Lagos, Jun 29, 2009 (This Day/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- For the second time in recent times, a coroner inquest conducted under the new Lagos State Coroner Systems Law 2007 held the Nigerian Police responsible for the brutal killing of a Nigerian, Mr. Modebayo Awosika.

The court presided over by Chief Magistrate Philips Ojo sitting at Tapa Magistracy, while concluding an inquest to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death of the deceased, held that the shooting of Awosika showed a callous, unprovoked and unjustifiable shooting of a defenceless Nigerian by a police officer.

Ojo held that the late Awosika was shot by one Inspector Benjamin Oyigie, adding that it was a clear case of homicide. He said the fact that the deceased rammed into a police vehicle and failed to stop does not justify the killing. He urged the Commissioner of Police, Lagos Command to place advertisement declaring, Benjamin Oyigie, the deceased killer, wanted as well as reopen investigations into the matter.

"The evidence before me clearly established that the lives of the policemen on duty on the morning of October 2, 2008 were not in danger. Evidence before me shows a callous, unprovoked and unjustifiable shooting of defenceless Nigerian by a Nigerian police officer. I agree with conclusion by the pathologist and also from the totality of evidence before me hold that the deceased, Modebayo Awosika died of cerebral disruption with hemorrhage arising from gunshot injury," he said.

Awosika, a bank manager, was killed by policemen attached to the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) in October 2008 after his vehicle rammed into the RRS patrol vehicle at the Lekki roundabout. The police had initially claimed that the deceased was killed by armed robbers. It was not until an inquest into his death commenced that revelations were made as to who actually killed him. The police later claimed that the officer who shot the deceased was unknown. It said also the man had disappeared until the truth was uncovered.

Last April, the first coroner court sitting in Ikeja had equally held the police responsible for the death of a herbalist, Mr. Samson Adekoya. It indicted one Inspector John Sawyer of the State Police Command for death of Adekoya and therefore ordered his arrest and prosecution for his failure to notify the authorities of the death of the deceased. Presiding Magistrate, Mrs. Ariyike Ipaye-Nwachukwu also ordered the state's Police boss, Mr. Marvel Akpoyibo to conduct an investigation on Sawyer and others who might be connected with the death of Adekoya and prosecute them if found culpable.

Few days after Adekoya was arrested and taken into custody over alleged conspiracy to commit armed robbery, he was reported dead. On inquiry by his family as to the cause of his death and the location of his corpse, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), Sergeant Yakubu Adeniyi, informed the family that the deceased was rushed to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja over an ailment that could neither be named nor described.

He further advised the family not to bother searching for his corpse as their efforts will be a futile exercise. When the search for the deceased's corpse at the LASUTH Emergency Ward and morgue by the family and a civil society organisation (CSO), Access to Justice proved futile as predicted by the IPO, Access to Justice instituted coroner inquest proceedings under the new Coroners System Law of Lagos State, 2007, before the Ikeja District Coroner, Mrs. Ipaye-Nwachukwu at Magistrate Court 23, Ikeja.

At the inquest, the SARS Police officers changed their story. They abandoned their earlier account where they had claimed that the deceased took ill in custody and died at the LASUTH, and was later kept in preservative custody at the LASUTH morgue. During the inquest, they claimed that the deceased developed sudden epileptic feat while they (the police) were taking him to Ikorodu for further investigation. They claim he died at the premises of the Ikorodu General Hospital for lack of timely medical attention.

But contrary to their claims, the Deputy Medical Director of Ikorodu General Hospital, Dr. Mobolaji Olukoya, confirmed that the deceased was brought into the hospital dead at about 3.25 am on February 12, 2008. Olukoya tendered the "Extract from Police Crime Diary" dated February 11, 2008 (prepared by Inspector Sawyer) which remarkably indicated that the deceased died some seven hours before he was taken to Ikorodu General Hospital as corpse.

Hospital documents evidencing the deposition of the deceased as corpse in the very early hours of February 12, 2008 indicated that the deceased was a "BID" (Brought in Dead) case. But mortuary records which revealed that the deceased's co-suspect was also deposited dead some five days after the deceased was deposited was tendered by the CSO at the inquest. It was also revealed at the inquest that the deceased's remains could not be admitted for autopsy as it had been interred in a mass burial some five months before inquest began.

The late Adekoya's wife, Abidemi and his brother gave evidence at the inquest concerning the deceased condition when they met and spoke with him at the state's Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS)'s custody. They said he was badly beaten, had swollen face and eyes, and he appeared petrified over the grim prospect of his fate.

