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Apo killings: Cop spills the beans
By MURPHY GANAGANA and BEN OKEZIE, Abuja
Thursday, June 23, 2005


Ehindero
Photo: Sun Publishing
National Index
A mobile policeman Wednesday, stunned the Board of Enquiry probing the circumstances surrounding the recent killing of six Igbo youths by the police in Abuja, as he gave sordid details of how one of the victims whom he attempted to rescue was seized from him by a police patrol team and executed in broad daylight.
Testifying before the six-man panel constituted by the acting Inspector- General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, in the wake of public outcry and riots which trailed the killings, Constable Hassan Wajiga with service number 214506, and attached to Squadron No. 45 of the Police Mobile Force[PMF], said contrary to initial claims by the police, one of the victims had escaped with bullet wounds from the scene where the others were shot, and was brought to him for safety by one Mr. Goddy Eze, a resident of Prince and Princess Estate in the Apo district of Abuja, where he was on guard duty.

Wajiga, dressed in a Mobile Police black T-shirt with police crest, said the victim, whose name he didn’t disclose, had told him that he had problems with a team of policemen who had brutally killed two of his brothers for no just cause, and therefore requested to be taken to the police Force Headquarters rather than the Durumi or Garki police station, where he feared that the alleged killer cops would snuff life out of him.

With no cab or commercial motor-bike to convey them to the Force Headquarters, Wajiga said he decided to trek with the victim to a point where he could get a vehicle, but was accosted by a police patrol team using an ALGON Prado jeep, who requested that the victim be handed to them.
"This was between 7 and 8 am on Wednesday, 8 June, 2005, and when I told them the victim wanted me to take him to the Force Headquarters, they said I should just leave him with them. But as I turned to go, I heard a gunshot. When I turned back to see what was happening, I saw the victim lying down. I heard another shot, then they threw his dead body into their vehicle and drove away," he told an astonished audience at the sitting in Abuja.

Wajiga repeatedly affirmed that he saw his colleagues shoot the deceased twice, just as he said he could identify the police officer who seized the deceased from him before the shooting. He, however, said he could not identify the policemen who fired the second shot as the officer was in mufti and he (Wajiga) was a few metres away.

In their testimonies before the panel, Goddy Eze, Innocent Okereke and Bassey Enobong, a security supervisor at the estate all painted graphic details of how the deceased met his gory end in the hands of the police patrol team whose membership was put at between six and eight. Eze confirmed to the panel that he was the person who handed over the victim to Constable Wajiga. According to him, the victim, whose name Daily Sun later found out to be Ekene Isaac had begged him to take him to the Force Headquarters, but he declined and handed him over to the Mobile policeman.

Innocent Okereke, a truck pusher told the panel that he saw the policemen in the ALGON Jeep and heard two gunshots at about 7 in the morning.
A mild drama played out shortly before the commencement of Wednesday’s sitting of the panel, as the lead counsel to families of the slain youths, Mr. Amobi Nzelu refused to sit on a cushion chair meant for him.

Nzelu, who jokingly said his decision was based on fears of the possibility of a bomb or any other explosive being planted in the chair to harm him, opted for a plastic chair which he used throughout the duration of the day’s session, just as Senator Uche Chukwumerije caused a stir as he moved into the venue at about 11.25am, before the commencement of proceedings 15 minutes later.
Though in apparent show of solidarity with his kinsmen, Chukwumerije, however, declined comments, as he simply declared "no press interviews," when approached by Daily Sun reporter.

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Apo killings: Star witness in trouble
MURPHY GANAGANA and LUCKY NWANKWERE, Abuja
Friday, June 24, 2005


The mobile policeman who Wednesday gave shocking details of how one of the Apo six was murdered in cold blood by a police patrol team recently in Abuja may have landed in trouble with the police authorities, just as uncertainty trails his whereabouts.

This is coming as the presidency ordered the disbandment of the Board of Inquiry constituted by the acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero to investigate the circumstances surrounding the killings.

At a meeting held yesterday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja and attended by the ministers of Police Affairs and Justice, and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Ufot Ekaette, it was resolved that a new tribunal be set up to thoroughly look into the incident.

Consequently, President Olusegun Obasanjo has reportedly ordered the dissolution of the DIG Mike Okiro-led panel, and the immediate composition of an Independent Tribunal which will ensure fairness and justice in unravelling the circumstances of the killings.

