A judicial drama that has lasted almost 12 years will reach a milestone on Thursday when Justice Ishaq Bello of the FCT High Court, Abuja, is scheduled to deliver judgement on the infamous Apo Six killings.
The court was to deliver the judgement on February 13, but Justice Bello pushed it forward to the new date.
The case centres on the alleged extra-judicial killing of five young auto-spare parts dealers in Apo, a satellite town in Abuja, and a young woman by officers of the Nigerian Police on the night of June 7, 2005.
The victims, Ekene Isaac Mgbe, Ifeanyi Ozor, Chinedu Meniru, Paulinus Ogbonna, Anthony and Augustina Arebu, were said to be returning from a night club when they were stopped at a police checkpoint.
The police had claimed that the victims, aged between 21 and 25 years, were members of an armed robbery gang that had opened fire on the officers when accosted at the checkpoint.
But a judicial panel of inquiry set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo found the police account to be false and recommended the trial of five officers for extra-judicial killings.
The indicted officers are Danjuma Ibrahim, Othman Abdulsalami, now at large, Nicholas Zakaria, Ezekiel Acheneje, Baba Emmanuel, and Sadiq Salami. The defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
But 12 years later, the trial continued to drag on in court.
The protracted trial has been hindered by institutional challenges, ranging from series of adjournments, problems over conveyance of defendants from the prison to court and difficulty in getting witnesses to testify.
Although the killings had caused a national outrage, after 12 years, the public has almost forgotten that the trial of the accused officers is still going on.
And the families of the dead have all but given up on justice.
The “Apo Six’’, as the youthful victims have come to be remembered in and outside Nigeria, had set out for fun and merry making that ill-fated night almost 12 years ago.
But Nigerians would later be riveted by the horrific news of their deaths at the hands of the police.
The public outcry that followed the incident prompted then President Obasanjo to order an official inquiry.
The five officers accused of the killings and eight other police witnesses eventually testified before the panel of inquiry that Mr. Danjuma Ibrahim, the most senior of the accused officers, had allegedly ordered the killings of the youth.
According to the report of the panel, the victims were at a nightclub located at Gimbiya Street, Area 11 in Abuja that night of June 7, 2005 when they had a face-off with Mr. Ibrahim after the only female among the victims, Augustina Arebu, turned down romantic advances of the senior police officer.
Mr. Danjuma had allegedly stormed out of the night club to a police checkpoint at the end of the street and told the officers on duty that he had sited a group of armed robbers in the area.
According to the panel’s report, which forms the bulk of the evidence in court, when the six unwary young people later arrived at the checkpoint in their car, Mr. Ibrahim allegedly had the car blocked and ordered the officers to shoot at the occupants.
Four of the six died on the spot, but two of them, Mr. Ozor and Ms. Arebu, survived the initial onslaught.
The report had it that Mr. Ozor had immediately called to alert his friends after surviving the burst of gunfire. It was the last time they would hear from him.
According to a NAN report, the police officers later testified at the criminal trial that the two survivors were later taken to a location outside town where they were executed.
The officers allegedly later planted guns on the six bodies and had photographer take pictures of “armed robbers” killed in an exchange of gunfire with the police.
NAN reported that the photographer was later to raise an alarm and released the pictures.
In a curious twist, Anthony Edem, one of the officers close to the case, died after testifying to extra-judicial killings.
An autopsy report from the National Hospital Abuja confirmed that Mr. Edem died of poisoning and is one of the numerous exhibits before the court.
The pictures of their mangled bodies of the victims cannot be published due to their gruesome state.
“There is nowhere else to look except at the bodies. There is a close-up of a face, gaping exit-wound at the temple,” Amobi Nzelu, lawyer to the families of the victims, was quoted in a BBC article of May 9 2005.
“Limbs and torsos covered in blood. Dead eyes stare upward. This is a human being, look what they did.”
Source: Premium Times
카이센 윈즈
Fang Jifan은 Wang San을 흘끗 보더니 그에게 손을 흔들었다.
에그벳 주소
그러나 술레이만은 사람들의 마음을 진정시키기 위해 리정의 입을 이용해야 했다.
라이즈 오브 올림푸스 100
Zhang Chaoxian의 얼굴이 순식간에 무너졌고 그는 Fang Jifan을 믿을 수 없다는 눈으로 바라 보았습니다.
에그 카지노
“물론 이것은 펜으로 한 단어씩 쓰여진 것이 아닙니다.”
리액툰즈
Liu Jian은 미소를 지었습니다. “이 법령은 당신의 서쪽 산에서 나왔습니다!”
블랙 맘바
그냥 조무빈, 우리에게 직접 지시를 내리는 게 좋지 않을까요?
라이징 슬롯
그리고… 시간이 지남에 따라 치료 효과는 점점 더 뚜렷해졌습니다.
메가 슬롯
청지기가 울부짖는 소리를 들음: “찾아봐, 찾아봐.”
아리아나 슬롯
Hongzhi 황제는 도시 밖의 천막을 가리키며 “그게 어디 있습니까?”
777 슬롯
이 고민은 물론 지유양의 말 때문에 시작됐다.
999 슬롯
벌써 만개한 여섯째 동생을 바라보았다.
라이즈 오브 올림푸스
이 물고기들은 색깔이 모두 노란색으로 강의 붕어와 크게 다르지 않습니다.
온라인 슬롯
일부는 Franji의 배에서 약탈당했습니다.
카지노 슬롯 머신
Hongzhi 황제는 앉아서 Zhu Zaimo를 응시하며 “이것 만? “이라고 말했습니다.
5 라이온스 메가웨이즈
그래서 Fang Jinglong은 너무 오래 머물고 싶지 않았지만 단호하게 출발하기로 결정했습니다.
황제 슬롯
“폐하.” Fang Jifan은 “이유를 모르겠습니다, 폐하 …”라고 말했습니다.
온라인 슬롯 사이트
그리고 Cheng Minzheng도 나타나지 않았기 때문에 우울증으로 사망했습니다.
r 슬롯
Fang Tianci는 다시 기절했고 작은 손이 약간 아파서 울지 말지 망설였습니다.
https://www.webwiki.co.uk/etextpad.com/cerom4vdu9
슬롯 게임
그가 자신감에 차 있는 것을 보고 Zhang Sheng과 다른 사람들은 약간의 죄책감을 느꼈습니다.
꽁포 토토
그러나 직설적으로 말하면, 무수한 주요 사건들 앞에서 실제로 언급할 가치가 없습니다.
온라인 슬롯 사이트
Liu Kaizhi가 연주한 것이 정확히 폐하가 원했던 것임을 그가 어떻게 모를 수 있겠습니까?
무료 슬롯
Xiao Jing도 기뻐했습니다. “선장님, 오랜만입니다.”
마종 웨이즈
“…” Fang Jifan은 말을 주저하며 얼굴을 붉혔습니다.
문 프린세스 100
Patta, Xingyun Liushui는 다시 무릎을 꿇고 땅에 엎드려 일제히!
미스터 슬롯
그러나 결국 보고서는 매우 간단한 것입니다. 주의 깊게 읽으면 아마 이해할 것입니다.
프라그마틱 게임
Xie Qian은 그것을 보고 갑자기 믿을 수 없는 것을 발견했습니다.
슬롯 123
Zhu Houzhao는 방금 눈을 굴렸습니다. “그는 그의 백성을 사랑합니다. 이 궁전에 무슨 문제가 있습니까?”
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