Adekoya, the inquest established, died in police custody few days after he was arrested over alleged conspiracy to commit armed robbery as well as premeditated attempt to conceal his death. The inquest concluded that the police have a case to answer and noted that the testimony of the police and that of Dr. Olukoya did not tally.

Perhaps, shocking was the evidence tendered by Access to Justice to show that the police deposited another corpse at the Ikorodu General Hospital, mortuary, believed to be that of a member of Adekoya's alleged gang, five days before Adekoya was brought in dead.

Awosika and Adekoya's travails are not a peculiar one in Nigeria. Thousands have suffered similar fate in the hands of the police. In most cases, these people were randomly picked up on the roads or raided on flimsy excuses. Some were arrested and detained indefinitely while talking a walk in their neighbourhood and others while on errand. There have also been cases where the police shot and killed innocent people for refusing to give them bribe as little as N20 or N50.

Presently, another coroner court trying to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death of the late Editorial Board Member of THISDAY Newspapers, Mr. Abayomi Ogundeji, who was murdered in Dopemu area of Lagos on August 17, 2008. Though the police claimed he was shot by armed robbers, revelations at the inquest are gradually tilting to their direction.

An example of extra-judicial killing by the police was witnessed last month when 24 hours after he was arrested, militant leader, Ken Niweigha was killed in controversial circumstances. Niweigha, it would be recalled, was the alleged mastermind of the killings of 12 policemen which eventually led to the Odi invasion in 1999. Even though the police claimed that he died in a gun battle between his gang who came to free him and security operatives, considering the circumstances surrounding his death, many knew that police on their volition, killed him.

For example, Niweigha, who was arrested and paraded before journalists on a Tuesday evening, was also accused of trying to kill the Bayelsa State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Onuoha Udeka and a team of policemen, coming back from Odi. But, in a twist, Udeka told newsmen Wednesday that the militant leader, who had promised to surrender all arms and ammunition in his gang's possession to the police, was gunned down during another battle between his gang and the police in Odi.

He said a team of police officers being taken by Niweigha to his hideout in Odi ran into a trap set by the gang who opened fire on the policemen, resulting in a gun battle. At the end of the duel, which lasted several minutes, only Niweigha was reported killed. No policeman sustained injury, according to Udeka.

The police boss was however, silent on how Niweigha got the information to his gang less than six hours after he was arrested. He stated that his men had planned to cordon off the area early in the morning, but noted that they put up a stiff resistance and shot back at the insurgents, adding that during the exchange of gun fire, the militant leader was shot several times while trying to escape in the process.

Four years ago, the police in Abuja led by DCP Danjuma Ibrahim, in what is now referred to as "Apo Six," branded five Igbo traders and their female friend as armed robbers and killed then extra-judicially in a most brutal manner. The Justice Goodluck Olasumbo Commission of Inquiry which later looked into the case found the force establishment and officers culpable for the tragic incident. Also, the present Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro who was then a DIG investigated the matter and found the officers guilty, yet the government has not found it necessary to clear the mess heaped on one of its institutions.

Another senseless killing was the case involving one Osondu Obiajulu and his seven-month old son, Chukwudi. The pathetic and harrowing experience of Obiajulu and his infant son occurred at No '52 Makoko Road, Yaba, Lagos when a team of mobile policemen who were on the trail of prostitutes in the area, opened fire indiscriminately within the precincts of the Obiajulu's residence. After the random explosions from their rifles, Obiajulu's wife, Juliana who was dressing up after a bath in their one room apartment slumped on the bed, bleeding profusely from a bullet wound which tore through her jaw to her brain.

Following alarm raised by Osondu and his neighbours, the culprit police officers took to their heels. In the aftermath of inquiries and apprehension of the culprit, (one Sergeant Matthew Morontonu), events following his arraignment under a criminal charge at the Yaba Magistrate Court proved to be a mockery of Nigeria's criminal justice system. In what appeared like a deliberate frustration of the case by police authorities, both the suspect (Sgt Morontonu) and the IPO were transferred out of Lagos State. While the police prosecution at the court tardily allowed the case file to slip out of the court's dockets. Obiajulu haplessly backed-off from the matter after three years of fruitless attempts at securing the prosecution of his late wife's killer.

Chairman of the Lagos chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. Wahab Oba was in company of three other journalists from the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) recently when they were arrested and detained for no reason. Narrating his ordeal in the hands of the policemen, Oba said they were at a restaurant, about 30 metres from his house and in the precincts of the television having a chat when suddenly men of the force stormed the place.

