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By Amos Odhe, Yenagoa
The panel of inquiry sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State has ordered the Nigerian Police to pay the family of late Victor Ezekwueme, whom the police ordered to jump into the river at gun point, the sum of one hundred million naira (N100,000,000) as compensation.
Justice Young Ogola delivered the judgement on Tuesday during the panel’s sitting at the Nigeria Union of Journalists secretariat in Yenagoa.
The ruling also confirmed the previous judgement by the federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa.
Narrating the ordeal late Victor went through in the hand of the disbanded Operation Famutamgbe, which means (‘kill and throw away’), the elder brother, Mr Tochukwu Uzoukwu, said his brother was ordered to jump into the river by the dreaded police team at gun point without knowing how to swim.
According to him, he was actually out of town to Ibiam, a boundary community between River and Bayelsa state, when a police officer, named sergeant Benjamin Ogbuagwu, called him and said that he had arrested his brother and that it was an opportunity for him “to eat his money.”
He said though he begged the officer to release his brother, that he will come and settle him when he returns, the policeman refused.
Uzoukwu said that from eye witness account, his late brother was brought to his shop and asked to show them the place where he was smoking his Indian hemp and he showed them the back of the toilet where he was smoking. But not satisfied with the younger Uzoukwu’s answer, they asked him to climb a floating jetty at gun point and ordered him to jump into the river.
The eye witnesses according to him said all the late brother’s pleading fell on deaf ears even when he told them that he did not know how to swim.
“Yet at gun point the boy fell into the river where they watched him struggled for life till he died and they left in their vehicle,” he said, adding that the corpse was recovered four days later and deposited at the mortuary.
Mr. Tochukwu thanked the federal and the state government and also the panel of inquiry for upholding the judgement of the federal High Court which had initially awarded the sum of hundred million naira to the family.
Our correspondent, who monitored proceedings at the inquiry, said that another judgement was that of a young man that was ran over by police vehicle driving against the traffic within the state capital.
He was hospitalized for six months before he died but the police abandoned him in the hospital and refused to pay N3.5 million for surgery.
Justice Young also ordered the police authorities to pay N16 million compensation to the family.
According to him, N3 million is for hospital expenses, N3 million for burial arrangements, while N10 million is to be paid to the family.
The petitioner, Mr. Joseph Oghene, thanked the panel and also appealed to the authorities concerned to respond without delay.
While the third case was on the arrest and detention of one Prince Fubara, by the Nigerian Army, while playing football at Abua county school field. He had been held since 14 October 2018.
According to a family member, Mr. Francis Oporo, they had tried all they could to secure his release, but to no avail as the Nigerian Army still held the young man in their custody without telling them the offence he committed.
“The young man was arrested by Joint Task Force (JTF) and was taken to Abua command and later to Bori Camp, and they have refused to tell us the offence he committed.”
Mr. Francis thanked the panel chairman and members for the judgement as the panel asked the Nigerian Army to pay the family the sum of N10 million for unlawful detention and maltreatment and also ordered them to release Prince Fubara unconditionally.
Another ongoing case is that of late Tarila Adamu who was shot dead by a trigger happy police officer, Udu Udoh Ubang, last year at about 5 pm. The incident took place at Arietalin, a suburb of the state capital.
Narrating the sad incident, father of the deceased, Engr. Adamu Mabinton, said on that faithful evening he sent his son to buy him a clothing item, accompanied by his girlfriend, when they met some SARS officers that had already gunned down one young man.
He said his son confronted them and asked them why they were killing innocent people, adding that if the young man was a criminal they should have taken him to police station instead of wasting his life. The officer reportedly took offence and said to his late son that he will take them to his father’s house and they will shoot him, and without much ado, the son was shot dead.
According to him, after the killing they framed his son, saying he exchanged bullet with them and put his cell phone on his chest claiming he was an armed robber and they also came up with forged document that he had signed an affidavit that he son was an armed robber.
“My son was not an armed robber. He was a final year student of Electrical\Electronics Engineering in Benin Republic. That was my only son, as am talking to you I don’t have another son. They just killed him for no reason and tagged him as an armed robber.
“He came home last year due to the COVID-19 and was killed July that same last year. Since then I have tried to seek for justice but they kept on bribing my lawyer from the first to second and this is the third lawyer and I have confidence in this one because he is a sincere person”.
Asked his expectation on the matter, he said he wants the officer that killed his only son to be sentenced to death.