Meanwhile, at yesterday’s scheduled session of the Okiro panel, lead counsel to families of the slain youths, Mr. Amobi Nzelu, raised alarm over the whereabouts of police constable Hassan Wajiga.
Nzelu, who expressed concern over the absence of Wajiga, arguably the star witness in the on-going probe at Thursday’s scheduled session, told reporters that after spilling the beans on Wednesday, the cop was taken away by commander of the Squadron No. 45 Police Mobile Force (PMF), CSP Solomon Oyewale, and was not brought for yesterday’s session as expected.

Constable Wajiga was expected to identify members of the police patrol team who executed the last victim at an identification parade scheduled for Thursday’s sitting which was, however, stalled by the absence of the panelists headed by Mr. Mike Okiro, Deputy Inspector General of police in-charge of operations.

Though there was no official announcement for the panel’s failure to sit yesterday, Nzelu said he was summoned to the police Force Headquarters shortly before the scheduled time for commencement of proceedings, and notified by Okiro in the presence of other panelist that the session would not hold.
"I was called to the Force Headquarters to see DIG Okiro, and he told me that the panel will not sit today, but may likely sit tomorrow (Friday). But if they fail to sit tomorrow, I will speak to the world. What they are trying to conceal, we will expose everything, because this senseless killings must stop", he declared.

He said: "The DIG said he was sent by the IGP to Enugu for an official assignment, and I want to give him the benefit of doubt. But I think the chairman is just running away. The panelists are just running. If I come tomorrow and I don’t see them, all the facts you want to know about this case, I will tell the world."

Nzelu vowed to pursue the case to its logical conclusion even at the risk of losing his life, just as he said many heads will roll within the police force when the truth about the killings eventually unfold.
Emotions swelled yesterday among the audience at the aborted session, as Mrs. Monica Arebun, mother of Augustina, the 22-year-old girl among the six youths killed by the police wept profusely as she demanded justice for her slain daughter.

Meanwhile, President Olusegun Obasanjo is anxiously awaiting the outcome of the public hearing into the circumstance surrounding the killing of the six traders at Apo in Abuja.
Presidential spokesperson, Mrs. Remi Oyo, told State House correspondents in Abuja Thursday that the President had actually directed the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, to institute the public inquiry.

"I want to say categorically that the President knew about the matter. As a matter of fact, he ordered the Inspector-General of Police and the rest to ensure that this investigation be carried out.
"And so, the President waits until when it is through. It will be most unstatesmanly and certainly unpresidential to speculate over an issue that has not ended," she retorted while responding to a question on what the President thought aobut the emerging details at the public hearing.

Oyo also said President Obasanjo and his Cameroonian counterpart, Mr. Paul Biya, have ordered a thorough investigation of a recent local incident in the Bakassi Peninsular in which a Cameroonian soldier was allegedly killed.

According to her, both leaders had held discussions on the issue and agreed that a full scale investigation was required to unravel the death on June 17, 2005, identify the culprits and bring them to justice.
While awaiting the outcome of the investigation, she said President Obasanjo and President Biya had reaffirmed their commitment to the maintenance of peaceful and brotherly relations between Nigeria and Cameroon.

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Police witness in soup

•For indicting squad leader

•FG sets up judicial panel

MALACHY UZENDU, Abuja


BARELY 24 hours after he fingered a police chief for allegedly killing one of the six Abuja traders, Police Constable Garba Husseini, has been whisked away to an undisclosed location by his boss, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Solomon Oyewole.

His disappearance coincided with the setting up of a judicial panel of inquiry to investigate the killings at Apo Mechanic Village, Abuja.

Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Chief Akinlolu Olujinmi set up the panel. The panel will be inaugurated today in Abuja.

Counsel to the traders, Mr. Amobi Nzelu, told journalists yesterday that his lead witness, police constable Husseini has been "taken away by Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Solomon Oyewole of MOPOL 45, Abuja".

Although Mr Nzelu said he did not know why constable Husseini was taken away, "I am afraid it must not be unconnected with his evidence before the panel last Wednesday.

Mr. Husseini had told the police panel headed by Deputy Inspector Gerneral of Police (DIG), Mr. Mike Okiro that an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Nicholas Zakaria, who led the team to the village allegedly shot and killed the last of the traders.

Said Nzelu: "I weep for this country and in particular for the police because of the atrocities they commit against the populace.

"What I know is that it is only God who gives life and He alone can take life. It is better that the FCT Police Command tells all that happened to these traders. They know they were not armed robbers but because violence runs in their blood (police) they killed these people but their blood is crying to God for vengeance, Mr. Nzelu said.

He also appealed to hundreds of Apo traders who thronged the panel venue to remain calm, pointing that justice would be obtained.

Meanwhile, controversy surrounding the true identity of the lady allegedly killed by police along with five other Apo traders was yesterday unveiled with the appearance of her mother, Mrs. Monica Arebu.

