Victims and family members, including the elderly, who suffered extra-judicial killings in Anambra State, have lamented what they described as “2023 failed promise, failed justice” by the authorities of the Nigeria Police Force.
In January, 2023, there were widespread allegations across various quarters against some police officers serving at the Zone 13 Command, Ukpo-Dunukofia, and the Anambra State Police Command.
Zone 13 Command, located in Dunukofia, controls Anambra, Enugu and some parts of Ebonyi states’ police commands.
The allegations bordered on widespread allegations of unlawful arrest, detention, torture, extrajudicial killings, organ harvesting and conversion of property belonging to victims by some police officers in Anambra State.
Although, the senior police officers indicted were mentioned alongside some civilians allegedly collaborating with them in the alleged nefarious acts.
The allegations were revealed by a whistle-blower who had worked closely with the police officers against who he made the allegations.
However, following the widespread condemnation that trailed the development, the immediate past Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, set up a panel tagged: ‘Investigative Panel on Anambra Extra-judicial Killings and Others,’ in February.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, who conveyed the setting up of the investigative panel by the then IGP in a statement he issued on February 18, said, “The Police boss set up a special investigation panel under the IGP monitoring and mentoring unit to commence investigations into the allegations of extra-judicial killings in Anambra.
“The officers had reported at the Force Headquarters in Abuja on the directives of the IGP for the commencement of investigations to ascertain the veracity of the allegations for further necessary action.
“The Inspector-General of Police has assured that the findings of the investigations will determine the next line of action, even as he promised that the Force will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that justice is done in the case and sanctions meted to any officers found guilty accordingly.”
Adejobi also said victims would be invited to testify before the panel.
Following repeated demands by various civil society organisations for the police to make public the outcome of the investigation into the allegations against the police officers in Anambra, the Force PRO issued a statement in June, revealing that the report of the investigation had been submitted to the former IGP.
Stakeholders expected that the report would be made public as promised by the Force PRO, but that has not happened till date.
Although, Baba left office without releasing the report of the panel he set up, the new police IG, Kayode Egbetokun, who took over from him, has also yet to release the panel’s report, nearly 10 months after concluding its findings, despite every plea by various civil society groups, stakeholders, victims and family members, thereby fuelling further agitation for justice by the victims.
The Anambra State government, on its part, following the allegations, also set up a panel of enquiry, through the state Ministry of Justice, to look into the matter, the report of that panel too has yet to see the light of day.
However, in separate interviews with South-East PUNCH on Monday and Tuesday, various victims, family members and stakeholders, lamented that the police authorities were denying them justice by the refusal to release the report of the panel, while some vowed to ensure justice through the law courts.
A mother, identified as Ngozika, whose 20-year-old son was allegedly arrested by the police officers at Awkuzu Command since 2022, and has not been seen till date, noted that her sole desire was to know what really happened to her son and if he is still alive or not.
Ngozika, a public servant and a native of Ekwulobia in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, said, “The information about the investigative panel came to us as a relief in the sense that someone like me, whose son was arrested by the police since 2022 for no known offence would get justice, but my hope has been dashed, as the panel’s findings seem to have been swept under the carpet. It’s just a pity.
“One Sunday, in April 2022, at about 2pm, some police officers stormed my residence in two Toyota Sienna vehicles, marked Awkuzu police, requesting to see my first son, a lab scientist, but incidentally, he was not around on the said day.
“The officers searched the whole compound and saw my second son, a 20-year-old, who was in the sitting room together with his two friends who visited him. The officers went away with the three boys and till date, we have searched every police formations in the state, including Awkuzu command without seeing the children.
“It is highly unfortunate. Who knows whether the children were among those used for organ harvest that they are talking about? I have been in agony ever since the incident happened.
“And I had thought I would get justice through the panel, to at least, ascertain why those children were arrested or if they are still alive, and where they are, but as it is now, the hope for justice is still far, because the investigative panel did not release its findings and neither did they invite us for hearing. This is a case of justice denial.”
Also speaking amid teary voice, another victim, Dorcas Nwakor, whose husband, Chibueze, was allegedly shot dead by some police officers attached to the Area Command in Onitsha, while demanding for justice, said, “The police authorities have failed us by not releasing the panel’s report. My husband was killed by the police officers in October for no just cause, he had no quarrel with anyone; he does legitimate business for a living.
“He was killed by the police for no justifiable reasons and without any provocation. He was not a troublemaker. I am currently seven months pregnant. His killing has affected me and my children so much and I am right now in a very critical condition with my pregnancy. I don’t know what to do, there is no help for me from anywhere.
“While other people are celebrating the Yuletide, we cannot celebrate, because the police have denied us justice by not doing the needful.”
Demanding justice over the killing of her husband, she called on the police IG to help ensure the matter is not swept under the carpet.
