A rights group, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAAC, has raised alarm over cases of extrajudicial killings allegedly perpetrated by Imo State Police Command in flagrant violation of the Police Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
According to RULAAC, the duties and powers of the police as stipulated in law include arrest, investigation and prosecution of crime suspects, and not summary execution or extrajudicial killing.
The executive director of RULAAC, Okechukwu Nwanguma said the group has received information concerning some suspects paraded and detained in Imo state for alleged involvement in kidnaping.
He said the family of one of the paraded suspects complained about their efforts to locate their family member and the denial by the police of having him in their custody.
According to him, facts available to RULAAC are that security agencies in Imo State recently paraded some persons accused of kidnapping.
“From the video which went viral, the family members saw their son Ugochukwu Mba but documented in police custody as Devine Gabriel amongst those paraded.
“They briefed a law chamber in Owerri to help them find out what actually happened.
“Every effort by lawyers in the law chambers to locate the suspect in police custody with a view to interviewing him and finding out the extent of his involvement, proved abortive as the police units visited including the Anti-Kidnapping unit denied having him in their custody.
“The law chambers eventually officially applied in writing to both the O/C Anti kidnapping which the officers refused to collect, and to the Imo State CP.
“All these were happening in the week before Christmas,” he said.
Nwanguma who noted that while the efforts by the family through their lawyers to see their son was ongoing with the Police still refusing to acknowledge having him in their custody, a source within the Anti-Kidnapping unit of Imo State Police Command where the suspects were apparently held incommunicado, called and advised the family to act fast because he overheard them saying they want to waste them.
“He advised them to do whatever they could do, and do it fast
“In the night of 25th December, 2021, the wife of the suspect called the lawyer, crying and informed him that she called her husband’s number 08035811346 and an officer who picked the call and identified himself as the IPO, informed her that her husband, being the suspect, is dead.
“She asked how and when, but got no response.
“The officer switched off,” he said.
The RULAAC boss regretted that security agencies have hid under the pretext of fighting increasing insecurity in Imo State to carry out several extrajudicial executions, with many innocent persons killed and their dead bodies not seen by their family members
He noted that it is unlawful and unconstitutional for the police to ‘waste’ arrested suspects without trial or conviction when they are presumed innocent until found guilty.
The group called on the Inspector General of Police, to order a prompt and impartial investigation into the case, with a view to ensuring justice and ultimately, bringing an end to the rampant cases of extrajudicial killing of suspects in police custody, instead of charging them to court to face trial.