Mrs. Arebu, who hails from Uromi, Edo State told journalists that her daughter, Augustina, a high school graduate last week left their Lagos home to visit her fiance in Abuja.

Mrs. Arebu, who wept profusely, denied that her daughter was an armed robber.

"My daughter, who was 22 -years-old, was not an armed robber at all. We do not have any string of robbery in our lineage.

"I am confused and do not know what to say but I want to thank all the good Igbo people who stood behind all these murdered people and my slain daughter. She is not an armed robber," she insisted.

In a related development, the Federal Government yesterday announced the setting up of a judicial panel of inquiry to probe the killing.

In a one-page statement issued by the Federal Ministry of Justice last night in Abuja, Chief Olujinmi, will swear in the members of the panel today in his chambers.

This development is being linked to a mounting public pressure for an independent inquiry apart from the ongoing police internal inquiry into the killings which had sparked nationwide outrage.

Meanwhile, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, Mrs. Oluremi Oyo, while fielding questions from State House correspondents, yesterday said Obasanjo was interested in the findings of the probe panel, chaired by the Deputy Inspector-General (DIG), Mr. Mike Okiro.




© 2005 @ Champion Newspapers Limited (All Right Reserved

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Abuja killings: Chukwumerije wants judicial commission

By Emmanuel Aziken & Charles Ozoemena
Friday, June 24, 2005

ABUJA —SENATOR Uche Chukwumerije called, yesterday, for a judicial commission to takeover the on-going Police inquiry into the alleged Police killing of six Abuja traders, saying natural inclination to self preservation would discourage the Police inquiry from unravelling the truth.

President Obasanjo is said to be waiting for the outcome of the probe, even as counsel to the traders Mr Amobi Nzelu, alleged yesterday that a policeman, Hassanwa Jiga, who testified on Wednesday was taken away by a senior policeman.


Senator Chukwumerije at a press conference in Abuja yesterday, said he had been constrained to make a formal petition to the Senate to wade into the issue. Noting that public impression gave an indication of guilt by the Policemen involved, Senator Chukwumerije said it was illogical to expect the Police to make a honest search for the truth of the matter even as he affirmed the integrity of the members of the panel.


He said: “My observations yesterday during the sitting of the Police Panel investigating the Apo murders, have led— as indeed, they should lead any objective observer –– to the conclusion that the task of unravelling the circumstances behind the death of the six persons who had an encounter with the Police requires a platform more public and more judicially empowered than a Police panel. In the hearing room, there was a heavy atmosphere of fear and insecurity. This was not created by the actions or utterances of any one but by the sheer fact of the presence of an all-uniformed Police panel. The nervousness of the witnesses being cross-examined was palpable.


The need for truth demands that the government sets up a judicial commission of inquiry to handle this issue. I urge this option for three reasons.


• Such a commission will put all parties –– suspects, complainants and witnesses –– on equal footing. The fact is, in spite of the openness of the panel’s public sittings, its structural framework has created a fundamental problem of objectivity and credibility. A panel, set up by the Police, composed solely of Police personnel, and assigned to investigate murder charges against the Police, is bound to create in fair minds the impression of a captive jury set up to carry out a corporate exercise in damage control and image laundry. This impression is bound to continue in spite of the undisputed fact of the high integrity of the individual members of the panel. Obviously, a panel outside the jurisdiction of the Police is better placed than this orderly-room inquiry to create a level playing ground for all.


•A judicial commission will eliminate the fear of undue influence on witnesses. Civilian witnesses, who are conditioned by familiar fearful response of civil society to the Police, and who have to face a panel of all Police personnel, are bound to feel unnerved. Indeed, the signals of danger and undue influence are being remitted daily to witnesses by incidents of mysterious deaths or disappearances of key witnesses since the Panel began its sitting.


•The judicial commission will have power of sanctions unlike an internal Police inquiry. Such sanctions will help to frame and control the parameters for truth.


“The public impression is that the death of these six persons is a case of cold-blooded murder by some Policemen. Every circumstantial evidence reinforces this impression. It will take nothing lower than a judicial commission of inquiry to unmask the real truth.”


Obasanjo awaits result


President Obasanjo was said yesterday to be waiting for the conclusion of the panel before taking action to forestall future occurrence. He refused to be dragged into commenting on the issue for now. The President had ordered the acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, to institute public inquiry into the killing .


Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, Mrs. Oluremi Oyo, announced the position of the president on the matter. “I want to say categorically that the President knew about the matter. As a matter of fact, he ordered the Inspector-General of Police and the rest to ensure that this investigation be carried out,” she told reporters.


