The Nigerian Police Force has dismissed three officers indicted for the murder of 20-year-old Emmanuel Victor, at a checkpoint in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
Investigations revealed that an Inspector, Mr. Lucky Obomerelu, was among those discharged from police service for the alleged killing which attracted criticism from the media and human rights community.
Also, two corporals – Mathew Egwegwe and John Imeh – were relieved of their duties for the slaying of Victor.
They were dismissed after an in-house trial conducted by the state police command indicted them for misuse of firearms.
Victor was shot many times by the policemen along Sanni Abacha Expressway on October 16 after a church service.
He was murdered in the presence of his mother, Grace, who tried in vain to stop the trigger-happy officers from shooting him. After the shooting, the policemen were said to have removed a copy of the Holy Bible he held in his hand and replaced it with a pair of scissors.
He was allegedly killed for condemning extortion and bribery at the checkpoint.
Our correspondent learnt that after the dismissal of the suspects, the police referred their case to the state Directorate of Public Prosecution which recommended that they should be tried in court.
Further investigations revealed that Egwegwe and Ime were dismissed by the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Hilary Opara.
But the inspector was discharged by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone F, Mr. Mohammed Yusufu.
Yusufu was said to have performed the assignment when he visited the state to inspect police formations.
It was also learnt that the police filed murder charges against them on December 8, 2011 at the High Court in Yenagoa.
Following initial reports alleging that the police were covering up the matter, Opara was summoned by the House of Representatives Committee on Police Affairs.
Confirming the development, Opara in an interview with our correspondent, said the suspects were found guilty of misusing firearms.
He said, “The case has been investigated by the state CID after which the policemen were found guilty of misusing their firearms. For that, they were tried in orderly room and subsequently dismissed. The non-commissioned officers were dismissed by me.”
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