or paramilitary as almost all of them use the same white coloured Hilux vans donated to them by the Imo State Government and that these personnel always ply this route.”

That “when we tried to put it to them that that particular spot and the checkpoint where this crime took place is where the police always mounted their roadblock therefore the idea of saying it could have been perpetrated by other persons was out of the question. They even tried to make us believe it could have been by his business associates but we still refused to swallow this pill.”

That we made the official report at the Mbaitoli Area Command and the Police Control Room. We were also advised to put up a strongly worded petition to the Commissioner of Police on Monday.

That the family eventually confirmed that the scene of crime falls within the Mbaitoli LGA jurisdiction.

That “when the police tried to evade this aspect, we called on the Coordinator of the Special Constabulary Squad from Njaba LGA who came and ascertained the jurisdiction for us. We also invited a police woman who does not want to be quoted and who also affirmed it to be within the Mbaitoli Division. We also made our entry at the Police Control Room at the State Police Command too.”

That “the volunteer told us all he knows about the incident and how he saw him in his own pool of blood while the police Hilux van zoomed past them as if they were chasing after some criminals only for them to get to that checkpoint always mounted by the police from Mbaitoli to behold our brother Oguzie writhing in pains in his own pool of blood, beside his car. He had no alternative than to lift him in company of other persons into his (Oguzie’s) car and sped back to Owerri, but unfortunately, Oguzie could not make it. The bullet pierced his body and fell off.”

That “another funny and annoying part of this was that the police started making frantic moves to remove the corpse from the FMC.”

That “we became suspicious of the motive of the police when they started claiming that these white Hilux vans were not donated to the police alone therefore those culprits could have come from other military and paramilitary formations using the same type and colour of Hilux van.”

That he was happy to be informed by the police that the members of the police team that committed the heinous crime were eventually arrested and are in detention at the state police headquarters.

RULAAC noted that announcing the arrest and detention of police officers responsible for extrajudicial killings in the past by Police authorities has never been a guarantee of genuine commitment by police authorities to ensure that such unlawful killings of innocent citizens by police officers would be promptly, impartially and effectively investigated with a view to ensuring that perpetrators are prosecuted and victims or their families accorded adequate remedies and compensation.

Also citing another case of extrajudicial killing, RULAAC said that a member of a police team on a stop and search duty shot dead a 27-year-old commercial motorcycle operator   at the Banana Junction, Orlu, Imo State on July 9, 2020 ‘for failure to use a face mask and refusal to give a fifty-naira (N50) bribe’. The status of the police investigation promised by the Commissioner of Police, Imo State into this killing is still shrouded in secrecy till date.

“As in the case of the commercial motorcyclists killed in Orlu, the police officers who shot Mr. Jude Oguzie Mmezi also took to their heels after they committed the murder. As in the case of Mr. Jude Oguzie Mmezi, the Imo State Police Command also announced that the police officers who killed the commercial motorcyclist had been arrested and detained to face internal disciplinary proceedings. But till date, nothing more has been heard of that case,” the petition noted.