He said they were shooting sporadically into the air and ordering everybody to lie down or they would shot. According to him, all attempts by him and his colleagues to introduce themselves were rebuffed by the officers who bundled them into a waiting Volkswagen (danfo) bus and driven to the Area C Police Station where they were detained for hours. He said the officers who effected their arrest were reeking with alcohol.

Oba and his colleagues were either lucky to be alive or set free after series of phone calls. There are thousands of Nigerians who are today languishing in prisons and police custody picked up randomly by the police on flimsy excuses. At a recent workshop organised by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Lagos Branch in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on improving the justice system in the country Deputy Comptroller of Ikoyi Prisons, Mr. Lucas Dapak revealed to the consternation of the participants that there were 1804 inmates in the prison. Out of the number, he said 1632 were awaiting trial, while 172 were convicts. Meanwhile, the prison's capacity is for 800 inmates.

Within the Lagos axis alone, every year appears to record its own fair dosage of victims who are accused, charged, tried, convicted, sentenced and executed on one spot - at the police station or traffic check-point. The culture of impunity associated with these killings has soared from military rule to Obasanjo's government and now to President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's.

There are also chilling stories of "midnight-interrogations" by the police, where they illegally terminate the lives of persons detained in their custodial facilities. Reports from ex-inmates of SARS (Monitoring Unit) Cell, narrated the practice of calling out specific inmates at about midnight for interrogation. Investigation revealed that many of those called-out for interrogation never returned to the cell. Recently, the Police Affairs Minister, Alhaji Ibrahim Lame said in order to stem the tide of fatal incidents resulting from accidental discharge of firearms by police officers in the course of their duties, anyone seeking to join the force will henceforth undergo psychiatric test before being recruited.

Speaking at a seminar entitled "Behavioural Changes: The Police and the Emerging Nigerian Society," in Ilorin, Kwara State, Lame said the test would go a long way in standardising the recruitment policy of the force and also a way of solving the perceived ills in police recruitment. He said in recent times, "certain behavioural traits-not usually associated with the police or which was a rarity-now rear their ugly heads. Such cases include official corruption, leaking of official secrets, 'accidental' discharge, nepotism, torture, ethnicism and general indiscipline; which are now being reported against policemen almost on daily basis."

Lame asked rhetorically: "psychologists and social workers are interested in knowing why certain aberrant behaviour traits are manifested in some individuals and not in others. Why are some people deviants and others compliant? Why are some people criminals and others law abiding? Is the kind of profession or background of an individual a significant factor in his character make-up? In other words, does the policeman stand in the same psycho-social status as any other individual, or does his uniform or other paraphernalia of his job have something to do with the way he thinks or behaves?"

He said the "fire brigade" approach to solving problems was the bane of the police in Nigeria. "At best, that approach is another name for official hypocrisy. Crime prevention and detection would receive a boost with the provision of adequate state-of-the-art scientific equipment. A standardised recruitment policy that would make pre-recruitment psychiatric test a sine-qua-non for all recruitment should be put in place," the minister added.

In addition to Lame's recommendations, Chief Magistrate Ojo also later made some far-reaching recommendations to the police which, if religiously implemented, would go a long way in partially put an end or reduce cases of extra-judicial killings in the force. Some of the recommendations are: That the Police, especially, the Police Service Commission should ensure that excessive use of force by police officers is not tolerated and those responsible for such unjustifiable use of force be brought to justice speedily.

The recommendations also include that international human rights standards on the use of force and firearms should be fully incorporated into police code of conduct and training and should be strictly enforced; that the National Assembly should promulgate a law providing for police accountability regarding violence, crime control and law enforcement which should contain provisions ensuring regular publishing and analysis of national data on police use of excessive force; the police should be required to keep detailed records on the use of force and to report publicly at regular intervals statistical data on shootings and other use of force.

Others include: that police should introduce training programmes designed to minimise and probably eliminate the risk of unnecessary force and death in common situations like stop and search and vehicle pursuits; that the Police Service Commission should establish a truly effective and independent oversight bodies in the states with powers to investigate and review complaints against the police.

Also relevant is that the police should put in place a policy where new entrants into the service would undergo psychiatry and psychology medical tests; should put in place computerised monitoring system designed to track officers' performance and to identify those with irrational tendencies and those who are the subject of repeated complaints of misconducts.

<>

Back to top

Return to Epilepsy News