“President Obasanjo would not want to speculate on the alleged killings until the report is submitted to him at the end of the panel’s sitting, and so, the President waits until when it is through. It will be most un-statesmanly and certainly un-presidential to speculate over an investigation that has not ended.”


Panel fails to sit


Meanwhile, the panel failed to sit yesterday. After long hours of waiting, counsel for the Igbo community in the matter, Mr Amobi Nzelu, addressed people who gathered at the venue at 1 p.m. to confirm that the panel would not sit. “I was called to see the chairman of the panel, Mike Okiro, a Deputy Inspector-General of Police, and he said the panel would not be able to sit today (yesterday).


“He has, however, promised that the panel will resume sitting tomorrow (today) and has asked me to tell you to maintain peace as the truth of the matter will be unravelled. I advise you to continue to pray for it is only God that can reveal what is being hidden. So far, what has been revealed was made possible by God and not by man.


Mr Hassanwa Jiga, a policeman attached to the Prince and Princess Property, Apo Village and four others, had given testimonies on how a team of policemen shot one of the six dead after he was handed over to them.


Nzelu also said the police officer was later taken away by the police. “A senior police officer, took Jiga away yesterday (Wednesday) and he was supposed to appear at yesterday’s sitting, but he has not been seen. Maybe because it is not sitting,’’ he said.


Nzelu enjoined Nigerians to pray that God would use this incident to expose all the numerous killings in the country and put a stop to it. “It is too much and our God is going to intervene,” he said.

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Govt raises judicial panel on Abuja killings


Chukwumerije seeks judicial inquiry
From Madu Onuorah, Alifa Daniel and Emeka Anuforo, Abuja
FIFTEEN days after the killings of six persons by policemen on patrol, the Federal Government yesterday night announced that it had set up a judicial panel of inquiry into the incident.

The panel will be sworn in today, according to a statement from the office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.

Earlier in the day, but Senator Uche Chukwumerije has called on the Federal Government to set up a judicial committee of inquiry to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death of the six persons.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media), Mrs. Oluremi Oyo told State House journalists that on hearing of the incident, the President ordered the Acting Inspector General of

Police, Sunday Ehindero to conduct a transparent inquiry into it.

Obasanjo, he said, was interested in the case.

Her words: "I want to say categorically that the President knew about the matter. As a matter of

fact, he ordered the Inspector-General of Police and the rest to ensure that this investigation be carried

out.

"And so, the President waits until when it is through. It will be most unstatesmanly and certainly

unpresidential to speculate over an issue that has not ended"

She reacted while responding to a question on whether President Obasanjo was pleased with the

proceedings and revelations coming out of the panel so far.

Chukwumerije told journalists yesterday in his office in Abuja that he was also going to write Senate

President Ken Nnamani and the Senate Committee on Police matters to provide an alternative platform for investigation of the dastardly act.

The senator, who was spotted at the police panel sitting on Wednesday, reasoned that a judicial

Commission of inquiry would put all parties-suspects, complainants and witnesses-on equal footing. He stressed that the openness of the police panel's public sittings, its structural framework had created a fundamental problem of objectivity and credibility as the police panel created an atmosphere of fear and insecurity in the minds of witnesses.

He expressed a lack of confidence in the panel's ability to credibly unravel the real circumstances of

the matter.

Chukwumerije reasoned that a panel outside the jurisdiction of the police was better placed to

provide a level playing ground for all.

His words: "A panel, set up by the police, composed solely of police personnel, and assigned to

investigate murder charges against the police, is bound to create in fair minds the impression of a

captive jury set up to carry out a corporate exercise in damage control and image laundry. This impression is bound to continue inspite of the undisputed fact of the high integrity of members of the panel.

"A judicial commission will eliminate the fear of undue influence on witnesses. Civillian witnesses, who are conditioned by familiar fearful response of civil society to the police, and who have to face a panel of all-police personnel, are bound to feel unnerved. Indeed, the signals of dangers and undue are being remitted daily to witnesses by incidents of mysterious deaths or disappearances of key witnesses since the panel began its sitting

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Abuja killings: I hid photos of slain guys in my fridge—PHOTOGRAPHER

By Kingsley Omonobi
Monday, June 27, 2005

ABUJA — SHORTLY before the federal government inaugurated its own Judicial panel to probe the June 8th Apo Killings in Abuja, a photographer, Mr. Chukwudi Chukwu, who was introduced as the star witness by the Lawyer for the Apo traders, Amobi Nzelu testified at the panel of enquiry.



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Chukwu who hails from Abia state is 32 years old and was the photographer who took snapshots of the six persons killed by the police allegedly for being robbers. He lives at Nsukka street, Garki Village, and said he has worked for the police in Abuja for about seven years.


