Harvest of extra-judicial killings

One of the most touted justifications for the ban of police checkpoints across the country were incidents of extra-judicial killings, which usually arose during heated exchanges between policemen and motorists. Often, these exchanges ended badly with the motorist, and sometimes innocent passerby, losing their lives as a result of accidental gun shots by the police. 

Thus, it didn’t come as a surprise when a few weeks into the ban, drivers and other public analysts praised the initiative, counting their gains.

In spite of this move, there has been an alarming increase in the spate of extra-judicial killings by the police across the nation in the last few moths. In all of the recorded incidents, the circumstances have ranged from the mundane to the seriously bizarre.

The spate of killings came with the murder of Timothy Hunpoyanwa, in Makoko, an Egun-speaking community in Yaba, Lagos. Hunpoyanwa was allegedly shot by a policeman, Pepple Boma, during the demolition of shanties at the Makoko waterfront in July. Although Boma was initially detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department Panti and later transferred to the Lagos State Police Command, he is yet to be arraigned for Hunpoyanwa’s death.

A police corporal, a Emmanuel Okujo, had allegedly shot 23-year-old Blessing Isanbor on Feb. 10, 2012 at Gbagada, Lagos. Okujo was said to have shot Isanbor in the mouth with an AK 47 rifle before locking her up and absconding with her teenage sister, Patience.

Okujo was declared wanted and for three months, remained in hiding from the police before eventually turning himself in at the State Criminal Investigation Department on May 7 with his lover. Okujo was later arraigned on Aug. 7 before an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court for attempted murder, while his victim, Isanbor, awaited donations to undergo facial reconstruction surgery after a four month stay at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital.

On Aug 1., a policeman, Solomon Awodogan, momentarily caused panic at the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Iponri office, when he allegedly shot indiscriminately.  Awodogan reportedly shot at the LASTMA office to protest the towing of his vehicle after it was parked on the Bus Rapid Transit lane at Oyingbo.  In the ensuing confusion that followed the sporadic shooting, Awodogan forcibly ran away with his vehicle. Mercifully, no one was hurt.

Two weeks later, reports came in from Bayelsa of the death of a driver of a Toyota Hilux van, identified as Goddy Umorem. Umorem was shot by a riot policeman attached to the MOPOL 30 Squadron at the Swali Market area of Yenagoa in a traffic jam during an argument. Eyewitness accounts had claimed Umorem was passed by a civilian controlling traffic for Julius Berger Construction Company, working on the road. However, the policeman, who was also attached to the same construction company, ordered the late driver to reverse.

Ignoring appeals by Umorem that he could not reverse because there were vehicles behind him, the angry policeman allegedly went to the front of the Hilux van and shot Umorem in the head, killing him instantly.

This incident was said to have followed the death of one Odoko Iwana, who was allegedly crushed to death by a police patrol van at Otiotio Road, Yenagoa. A father of four, 40-year-old Iwana was accused of stealing a fowl and was run over by the patrol van while the police were attempting to arrest him.

More heart rending was the shooting and eventual death of 36-year-old Ugochukwu Ozuah, close to UPS Bus Stop along Oworonsoki-Oshodi Expressway, Lagos on Sept. 20.  Ozuah had only five days earlier tied the knot with his girlfriend of two years, Joan.

Ozuah was allegedly shot by some policemen attached to the Anthony Division, at about 10 pm, close to his home at Oke Olowo Estate while dropping off a friend Erikefe Omene, who had flown in from the United Kingdom for his wedding. Omene reportedly fled the scene, fearing for his life. When he returned some 20 minutes later with Joan and some other relatives, Ozuah’s body was still on the ground surrounded by policemen who did nothing other than question the veracity of Omene’s claims that the shooters were indeed policemen.

Omene said, “Ozuah parked the car and we both alighted so we could stop a taxi, but before he could shut the door, one of the policemen said, ‘Who’s there? Who goes there?’ and shot Ozuah, who then fell flat to the floor. Individuals from the ash/blue car suddenly ran behind Ozuah’s car to where I was and I thought the policemen might come around to shoot. So, I ran back to the estate.”

Ozuah was pronounced dead in the hospital. Although the Lagos State Police Command has blamed armed robbers for Ozuah’s death, his family have continuously denied the claim, insisting his death was caused by the police. It took the intervention of the Inspector-General of Police, who ordered a team from the Force Criminal Investigation Department to take over the case before five policemen were arrested in connection with Ozuah’s death.

The nation’s capital was thrown askew in October with the shooting of Lucy Ukpong, a 20-year-old sales girl. Ukpong was hit in the chest by bullets fired into a photography shop where she worked as a sales girl, in the Apo area of Abuja.

Policemen allegedly attached to the FCT Police Command had stormed the area at about 7 am with officials of the Development, Control Department who had come to demolish illegal structures in the area. In an attempt to enforce the demolition order of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council, the policemen were said to have fired indiscriminately, killing Ukpong and wounding three others.

For Lagos residents, it has been a harvest of extra-judicial killings since the start of November 2012. Within a week, one person has been killed, while several more wounded by indiscriminate  shootings of  policemen.  Last Wednesday at Ketu, a policeman, Oluwatiyesi Gboyega, attached to MOPOL 50 Abuja, allegedly shot and killed a bus conductor over N50 change.

The policeman, who was dressed in mufti, had alighted at the Tipper Bus Stop, after which he demanded a change of N50 from the conductor. The conductor was shot in the head after slapping the policeman during a heated exchange.

 While Ketu residents were still recovering from this incident, Lagosians were shocked last Saturday, by the shooting of an employee of Access Bank Plc, Mr. Femi Badejo, and his security guard, Joshua Moses. Both men were reportedly shot by policemen ostensibly responding to a distress call about a robbery in the banker’s home at Ikota.

About an hour earlier before the policemen had arrived, Badejo and his neighbours were robbed by a group of armed men who divested them of their money, clothes, phones and other valuables. A tenant was said to have placed a distress call to the Maroko Police Division while the robbery was going on.

In a bizarre twist, scores of policemen who arrived after the robbers had left, shot indiscriminately upon their arrival. Badejo was shot five times, while his security guard was shot twice. Miraculously, Badejo is in stable condition, while doctors battle to save Moses’s life. Despite the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, ordering an investigation into the incident, no policeman has been arrested in connection with it.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer DSP Ngozi Briade said that the command wasn’t taking lightly any report of extra-killings. She said, “All reports of such incidents are under investigation; we don’t take such issues lightly. If during the course of our investigation any policeman is found culpable, he will be dealt with appropriately.”