12/30/2010 in Kano.


A Kano State Chief Magistrate’s Court has remanded till January17, 2011 the three police officers accused of kidnapping and raping a 16-year-old girl.

The court presided by Chief Magistrate Hadiza Dahiru Mustapha yesterday asked the accused to be remanded until their case comes up next year.

According to the First Information Report (FIR) against them, the trio of Dantalle Muhammad, Yusuf Ibrahim (alias Shanawa) and Salisu Mamuda and three others now at large, last October in the night at Kofar Nassarawa Station Tower asked the girl to disembark from a commercial motorcycle under the pretext that they were taking her home.

Instead, they allegedly took her to the Kwalli Police Barracks and raped her. After the charges were read to the accused, they all denied the charges.

Two of the accused persons, Constables Ibrahim and Mamuda, were earlier dismissed from service by the state Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Tambari Yabo Muhammad, while the third accused, Inspector Muhammad, was demoted to sergeant, after the orderly room trial by the police.

Speaking at a press conference, the police commissioner said he took the action against the officers after reviewing the orderly room trial conducted by the police, noting that the dismissed officers were the prime suspects in the case.

Muhammad remarked further that his office would soon send the case diary to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution at the state Ministry of Justice for review for professional advice and prosecution.

The commissioner stated that the civilians involved in the matter had fled but the police were still looking for them, adding that they had information that they had taken refuge in Lagos and Ibadan.

“These run-away suspects forgot that they cannot run away from the law. They forgot that it is the same Nigerian police working in Lagos and Ibadan. The long arms of the law will, God willing, catch up with them.

“Thank God, the police work exposes us to all the nooks and crannies of the federation. All of us have served in Lagos at one time or the other. We know Owode, Mile 12, Agege and wherever they want to go and hide,” he said.



http://www.thisdayonline.com/

16 years old in southern Nigeria, is still a child.
the police officers should not only be dismissed from
active service. the deserve to serve 16 years jail term
they should never go unpunished, no matter where they
run to.