His testimony;


"I hid the Video Camera Which I used to record the corpses of the young people killed in my fridge because the Police wanted to collect it." And "The DPO of Garki Police Station, CSP Abdulsalam threatened that if I appeared before the police panel and anything happened to me (star witness), he (DPO) should not be blamed."


He (Chukwu) said he was with Anthony Idah, the policeman who died last Sunday 19th June, 2005, on Saturday 18th June, 2005, that when he was asked to come and take a snap shot of someone at the mortuary on the following Sunday, he was shocked to see him (Idah) dead.


He also claimed to have seen Ifeanyi Ozor (one of the six killed) at the AMAC (Abuja Municipal Area Council) office on the day he went to submit some contract papers.


He claimed that the DPO Garki police station collected negatives of pictures he took of the dead bodies which showed how they were killed, not knowing he had printed the pictures and threatened to provide video clips of handing over of the photograph and its negative to the DPO, CSP Abdulsalam Othman whom he said has been threatening him.


*On the 8th of June, I was called by one Police Constable who told me that the DPO wanted to see me. So I went to Garki police station. I met him at the gate. Though on my way coming I was halted by two station guards. When they halted me, the DPO asked his officers, who is that person and I replied it was me Chudi. He said they should allow me in. When I went inside the police station, that was were I met the three corpses. I was having two cameras with me that day and one big jacket where I kept the cameras so when I went there, it was these three people I took their photograph.


Then later I was called back to come snap another two corpses, making it five, four men and a lady and those were the people that were taken into the pick-up van. Before taking their photograph, one Police Constable gave me a polythene bag, black which contained two daggers and one machete knife and two local pistols. I asked him what do I do with it, and who are those people and he said armed robbers, that I should snap the guns and daggers and machete. I asked him, How do I take it and he asked if I don’’t I know how I normally snap them for them. So I arranged them the way I normally do. Other ones I took was arranged by myself. Before taking them (corpses), he said I should not take them one by one photograph but should take 5 of them as a group, but I insisted on taking them one by one.


Immediately he went away, I took them one by one. I was the one who personally opened the corpses by my self. I took the pictures one by one, each of them. After snapping, they (DPO) came out and were looking for police that will accompany the corpses inside the police Van. Some policemen refused so I advised the constable to do it like the ones we have been snapping, get people from the cell so that they can help put the corpses in the car. That was what the constable did. So about five people from the police cell were then asked to carry the corpses inside the car. I assisted them, we put the corpses in the pick up. I was inside the pick up on our way going, the DPO stopped the car and directed that Sergeant crime should enter the back and other people should enter the back. I was asked to drop and I dropped. The car left and I took the final photograph of when the car was going.


And I left but before I got back, there was an order that I should not print the picture but before then I had printed it and I knew that since I had printed the pictures, there would be problem because they don’’t want anybody to see the picture so I said, I hadn’’t printed and showed them the negative. But the IPO insisted that the negative I gave to him were not complete that he saw me taking more pictures than what I gave him. In fact there was a lot of argument. When we were arguing on this issue, I personally hide my video camera inside a fridge and recorded, which if it is needed, I will provide it. I recorded where he was challenging me about the negative. If he (DPO) comes here and deny, I will provide the tape before this panel.


The last negative was given to the DPO by myself and there has been serious pressure on me that I should not appear at this panel. It was when I was called by my governor (name not mentioned) who asked me to say the truth, that why should I be afraid. I told him they were threatening me. The DPO was threatening me. He called me in his office personally and threatened that if I go to the panel and testify that if anything happen to me that he should not be blamed . I have been working for the police for more than 7 years. I can provide the pictures of robbers I have been snapping for the police. They are many. They are uncountable. ENDS.


However, copies of the photograph which Vanguard caught a glimpse of show that one of the victims was shot through the mouth at close range while the lady among them appeared to have been strangled.Alrerady, Acting Inspector-general of Police, Sunday Ehindero has directed that the Garki DPO, CSP Abdusalam Othman and two others who have so "being indicted" be placed under surveillance and should repopt to him daily.

