Group demands investigation into police killings, seeks compensation for victims

The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has called on the Police Service Commission to set up a disciplinary panel to oversee the misuse of firearms as well as the extrajudicial killings among citizens in the country by its unit. This call was made after a series of unprovoked and unlawful police killings recorded in the country after the #EndSARS protest.

According to a statement by RULAAC, there has been a record of killings in some states such as Lagos, Imo, Rivers and Ekiti. These killings show that the government has failed to listen to the quest of the youths.

In Imo State on December 5, Mr. Jude Oguzie Mmezi, a native of Umuamusa Autonomous community (Old Amucha), Njaba LGA, was killed by a team of policemen at a checkpoint somewhere at Orodo, Mbaitolu LGA of the state.

In an interview with one of the relatives of the deceased, Mr. Ken Ndukwu narrated how his cousin, Mmezi, was gunned down by a trigger-happy policeman at the early hours of the day as soon as he left his house to attend a wedding along Owerri-Orlu road at Orodo.

Mmezi ran into a traffic jam caused by the police officers at a checkpoint, he parked his car and begged the officers to help clear the traffic as he was in a hurry to come back for a village meeting by 12noon after the wedding.

The policemen got angry at him, shot him at his left rib cage whilst the bullet escaped from his right lower abdomen. He collapsed in the middle of the road, while the policemen jumped into their Hilux van and sped off, leaving him to bleed to death. He was taken to Federal Medical Center (FMC), Owerri where he was confirmed dead on arrival.

“The commission should ensure thorough investigations into these cases to ensure that the police officers responsible are prosecuted and adequate compensations paid to the victims,” the group added.