Naval ratings go wild again, kill policeman   punch

By Ademola Oni and Sebastine Ebhuomhan

Two naval ratings have been arrested by the Ogun State Command Police for allegedly killing a policeman and severely wounding another in a scuffle at a hotel in Ota.

Mike Okiro


The policemen Mr. Oladiran Abanikanda and - Adewale Nureini, were said to have been stabbed on Wednesday night after an argument over a female attendant at the hotel.

Abanikanda reportedly died at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital on Thursday morning after a spirited attempt to save his life. Nureini is said to be responding to treatment at the Ota General Hospital.

The Ota incident occurred less than two weeks after six naval ratings attached to the convoy of the Chief of Naval Logistics, Rear Admiral Harry Arogundade beat up and stripped a 27-year-old lady, Miss Uzoma Okere, in Lagos.

Arogundade and the six naval ratings were on Wednesday summoned by the authorities of the Nigerian Navy to the Defence Headquarters over the attack on Uzoma, who is the daughter of the National Assembly Sergeant-at-Arms.

About three years ago, a naval officer, Lt. Felix Odulami, shot dead a commercial motor cycle (Okada) operator in Ikeja, Lagos, for allegedly hitting his Mercedes Benz 190E.

The naval authorities set up a board of inquiry to investigate the killing, but up till now the outcome is yet to be made public.

The Police Area Commander of in Ota, Mr. Adeoye Oyelola, who confirmed the incident on Thursday to our correspondent on the telephone, said the two policemen were first rushed to a private hospital before being transferred to different health institutions.

The area commander, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, alleged that the ratings, after committing the crime, tried to escape.

He said, "A medical doctor alerted me that two of my men had been rushed to his hospital after they were stabbed. So, I had to rush there. I was told that one of the ratings objected when one of the policemen asked a lady attendant to serve him a drink. He (rating) was said to have told the constable, who was not in uniform, not to send the lady on an errand because she was his girlfriend."

"It was during the argument that followed that one of the naval ratings brought out his knife and stabbed the policeman at the back. In an attempt by another police officer to seize the knife from the rating, his colleague brought out his own knife and stabbed him."

Oyelola, however, said while one of the ratings was arrested on the spot, the other was caught "loitering around the police station in an attempt to call for re-inforcement."

He added that some naval personnel were in the area command on Wednesday night for consultations over the incident.

Oyelola's claims, however, differed from the uncoordinated accounts of the two ratings. They had said during a preliminary interrogation that their attempt to report an assault on them by the late Abanikanda and Nureini was frustrated by other policemen.

Our correspondent in Abeokuta learnt that the case had already been reported to the office of the Inspector - General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro.

The ratings are believed to have been detained in separate cells in one of the police stations in the state capital.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Bassey Inyang, also confirmed the incident but said the case was still with the State Criminal Investigation Department.

"I have heard the case but you know it has to be properly investigated. I will not be able to say much on it now, " Inyang said.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Bar Association on Thursday demanded sanctions against Arogundade and the six ratings that attacked Uzoma.

It also deplored the detention of a magistrate and some lawyers by policemen in a court at Oji-River, Enugu State.

The NBA, in a statement by its National President, Chief Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), called for a stop to what it called "despicable violence against civilians inherent in the culture of our armed forces and the police."

The statement reads in part, "We condemn the barbaric act against Uzoma and call on the naval command to immediately sanction the errant ratings and the naval officer under whose watch she was beaten and stripped naked in addition to paying her adequate compensation for the damages, which resulted from their action.

"The senseless and horrible treatment meted out to Okere in Lagos on November 3, 2008 is one case too many. The barbarism witnessed in this case is certainly not an aberrant act."

On the Oji-River incident, the association said, "We also note and condemn the action of a detachment of the Nigeria Police Force, which detained a senior magistrate for carrying out her judicial function.

"The detention of Senior Magistrate Mrs. Uche Mogboh and lawyers in her court at the behest of an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Ashabua, for making a formal order of discharge and acquittal of an accused person in the course of the performance of her judicial function is condemnable."

November 14, 2008 

How police allegedly killed 23-year-old graduate in Delta  punch

By Mike Odiegwu, Asaba

At Madonna University, Okija, Anambra State, Gabriel Murdi was not a mediocre student. He toiled night and day to excel. A student of Public Administration, Gabriel reaped the fruit of hard work by getting Second Class Upper Division.