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Abuja Killings: Probe Panel Assures on Assignment
From Lillian Okenwa in Abuja, 06.28.2005

The seven-man Judicial Panel of inquiry inaugurated yesterday by the Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Akinlolu Olujinmi, SAN to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of six young persons in the hands of the police in Apo, the Federal Capital territory (FCT) Abuja on June 7 and 8, 2005 has said the panel will leave no stone unturned in its assignment.
Chairman of the panel Justice (Mrs.) Olasunbo O. Goodluck who disclosed this also said members of her panel have agreed that their report will "assist and impact on this government's desire to achieve justice and peaceful co-existence between people in the Federal Capital Territory."
She urged Nigerians who have information that could assist the commission in its investigations to come forward, assuring on the safety of such people.
Meanwhile, Chairman, Ohaneze Ndi Igbo in Abuja, Chief Bidal Wachukwu has expressed concern that the three policemen indicted by the police probe panel in the killing are still walking the streets free.
Wachukwu who spoke to newsmen after the inauguration commended the Acting Inspector General of Police, Sunday Ehindero for his quick response in setting up the police probe panel.
He expressed concern however that the three policemen indicted by the panel, including the DPO of Garki Police Station, Abulsalam Uthman, CSP Sulaiman Audu and Mr Nicholas Zakariah are yet to be arrested could interfere with investigations of the panel if they are not detained as prescribed by the law.
He urged that the said men "including members of the arm bush squad that perpetrated this crime be detained."
Members of the panel to be sworn in are Brigadier General J.A. Okunbor, Chief Osita Okeke, Hauwa Ibrahim, Parry Osanyanda, Isaac J Idu (Secretary) and Oluwole Aina.
The panel, which has six weeks to complete its assignment, is to carry out the following:
• To determine the remote and immediate causes of the eruption of the violent clash between the police and some traders in Apo village.
• To establish whether the identity of the six persons killed at Gimbiya Street on 7th June, 20054 and the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
•To determine the six civilians killed at Gimbiya Street, Area 11 Abuja were indeed involved in any armed robbery incident at Gana Street, Maitama, Abuja.

• To identify those behind the killings and destruction of lives and valuable property at Apo village.
• To ascertain the extent of damage caused and lives lost during and after the incident.
•To recommend appropriate measures to be taken to avoid the recurrence of similar incidents in future.
•To make any other recommendation(s) which is/are incidental to the above terms of reference.
Fielding questions from newsmen Justice Minister said, "I can assure you that government will consider and act on the report as appropriate.
"The judicial panel will conduct appropriate findings so that there won't be sweeping of anything under the carpet. The panel is also free to use their discretion in whatever report or material that will aid their job."
President Olusegun Obasanjo had ordered the immediate stoppage of the Board of Inquiry set up by the Acting Inspector General of Police, Sunday Ehindero and set up the seven-man panel Judicial Commission of Inquiry.
Olujinmi told newsmen last Friday that the situation appears too grave and weighty to be left to a Board of Inquiry set up by the Police.
He said government was seriously disturbed and concerned about the situation and would not fold its arms while the lives of its citizens are being cut down and their properties destroyed.

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Police suspects confess to killing Apo village traders
By Kingsley Omonobi & Ndidi Onuora
Wednesday, June 29, 2005

ABUJA– THE Force Criminal Investigation Department, Abuja may have unravelled the truth about the killings of the six Apo Village, Abuja traders with all 10 police officers confessing that the six persons killed were truly not armed robbers and that four of them were personally shot by Deputy Commissioner of Police, Danjuma Mohammed.


Consequently, the officers have all been clamped in detention on the orders of the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Sunday Ehindero. One of the suspects, a Divisional Police Officer (DPO) has, however, escaped from detention, just as police sources gave the names of the officers as: Deputy Commissioner of Police in Charge of Operations, FCT Command, Danjuma Ibrahim; DPO, Garki Division, Abuja, CSP, Abdusalam Othman; DSP Victor Pam, Divisional Crime Officer, Garki Police Station; ASP Nicholas Zachariah, Officer in Charge Ambush Squadron; and ASP Nimram Nimpon, Officer in Charge, Patrol and Guard, Garki Division. Others are Inspector Suleiman Audu; Police Constable Dennis Asawo, the IPO; Police Constable Haruna Mamot with number 225030; Police Constable Ibrahim Garba with number 345430; and Police Constable Yakubu Philibus with Force number 343978.


The DPO was said to have escaped from detention Monday night on the pretext that he was going to say his Islamic prayers. The officer who allowed him out has been detained.


Vanguard gathered that the officers who were interrogated by homicide detectives following the directive that FCID take over the case, made statements to the effect that a dispute actually ensued between the Deputy Commissioner of Police and the occupants of the 406 vehicle at Gambia Street, Area Eleven.


Danjuma’s BMW car which he bought after the COJA event in Abuja was said to have been hit from behind by the occupants of the 406, under some alcoholic influences and in the process of arguing, one of the occupants of the car slapped him.


Infuriated by the action of some drunken civilians to slap a DCP, Danjuma was said to have brought out his pistol and shot the six persons. Three died on the spot, while two who did not immediately die were taken to Garki Police Station where they were shot dead on the orders of Danjuma and the DPO Othman.


