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Families kick as DPP frees policemen arrested for extra-judicial killing of corps member

By Odita Sunday
16 October 2019   |   3:51 am
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Ministry of Justice, Lagos State has set the four policemen accused of extra-judicious killing of two men suspected to be armed robbers in Iba area of the state.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Ministry of Justice, Lagos State has set the four policemen accused of extra-judicious killing of two men suspected to be armed robbers in Iba area of the state.

The policemen, Inspector Fabiyi Omomayowa, Sergeant Olaniyi Solomon, Sergeant Solomon Sunday, and Aliyu Mukaili, were alleged to have arrested two suspected robbers and shot them in full glare of the public. The video of the alleged murder went viral, forcing the police authority to set up an orderly room trial after which the policemen were dismissed by the force and handed over to the court for prosecution, pending the advice of DPP.

However, DPP has said the policemen have no case to answer as they shot dead the suspects during exchange of gunfire. In a statement by DPP, signed by Dr. Babajide Martins, he said: “After carefully considering the facts in the case, this office is of the opinion that there are insufficient facts to establish a prima facie case of murder or involuntary manslaughter. The policemen have no case to answer”.

But in a swift reaction, families of the slain victims, Segun Solaja and Ogeneovo Ebobo, have faulted the DPP, insisting that their children were not armed robbers, but innocent people that were extra judiciously murdered by the police. The aggrieved families who spoke through their lawyer, Mr. Adesina Ogulana, called on the Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, Lagos State to revisit the matter and give justice to the bereaved family to enable the spirit of the murdered children rest in peace.

Ogunlana said: “With due respect, we consider the exculpation of the killers in police uniform by DPP as not only hasty, untidy, but a sordid arrangement that insults the intelligence of right-thinking persons. It does no honour to the office of the DPP itself. In the viral footage, the victims were deliberately and clearly executed in cold blood after being apprehended safely by the policemen and taken to custody in police van.

“Can the DPP claim ignorance of the widely disseminated report of the dismissal of the four defendants from the police force after orderly room trial for their misconduct. More so, why did the office of the police public relations officer of the Lagos command maintain all through the saga the stance that their officers went beyond the lawful procedure in handling the case of the deceased? We call for an immediate reinvestigation into the matter.”

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