The Civil Liberties Organization, CLO, has demanded the immediate arrest and prosecution of police officers involved in the alleged unlawful execution of four robbery suspects in detention at the Police Ant-Kidnap base, Enugu State.
The four suspects, Dennis Nwode, Obinna Nwode, Goodluck Echezona Igwenagu and Onyeka Nnaji, were all allegedly executed in the early hours of Tuesday, the 26th day of November, 2013.
In a petition to Nigeria’s Minister of Police Affairs, which was made available to DailyPost in Enugu, the CLO expressed shock over the inability of the police to prosecute the suspects in court, but resorted to extra-judicial killing.
The petition entitled, “TORTURE AND THE SUBSEQUENT UNLAWFUL EXECUTION ON TUESDAY THE 26TH NOVEMBER 2013, OF FOUR SUSPECTS IN CUSTODY AT THE ANTI KIDNAPPING BASE, ENUGU”, was signed by the Director of the CLO in the South-East zone, Olu Omotayo.
According to the organization, “We write to you in respect of the above-mentioned matter, which had earlier commanded the attention of the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State, vide a petition dated 18th November 2013, addressed to the Commander of the Base and copied to the Commissioner of Police.
“In the said petition, we had sought access to the four suspects namely: Dennis Nwode, Obinna Nwode, Goodluck Echezona Igwenagu and Onyeka Nnaji, when their parents complained to us that they were denied having access to them since their arrest on the 5th and 6th November 2013 respectively.
“We got no response to our letter seeking permission to have access to the detainees and on Thursday the 21st November 2013, a member of the Board of Governors of the Civil Liberties Organisation, Dr. Gambo Danjuma went with Mrs. Igwenagu, the mother of Goodluck Echezona Igwenagu and Mrs. Nwode the mother of Obinna Nwode and Dennis Nwode the driver to Rev Father Nwaifor Ani, the Complainant in the matter, to the Anti Kidnapping Base and after waiting for several hours, they were able to see the Commander of the Base, Supol Alex, a Superintendent of Police.
“The Commander still refused these people access to the detainees and said he would deal with them as armed robbers are dealt with and further stated that the Police are still waiting to receive instructions from the complainant”.
Citing previous similar incidents, the CLO said, “We made frantic efforts to stop the killings because we know the notoriety of the men of this Base, because that was how one Stanley Nnamani arrested with his pregnant wife on the 14th July 2013, was finally executed in the presence of his pregnant wife after he was thoroughly brutalized.
“On Wednesday 27th November 2013, we still made a petition to the Chairman, Police Service Commission and copied to your office and that of the Inspector General of Police, wherein we prayed for access to these detainees.
“The said petition, which contained facts of this case is hereby attached to this letter.
“It dawned on us late in the evening of yesterday, (Wednesda) that all our efforts in respect of this matter has come to naught, when our further investigations revealed that the four detainees were finally summarily executed after they had been incapacitated through series of torture they received over the past three weeks of their detention at the Base.
“They were all executed in the early hours of Tuesday the 26th day of November 2013”.
Consequently, the CLO has demanded that the full weight of the law be visited on all those involved in the alleged execution.
“The position of the Law in Nigeria is that, it is only the High Court that has the powers to sentence to death any citizen found guilty of committing an offence punishable with death after due trial.
“The law even went further to specify the mode of such execution, which must be by hanging. The Commissioner of Police or any police officer however high ranking he may be cannot take over these powers vested in the courts in this country. It should be noted that even under the military regime, suspects were still tried before the various tribunals which were operational then.
“Our position is that any citizen arrested for committing an offence should be taken before a court of competent jurisdiction; trial of accused persons; evaluation of evidences, etc, are the constitutional duty of the court. It is usurpation of the functions of the court for Police to arrest, try suspects in their station, sentence to death and carry out execution. Alas! Its’ incredible.
“We condemn in all ramifications, this act of extra judicial killing, it is unlawful, barbaric and unconstitutional. This is a civilized nation and not that of savages where the Rule of the Law could be jettison at will and resort made to the Rule of the jungle.
“Human beings are not chickens that their right to life should be subjected to the mood, whims and caprices of security agents.
“We submit that the likes of Supol Alex are not supposed to be in the Police, the Nigerian Police should move along with its’ counterparts in the advanced world and boot out all its’ men with barbaric tendencies.
“We demand the immediate arrest and prosecution for murder of Supol Alex and all the officers who partook in this nefarious act”, it concluded.
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