The only person that escaped was later traced to Prince and Princess Estate where he had escaped. When the Mobile policeman, Constable Husseini Mamman, handed him to the Police patrol team in the ALGON jeep, the police officer, ASP Nimram Nimpon, having informed both his DPO and Danjuma that they had the man they were looking for, ordered his men to kill him.


In fact, during interrogation which lasted till the early hours of yesterday, the officers confessed that DCP Danjuma personally put a pistol inside the mouth of the only girl among the six and blew off her head at the police station where they were initially taken to.

On what the police would do now that the confessions had been made, sources said the police would present the statements at the judicial panel of enquiry set up by the Federal Government, adding that from there any action deemed necessary would be taken. On the part of the police, the sources said the job was over for them.


On the fate of the Commissioner of Police, who all along claimed that the six persons killed were robbery suspects, sources said: “We found nothing against the CP. Remember that he is a busy man also working for Mr. President’s security. He relied on what the DC Operations told him and he DC OPS presented evidence to convince him that the six were robbers.”


Reminded that the ALGON jeep had gunshots which were said to have been fired by the suspected robbers, source said the patrol team also confessed that the shooting of the jeep was hatched by the DC OPS and DPO.


On Anthony Idah, the policeman who was reported dead a day before he was to testify, sources said interrogators had not been able to justify if his death had anything to do with the case.

Idah was said to have died after a brief illness shortly before he was to appear before the Police panel in Abuja.


Victims' relations speak


Meanwhile, family members of the six victims were traced and they spoke to Vanguard on what they wanted.

AUGUSTINA: Mrs Monica Aregbu is the mother of Augustina Aregbu, the Secondary School girl that was killed with the five men. She is a school leaver about to enter the university. She was staying with me in Lagos but came to Abuja to see her friend. It was her friend that called and informed me of her death.


She is 22 years from Esan local government of Edo State. I am aware that the Federal Government has set up a judicial commission but am not satisfied at the way things are going. However, all I want is for justice to prevail. She is a quiet girl who keeps to good friends and always of good manner. There is no seriousness in the panel; they are talking as if those killed are not human.


EKENE: My name is Pastor Isaac Chukwu, father of Ekene Kennedy Isaac from Achi, Oji River LGA, Enugu State. He was my second son. He is a businessman that deals on auto parts. His shop is located at Durumi, Area I, Garki. He is 21 years. I am a pastor and I brought up all my children in a Christian way. He was staying with his younger brother at Apo. My relatives here informed me before I heard it on the radio. I was surprised. Am not satisfied the way the panel is going. I want the corpse of my son because as an Igbo, our custom demands that one be buried in his hometown.


IFEANYI: My name is Elvis Raphael Ozor, brother to Ifeanyi Dennis Ozor from Ezeagu in Enugu State. He was 23 years and the third child in the family. He sold Peugeot spare parts. He stayed in Apo. My bother was a very simple person. Everybody knew him because he was very popular. There is no one in Apo Village that does not know him: kids, young and old. He never stole from anyone.

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Abuja killings: DPO escapes from police detention

Tobi Soniyi, Abuja

The Divisional Police Officer of Garki Police Division, Mr. Abdusalam Othman, a Chief Superintendent of Police who was arrested alongside nine others in connection with the June 7 killing of six traders in Abuja has escaped from detention.

Investigation by our correspondent in Abuja revealed that Othman escaped very early on Tuesday, on the pretext that he was going to pray.

As at press time, the police hierarchy had launched a manhunt for Othman.

He escaped from detention on the sixth floor of the Force Headquarters, Louis Edet House in Abuja, where all the suspects were being kept.

Others arrested and handed over to the Force Criminal Investigation Department in connection with the bizarre murder of the six traders include Mr. Danjuma Ibrahim, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Operations for the Federal Capital Territory; Mr. Victor Pam, District Crime Officer at Garki Police Division, who is a Deputy Superintendent of Police; Mr. Nicholas Zacharias, an Assistant Superintendent of Police who was in charge of the ambush squad; and Mr. Nimran Mimpon, also an Assistant Superintendent of Police in charge of Patrol and Guard.

Others are Inspector Suleman Audu of the Garki Division; Police Constable Denis Asawa, the investigating police officer; Police Constable Haruna Mamot; Police Constable Ibrahim Garba and Police Constable Yakubu Philbus.

An impeccable source told our correspondent that the 10 suspects were arrested following the submission of a report by the now disbanded administrative Board of Inquiry set up by the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero.

The board headed by a Deputy I-G, Mr. Mike Okiro, indicted the 10 arrested suspects.

Sources said the suspects had already made confessional statements and had admitted to committing the heinous crime.

