[size=14pt]Nigeria policemen kill enough defenceless citizens in two months to get everyone worried[/size]



Tayo Abe: killed in the farm by a policeman.

Nigeria has become one huge killing field of defenceless citizens. The killing machine is the Nigeria Police, who think it is no big deal shooting and killing the same people they are paid to protect. This absurd indulgence has existed for years without a serious attempt to bring it to an end. Every year, hundreds of citizens get killed by the police unlawfully. These killings usually go uninvestigated and unpunished.
The extra-judicial execution of Nigerians by the police has escalated in the last two months. And everyone is worried.
In September, three policemen stormed a funeral in Akoko community, Ndokwa West Local Government of Delta State, uninvited. Before they left the venue, they had killed three persons. According to the state police commissioner, Mamman Tsafe, one of the policemen was drunk and violated the conditions under which firearms could be used. “All the conditions were not followed. He pulled the trigger and in the process three men were killed. We have arrested them and they are facing orderly room trial. We will arraign them for murder,” Tsafe disclosed to newsmen in Asaba, the Delta State capital.



• A policeman ‘‘frog-jumps’’ a Nigerian

In the same month, the mood of joy that pervaded a social function on Joseph Akpoko Street, Udi-side, Enugu was turned to gloom when men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, stormed the occasion and began shooting sporadically, killing one person and wounding two others. One of the victims, identified as Chineme Ede, 15, was allegedly killed instantly by the squad. Obumneme Nwedu, 5, and Larry Nwankwor, 30, sustained serious bullet wounds.
An eyewitness, Mr. Stephen Ede, said the incident happened at the peak of the naming of their caretaker’s new born baby. He said: “When we heard gunshots, we all ran inside the house for safety; but looking behind, I saw my younger brother, Chineme Ede, lying helpless on the ground. I was then forced to turn back. Behind where I stood, I saw two persons – Mr. Larry Nwankwor, our caretaker on behalf of whom we gathered in celebration of the christening ceremony of his new baby and little Obumneme Nwedu – seriously wounded by bullets from men of the SARS,” the witness said.


What they enjoy doing: Nigerian policemen brutalising a teenager.


http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2011/11/07/the-killing-force-nigeria-police-turn-their-guns-on-defenceless-citizens/

[size=14pt]Apo Six And Justice Denied [/size]

The trial of policemen accused of killing five Abuja-based traders and their girlfriend in 2005 drags on





Families of Ifeanyi Ozo, Chinedu Meniru, Isaac Ekene, Paulinus Ogbonna, Anthony Nwokike and Tina Arebun, all between 21 and 25 years old who were brutally murdered in 2005 by policemen as they were returning from a night-out are still wondering if the killers will ever be brought to justice. The trial of Deputy Commissioner of Police, Danjuma Ibrahim; Assistant Superintendent of Police Othman Abdulsalami (still at large) and corporals Nicholas Zacharia, Emmanuel Baba, Emmanuel Acheneje and Sadiq Salami has been on at a Federal Capital Territory High Court presided over by Justice Isaq Bello since 18 January 2006. The trial has suffered many adjournments and followers of the case believe the court seems to be pandering too much to the wiles and subterfuges of the accused policemen to prolong the trial as long as possible in the hope of eventually evading justice.
Justice Isaq may not be unaware that all eyes are on him over the many adjournments he has granted which have been responsible for lack of progress in the prosecution of the police officers. “It is very sad that this case is going on like this. Though I know that I have good conscience over this case, we cannot ignore what the people are saying outside. This is not good for the image of the judiciary. I think this is the third time the fifth accused person is changing his lawyer. We cannot continue like this,” he said at one of the hearings early this year while reacting to information by Chief Chris Uche, the prosecution lawyer that Ezekiel Acheneje, the fifth accused person, has no lawyer for his defence and, therefore, the trial has to be adjourned. The lawyer had noted that in a murder trial, an accused person must either be represented or provided with a lawyer. But Acheneje seemed to have perfected a way of “hiring and firing” counsels to stall his trial.
The accused has actually changed six counsels since the trial commenced in 2005, including one Olu Otitoju provided to defend him by the Legal Aid Council. He fired Otitoju in January 2011. But some observers of the proceedings have also accused the judge of providing a sort of enabling environment for Acheneje with the bail he granted him in 2006. Normally, accused persons standing trial for offences which carry capital punishment are legally not entitled to bail. But Justice Isaq had based his decision on a claim that Acheneje was suffering from the HIV syndrome and granted him bail, alongside the first accused person, Danjuma in 2006. Danjuma’s lawyer had asked for bail for his client on the excuse that the accused police officer was suffering from diabetes, ulcer and heart problem. Danjuma, who was a television cameraman but got recruited into the Police due to the influence of a former Vice President, had ‘fainted’ twice to convince the judge of his ill-health in court before he was granted bail. Isaq argued that the bail he was granting Danjuma would enable him seek adequate medical treatment. He added that he was allowing Acheneje leave the prison confinement so that he would not afflict other inmates with ailments associated with HIV/AIDS.

http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2011/11/07/apo-six-and-justice-denied/

Let us start "occupy Police stations" till the stop brutalizing us.