Panel summons all Mohammed Bellos in Taraba police command

The panel of judicial inquiry and restitution for victims of police brutality in Taraba State has ordered all serving policemen in the state bearing Mohammed Bello to appear before it.

Drama started when the counsel to the Commissioner of Police and one Inspector Mohammed Bello failed to appear before the panel to exonerate themselves of the charges against them in a petition brought before the panel by Ahmed Umar.

While the counsel to the petitioner declared before the panel of his readiness to proceed with the case, counsel to the respondents, David Wankari, declared that information about the respondent whose name was given as Mohammed Bello was so scanty.

Arguing that the petitioner did not provide the service number of the said Mohammed Bello, a situation which he said made it impossible for the police to identify the respondent, he pleaded with the panel to adjourn the case to enable him sort out the actual Mohammed Bello indicted by the petitioner.

Chairman of the panel, Christopher Awubra, expressed dismay that after two adjournments of the petition, the police had not deemed it fit to produce the respondent (Mohammed Bello).

Assenting to Wankari’s request by adjourning hearing on the petition till January 14, 2021, Awubra directed that if the counsel to the respondents could not identify the particular Mohammed Bello, he should produce all serving policemen in the state bearing Mohammed Bello for identification.

Blaming to the plaintiff counsel for not sourcing the respondent’s service number, he expressed dismay that “most policemen now go about without their name tags and service numbers.”

Counsel to the petitioner claimed that the said Mohammed Bello, at the time of filing the report, was serving at the state command headquarters. So, the panel urged him and the respondent’s counsel to ensure that the respondent appeared before the panel in January.