By Sameul Itsede
Following the brutal killing of Ogah Ochigbo Jumbo, an Assistant Superintendent of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, by two traffic Police Officers last week at Nyanya, the Association of Idoma Lawyers have demanded for total justice, adding that any attempt to cover up or foot-drag the case will be strongly reisted.
In a letter jointly signed and issued to the Acting Inspector General of Police, Adamu Mohammed over the weekend by Chief Godwin. O. Obla, SAN, Patron of the association and Dr. J. Y Musa, SAN, President of the association, the Idoma Lawyers queried the decision of the Nigerian Police Force to prosecute a case in which it was the accused.
Stressing further Obla, noted that the decision of the police fell short of the objective parameters of justice delivery. He added that even if the deceased officer was guilty of traffic violation as accused by his killers, it was not enough reason for him to be killed, as the law stipulates a penalty of fine for such act.
“The Association, consistent with its pursuit of objective parameters of justice delivery, wishes to strongly suggest and indicate it’s interest to be mutually involved in a post-mortem examination of the cause of death of the deceased. These indication and suggestion should not be understood to mean our lack of confidence in the Police Authority to carry out a dispassionate work in this regard, but as stated above, only towards achieving the pursuit of the whole hog of objective parameters of justice delivery.
“Otherwise in the event of any cover up or foot-dragging in the prosecution of this heinous and clear case of wanton culpable homicide, the association will spare no efforts at exploring the alternative prosecutorial route of Direct Criminal Prosecution Laws of the FCT. This we shall not hesitate to undertake alongside an already contemplated civil action in humongous sums in Hundreds of millions of Naria in damages,” he added.
According to Obla, the association is also worried by the response of the police as postulated by the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba in a press briefing on Thursday March 21, in which he stated that the force was not responsible for the death of officer Jumbo.
“While the force public relations officer can choose to interpret the demand of his job descriptions only from the narrow prism of protecting the image of the force at all cost and to any extent even at the expense of values of humanity and sanctity of life, however to do so in the face of contrary hard facts of verifiable eye-witness accounts and video recordings of the incident, is counter-productive to the very ends of good image sought to be achieved by that officer.
“For whatever it may be worth, assuming arguendo, that the deceased officer was indeed guilty of the alleged violation of Road Traffic Regulations, would that fact in itself be enough to constitute the officers of the Nigerian Police Force into a murderous two-man gang of assassins for an alleged offence of infraction of Road Traffic Regulation that carries no more than penalty of fines?,” he questioned.
While condoning with families of the deceased last week, the IGP had called for calm and assured that the case will not be swept under the carpet. The deceased is a native of Otukpo, Benue State.
