The Inspector-General of Police(IGP), Mr. Ibrahim
Idris, has ordered the immediate arrest and detention of eight operatives of
the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Awkuzu, Anambra State, for murder
of Mr. Ejike Bob Manuel.
The arrested officers are Inspector Adolphous
Dimgba, Inspector Gabriel Imafidon, Sergeant Chukwudili Oyenka, Pat Amadike,
Usman Bala Hamza, Theodore Igiede and Amaechi Ebele Okonkwo.
Also arrested and detained is Jerome Aghachukwu, who
allegedly masterminded the arrest and murder of Bob-Manuel.
The arrest of the policemen came after a petition
and representation by a Human Rights
Advocacy Organisation, Joint Legal Action Aids,(JLAA), made to the IGP, Commissioner
of Police, Anambra State, Attorney General Federation, Attorney General,
Anambra State and the Director General, National Human Rights Commission.
According to JLAA, the deceased was arrested on the allegations
of Aghachukwu, after a business transaction involving importations of
pharmaceutical equipment between him and deceased went sour.
It was gathered that Aghachukwu alleged that the
deceased breached agreement on the amount he was to pay him from the sales and
commission of the pharmaceutical equipment.
Bob-Manuel was detained and allegedly tortured in
SARS facility on February 16, 2006. He died from the after effect of the
torture.
JLAA stated: “SARS Awkuzu refused to release Bob-Manuel’s
corpse for autopsy until a combined team of JLAA lawyers led by Barrister
Kingsley Ughe, IG monitoring team and team of journalist stormed SARS office. Doctors,
after conducting autopsy revealed that death was caused by rupture of a kidney
with tear measuring 0.124cm. The death, according to medical report, was due to
a heavy physical torture to the deceased during the night of February 16, 2017.”
JLAA vowed to file in an action at the Federal High
Court against the police and the killer officers involved in the alleged murder
of Bob-Manuel today.
“We shall demand excruciating , punitive and
exemplary damages. We have recovered the deceased G wagon vehicle, N3million,
handsets and other valuables pried away from the deceased,” stated JLAA. “We
are engaged in a deadly struggle for those who would intimidate, torture, and
murder people for exercising the most basic freedoms. If we are to win this
struggle and spread those freedoms, we must keep our own moral compass pointed
in a true direction. SARS is as dangerous as a terrorist organisation.”
The organization further stated: “We insist that
relevant authorities must look into the sociology of SARS. SARS is a torture
organisation. An organisation, tortured by the broken bones and spilled blood
of innocence. The healthy man does not torture others - generally it is the tortured
who turn into torturers. Brave men do
not gather in the name of policing authority to torture and murder innocent
individuals, so gagged and bound he cannot make even feeble resistance or
defense. JLAA shall not relent in his determination to ensure that Ejike Bob
Manuel and other victims of state abuse and lawlessness get justice.”
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