Gabriel

The dream of the young man did not stop at getting a good grade. He combed all nooks and crannies of the country looking for employment. After several months, Gabriel succeeded in getting a job at Zenith Bank.

However, his parents' investment in him was sent down the drain by the police. The 23-year-old graduate was coming from Lagos, where he had just been employed by the bank when the police gunned him down at a checkpoint at Agbor in the Ika Local Government Area of Delta State. His father, George, could not adequately express the tragic incident when our correspondent visited him in his Asaba home.

The young man was killed at a checkpoint in Agbor on November 3, when a bullet from a police corporal's gun, whose identity is yet to be unmasked, pierced through the booth of a car he boarded and hit him at the back. The bullet lodged in his intestine.

He was said to be in company with two boys, who offered him a lift from Lagos when a five-man police patrol team at the checkpoint flagged them down. But, this singular act of enforcing law turned bizarre when deafening sound of a gunshot was heard with Gabriel complaining that the police had shot him.

It was alleged that the policeman, who came to the waiting car to check the papers suddenly did a U-turn after the gunshot and hurriedly joined others as they fled in their patrol van. The boys were said to have attempted to chase them, but got confused at Uromi junction.

The father, a civil servant with the Nigerian Postal Agency, could not understand why the police, who are paid with taxpayers' money to save life and property, abandoned a victim of their alleged gunshot.

He said, "If it had been an accidental discharge and the police had responded responsibly and urgently to save my son's life, Gabriel wouldn't have died. They ran away as if they were employed to kill him. They are supposed to save lives, but see they are killing us. It has been happening to people, nobody really wants to care. It has now happened to me. It is my turn to cry out."

It was gathered that after the police had allegedly shot him and fled, Gabriel was still full of life when his friends brought him to Agbor Central Hospital at 6:30pm. It was also learnt that he contacted his mother on the telephone immediately he noticed he was shot. The medical personnel were said to have displayed nonchalant attitude. They did nothing, but asked for police report. But when the friends finally brought the police report, they asked for deposits before treatment.

His mother said that when she arrived at the hospital from Asaba, a distance of about 45 kilometres, Gabriel was still able to talk to her. She said she pleaded with the medical personnel to attend to him, but that they wanted money first. She said she had to go back to Asaba for money. It was when she went back to the hospital with money that Gabriel was moved to the theatre at about 11pm. He died at about 1am.

His father said, "Gabriel died because the system has collapsed. If they had attended to him on time, he wouldn't have died. In Nigeria, it is money first. Why not think of reviving the boy first, before asking for money. I will suggest that the Federal Government should look into the policy especially in federal medical centres. Unless advances are paid, no treatment is given. Now, we have paid the money, but Gabriel still died. Did they refund the money? I am losing my son, my money, everything."

But when the Chief Medical Director of the Agbor Central Hospital, Dr. Lawrence Pemu, was contacted, he claimed his staff did all they should do to save the deceased.

An autopsy disclosed that the bullet that was lodged in his intestine belonged to the police. His father has called on the Inspector-General of Police, Mike Okiro, Governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan and the Delta State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Oshiomogho to bring the killers of his son to book.

When Delta police command was contacted, the Public Relations Officer, Mr. Charles Murka, said it would be premature for the police to comment on the matter. He added that the command had begun investigations into circumstances surrounding the death of Gabriel.

Though Murka assured that the police would deal with any policeman found guilty of the cruel act, people including the parents and friends of Gabriel have expressed fear that the murder of Gabriel might be swept under the carpet like other alleged unresolved police killings in the country.

The deceased was working as a freelancer at the Nigerian Television Authority, Asaba, before he got job at the bank. The Manager of News at the television station, Mrs. Benedicta Nwabuoke, who worked closely with the late Gabriel asked the government to scrutinise what the police were doing on the highway.

She said, "Gabriel is a boy that any mother would want to have as a son. He is very polite, very intelligent, and very obedient; I don't know how to describe him. He is just very vibrant, very articulate. For the police to have shot him for no just cause I don't know but the government should look into what the police are doing on the highway. They should look into it if not it could happen to anybody."