The source explained, “They are being kept pending the sitting of the judicial panel of inquiry set up by President Olusegun Obasanjo to look into the killing.

“If we do not arrest them and detain them, they will escape.

“We are going to forward Okiro’s report to the judicial panel and this will greatly enhance the job of the panel.

“In fact, the police have finished the job for the tribunal.

“Members of the panel will find the report very useful.”

The Okiro report, which is being kept away from the public, found the 10 police officers arrested liable.

The 60-page report contained photographs of the corpses of the six traders and statements made by the indicted police officers.

Ehindero had on Monday said that 10 officers whose professional judgment might have been inappropriate had been handed over to the Force Criminal Investigations Department for further interrogation.

He said that the setting up of a judicial panel of inquiry by the Federal Government would not stop police investigation into the case.

When the Force spokesman, Mr. Emmanuel Ighodalo, a Superintendent of Police, was contacted on Tuesday, he declined comments on the suspect’s escape.

The Punch, Wednesday June 29, 2005

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Apo killings: Fleeing DPO speaks
By MURPHY GANAGANA, Abuja, PETER ANOSIKE and SOLA FANAWOPO, Lagos
Thursday, June 30, 2005

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Efforts by undercover police operatives to track down the fleeing Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Garki Police Station in Abuja who escaped Tuesday from the Force Headquarters appears to have hit a dead end as he has reportedly told his friends and interrogators to forget about him.

Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Abdulsalam Othman was said to have told them on telephone that he had gone far and will never return to Abuja.
Police sources told Daily Sun that after the brief telephone conversation, his mobile phone lines went blank and he could no longer be reached.

The development has reportedly fuelled apprehension within the police top hierarchy on how to explain the DPO’s escape to the presidency and the Judicial Commission of Enquiry set up by the Federal Government to look into the Apo killings.

CSP Othman is believed to have gone beyond the shores of the country, dimming hopes of his possible re-arrest to face prosecution.
Meanwhile, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) who was interrogating him at the Force Headquarters before he bolted, has been arrested and detained on the orders of the acting Inspector General of Police, Mr Sunday Ehindero.

The officer, identified simply as CSP Ado of the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) was detained late Tuesday along with two other policemen on suspicion of complicity in the DPO’s escape.
Security has, however, been beefed up around the remaining nine officers detained over the Apo killings, including Mr Ibrahim Danjuma, a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) and officer in charge of Operations at the FCT Police Command.

Others are the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) at Garki Police Station, Mr Victor Pam (ASP) and Nicholas Zacharia an ASP, and officer in charge of the Ambush Squad.
Also being held are ASP Niram Nimpon, Inspector Suleiman Audu, and Constables Dennis Asawa, Haruna Mamot, Ibrahim Garuba and Yakubu Philibus.
However, chairman of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Lagos State, Chief John Nzewi has insisted that justice must be done.

In a press conference on Wednesday in Lagos, he said that during the recent Igbo Summit which was organised by the Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani, Igbo leaders unanimously agreed that no stone would be left unturned to ensure that the perpetrators of the dastardly act were brought to book.
According to him, Igbo leaders have attracted the attention of the president which made him to set up a judicial panel of inquiry.

He, therefore, expressed optimism that no matter any game that anybody is playing Igbo would not relent until justice is done.
Also, access to Justice (AJ), a non-profit, non-governmental body promoting judicial issues in the country has expressed some reservations over the commitment of Federal Government to unravel the puzzle behind the Apo police killings.

AJ stated its concern in a press statement signed by its executive director, Joseph Otteh.
According to AJ, the Federal Government’s new found concern for human life and safety is suspect, belated and politically motivated.
The group wondered why the government’s renewed concern for safety of human life coincided with the visitation of the United Nations rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary and arbitrary execution to Nigeria, which started on Monday.

However, the Judicial Commission of Inquiry on the killing has fixed July 1 for hearing into the case.
Chairman of the commission, Justice Olasumbo Goodluck, said Wednesday, after the formal introduction of members of the commission at the FCT Customary Court of Appeal, Jabi, Abuja that the commission would welcome useful information or recommendations from “patriotic citizens” that would assist it in its facts finding mission.

The commission is to determine the remote and immediate cause of eruption of violent clash between police and some Apo village traders and determine whether there was robbery incident in Gana Street, Abuja, on June 7.
It is also to determine the identity of the six people that were killed and the circumstances surrounding their death.
Mr Rasheed Yusuf is leading the Police defence team, while Mr Amobi Nzelu is the lead counsel for the families of the deceased.
Similarly, Ohanaeze would be represented by Justice Chinonye Nwakocha

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