Another victim, Amarachi, a sibling to late Nwakor, who was reportedly killed by policemen attached to the Area Command, along Sokoto Road, Onitsha, also narrated how three police AK-47 bullets were found in the deceased’s corpse after an autopsy was conducted by the police. According to her, this was after several denials by the police officers.
Speaking to South-East PUNCH correspondent, Amarachi said, “We are from Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State. It is highly unfortunate that the police authorities have failed to give us justice after they killed my brother for no just cause. We have lodged several complaints and petitions, but nothing has been done.
“Even they have also refused to make public the findings of the investigative panel they set up to look into the killings. As it is now, the family members have concluded arrangements to pursue justice through legal means, we must ensure justice is served so that my late brother does not die in vain. He was killed for no justifiable reason.
“After shooting him, the policemen jumped into their ash-coloured commuter Hiace shuttle bus and zoomed off. He was rushed to the hospital by sympathisers, but because of the severity of the bullet wounds, he died before receiving medical attention, leaving behind his wife, three children, mother and siblings.”
A family member of another victim, known as Uche Anozo, said, “We appeal to the current IGP to release the report of the findings. My younger brother, who just came back from abroad was framed up by the police as he was coming home to Onitsha in 2022 and the money in his bank account was drained by the police officers.
“He was also detained for three days at Awkuzu SARS for no reason. So, we are asking the police to release the investigation they have carried out for justice to prevail. Not releasing the report almost 10 months after, showed they are not interested in ensuring justice for the victims. It is highly regrettable. Does it mean there was no investigative panel set up in the first place or why have they refused to release the report of the panel?”
Another victim, identified as Uche, said, “I was also a victim of the police brutality in Awkuzu RRS. I had gone to pick my elder brother who returned from abroad in early 2023 and as we were driving home, we met some police officers who stopped us at Nkwelle junction, along the Onitsha-Nteje-Awka Expressway.
“After we introduced ourselves, they were not satisfied, they insisted we follow them to the station, two of them, heavily armed, jumped into our vehicle and took us to the Awkuzu Police Station, where we were detained unlawfully and dispossessed of everything we had, including hard currencies.
“We were kept at an underground cell at Awkuzu police station. We were seriously tortured for three days, our mobile phones were seized and our family members could not reach us, it was a terrible moment for us.
“If not for luck and the huge money they collected from us and from our account, we would have been killed. It is a long story. We were happy when the IG set up a panel of enquiry to investigate the atrocities of these police officers, but it’s sad that the findings seem to have been swept under the carpet, nearly 10 months after.”
Another victim, Nduka Ekene, a resident of Ogidi in Idemili North Local Government Area, said, “Three days after some police officers arrested my younger brother and took him to Zone 13 Police headquarters in 2022, over trumped-up charges, we visited the place and we were told that he had died. We insisted they provide the corpse, they refused. It was when we involved our lawyer and other people that they went and brought the corpse of an 80-year-old man.
“Till date, we haven’t seen our brother nor his corpse. And the findings from the investigative panel set up by the police authorities that would have helped unravel the mysteries surrounding the disappearance of my brother in police detention, has not been released 10 months after, thereby denying us justice. It is quite unfortunate.”
Also lending his voice to the development, a human and civil rights advocate in Anambra State, Dr John Ifijeh, said “The civil society groups are wondering that to date, nothing has been heard officially from the police authorities, suggesting that the findings might have been swept under the carpet as the victims continue to seek justice.
“Government is a continuum, the former IGP set up the investigative panel and the panel sat, but unfortunately, before he left office, the findings of the panel were not released.
“It is incumbent on the current IGP to release the report so that justice will be seen to have been served for the victims. We have seen the current IGP giving justice to victims of extra-judicial killings in other states, why is such so difficult to be done Anambra?
“It is a serious concern to us that the report of the investigation panel set up by the immediate past IGP on the allegations of extra-judicial killings in Anambra has not been released nearly 10 months after it was constituted.
“We are calling on the current IGP, Egbetokun, to, as a matter of urgency, release the findings of the investigations and ensure justice is done in the cases and sanctions meted out to the culprits if found guilty accordingly.
“Releasing the panel report will ensure justice to the families of the victims who suffered these extra-judicial killings in the hands of these police officers and also ensure sanity in the force. We learnt that the indicted police officers have returned to work, it is not supposed to be so.”
However, every efforts to get the reaction of the Force PRO, Adejobi, proved abortive, as he did not take several calls made to his telephone lines since Monday.
But messages to his WhatsApp line indicated that he has read them, but he did not respond, as at Wednesday, when this report was filed.
When also contacted on the telephone, the Anambra State police spokesman, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, simply said, “Give the victims my telephone number to call me.”
