The Nigerian "Murder" Force

By

Ibrahim Suleiman

muazzamu@yahoo.com

 

The recent turn around of events in the committee of enquiry set up to investigate the issues at stake of  the Apo six killings came to many as a surprise but  certainly not for me.  During its first sitting, one of the police officers'  who "murdered" the six innocent citizens in cold blood  changed his testimony made earlier at Louis Edet house  which he previously alleged that the victims fired  shots at them first before the police responded which  led to the death of the six people. With such a  testimony, one can rightly conclude that the police are  guilty of murder because I personally don't know of  any law applicable in nigeria that allows a police  officer to 'open fire' on any person that is presumed   harmless but the question that sticks to  my mind and I'm quiet sure in many Nigerians' is How many people have died and will continue to die in the hands of the  police without any justifiable cause? Also, how many of  those killed and tagged 'armed robbers' are truly armed  robbers as claimed by the police? The truth is that any  time a police officer kills a person, they tag him as  an armed robber even when he is not just to cover up and get away with it. I wonder if majority of Nigerians  have now found an occupation in armed robbery.  It is obvious that the police all over the world  engage themselves in certain illegalities but  definitely not the type as in the Nigerian situation. I  am quiet sure not less than an average of 5 innocent citizens are being killed by the police daily and nobody seems to care about it. It only takes the  courage and sacrifice of the Apo mechanics village  residents to say NO to such an act. Had they kept mute  about the issue,  those innocent and unarmed 6 civilians  would have been wasted under the guise of 'armed  robbers'.

There are many uncountable incidences where such 'murders' occur and the cases closed without any  conviction of any police. We have in various instances  heard where such 'men of the underworld' killed because of a meagre some of ten naira or even after mere arguments. The police seem to be feeling too high to be challenged or questioned on certain issues. They are definitely above the law. Oh yes. If not, why is it that we have not heard of any serious conviction of any personnel. Take the Zamfara case for example; the only news I heard was that the police officer was merely sentenced to imprisonment for some term. Is this the punishment for a 'murderer' under our laws. More so, he's not only a murderer but also an armed robber because he shot the driver merely because he refused to part away with a meagre amount of money. The police in this case should have been tried of first degree murder and robbery at the same time. There is also a similar incidence that happened some time ago in Benue which sparked off riot in the town. What happened to the police that perpetrated the crime? I'm sure he's still alive and kicking. What about the case in Lagos where a police shot a woman in the bus merely because she refused to part away with her cellular phone at a certain checkpoint? The police will obviously tell us that they have 'no knowledge of the incident'. We have noticed that that is their mode of cover up these days. The smart and well dressed P. R. O's will display their pale looking faces usually looking sad when briefing newsmen on camera to tell us that 'they are ye  to receive any report on the incidence' and also go further to say that ' more investigations are being carried out 'or that 'a committee will be set up to look into the matter'. The truth is that the matter dies immediately the camera is removed from the sight of the "honourable" P. R. O's. There is also the case that happened in a certain village in Katsina state where a D. P. O shot and killed an innocent young man. His offence; He is accused of stealing which allegation has not even been proved yet. But the police D. P. O gave him the death sentence and shot him in the head. As for those who doubt, stealing is not a crime punishable by death no matter what you stole even if it is whole of ASO ROCK but it is in the Nigerian Animal Farm. Anyway, if a fellow citizen could be killed merely because he refused to give bribe, then I rest my case.  The style of the police nowadays is to mount road blocks on a sharp cornered bend and so,  if one is not careful or does not follow the road more often, you might not sight them until you are very much closer in which case, you might not be able to apply instant brakes as that may lead to an accident.  Just sometime back, a friend of mine was coming back from a weekend from Kaduna on a Sunday. This friend of mine was not used to the Kaduna-Kano road as he was just employed by a top bank and was posted to Kano . As he immediately turned on a sharp bend which unknown to him has been blocked by the police, he tried applying his brakes but the police even without waiting to see weather he is stopping or not fired shots at his vehicle and he got hit, luckily, on his arm. He was even more luckier as he was not driving alone because he cannot continue with the journey. The most annoying part in that case was that after the car came to a stand sill few meters from the police, the police started laughing when they saw that he was hit and didn't even bother to approach the car. Had it been he was alone, he could have died. This goes to show how inhumane and unfriendly our police are.  The big question I usually ask myself is; Do the police register their ammunition's and bullets before going out for an operation? Is there anybody amongst the senior officers that bothers to check on their ammunitions and make sure they are not being used arbitrarily? Is there present any law regulating the use of excessive force by the police? If all the above answers are NO , which are, why are the police not given rubber bullets or tranquilizers that may merely make someone unconscious or incapacitated for a limited period of time since they don't know how to handle their weapons? Anyway, if a divisional police officer can out rightly decide to terminate the lives of innocent civilians without any justification just because he felt so, then God Help Us.  By the way I heard the news that D. P. O Abdulsalam Othman alias' the sharp shooter 'tagged nickname mine] has escaped from custody! BULL-SHIT. They should come out openly with the truth which is; they have set him free and helped him to escape. If I am to believe it is true, then somebody somewhere need to prove to me 'BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT 'that D. P. O. Abdulsalam Othman in far more intelligent in jumping the fence and in escape technology than the likes of Al-Mustapha, Bamaiyi and co.  When sometime back an attack was made on the daughter of the president of which her friend allegedly lost her life, security agents went as far as Benin Republic to fish out the culprit. But in the case of the Apo six and other meaningless Nigerians, they are not so important that their 'murderers' go untouched and even 'escape' from custody. Had it been the D. P. O. murdered a close relative of the president or any relative of member of the cabinet, it would have been a different story entirely. The news making the round is that the D. P. O has been cited in Enugu. Very soon, the story will change and he will be cited crossing the border and thereupon vanish. This has always been the conspiracy made by the police against the Nigerian people. Either

Ways! GOD DEY.