DCP Danjuma, three others discharged, acquitted

From Godwin Tsa, Abuja

Almost twelve years after they were charged with the murder of six traders in Abuja, two policemen, Ezekiel Acheneje and Emmauel Baba, have been sentenced to death by a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The convicts were found guilty of extra judicial killing of Augustina Arebun and Anthony Nwokike at the Gaduwa Estate of Abuja, who were later buried in a shallow grave in Jabi District to cover up the crime.

Five other policemen also charged were, however, discharged and acquitted for lack of evidence linking them to the crime.

Delivering judgment in a nine-count criminal charge brought by the Federal Government  against six policemen, the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) judiciary, Justice Ishaq Bello, said the court had no option than to convict the two policemen on account of their confessional statements that they shot the two traders following instruction from a superior officer.

Justice Bello said the action of the two policemen was callous and barbaric because, by law, they were supposed to preserve life of innocent citizens.

The judge further said the action of the convicted policemen was condemnable, because there was no evidence that the two traders committed any crime or constituted threat to the policemen at the time they were killed.

Justice Bello said the killing of the traders was particularly painful because they were arrested by members of the public alive and handed over to the policemen only for the same police to take laws into their hands by summarily executing them.

Justice Bello had dismissed the retraction of the confessional statement by the two convicted policemen during the trial, saying that it is an afterthought because their statements were outright confession.

He discharge and acquitted three other policemen, including a Deputy Commissioner  of Police (DCP), Alhaji Danjuma Ibrahim, Othman Abdulsalami and Sadiq Salami, who were charged with conspiracy and culpable homicide, contrary to sections 97 and 221 of the Penal Code, for want of evidence.

Justice Bello said from the totality of the evidence placed before the court, the charge of conspiracy cannot be established against the freed policemen because of the inability of the prosecution to convince the court that they met and agreed to kill the six traders on June 7, 2005 while returning from a night club along Gimbiya Street, Area 11 of the FCT.

The judge said in the case of DCP Ibrahim, who was alleged to have seized an AK47 to shoot the traders in their vehicle on the fateful day, the allegation collapsed in the face of contradictions from two prosecution witnesses, who gave contradictory evidence on the alleged gun seizure and shooting.

Justice Bello said there was no dispute as to the fact that the DCP was having a service pistol on him and that there was no dispute as to the fact that he never fired any shot with the service pistol.

He expressed displeasure with the shoddy manner in which investigation into the alleged killing was conducted by police authority, which he said fell below expectation.

Justice Bello held that if the finger print of the DCP had been taken and analysed through forensic examination, it would have been established whether he handled the gun used in killing the traders on the day of the incidence or not.

On the other four traders killed in their Peugeot 406 vehicle, the judge said the issue remained ambiguous and vague  because the prosecution was unable to establish those responsible for their murder.

In one way, the judge said a witness told the court that DCP Danjuma was responsible for the shooting of the four traders, while another witness, in his own testimony, said it was patrol teams invited to Gimibiya Street, on account of a distressed call, that shot at the vehicle of the traders, when they allegedly refused to stop at a checkpoint mounted by the police to track down suspected robbers that had allegedly attacked Crown Guest Inn on Gimbiya Street, Abuja.

Justice Bello said in the face of the contradiction, it was practically impossible to hold anybody responsible for the death of the four traders more so where no name was mentioned among the patrol team allegedly invited to reinforce the Ambush Squad that trailed the suspected robbers.

He also said it was not in doubt that the occupants of the Peugeot car failed to stop at the checkpoint mounted by policemen, adding that the decision of the occupants to reverse at a high speed, on sighting the police, may have raised suspicions that led to the attack on them.

Reacting to the court’s ruling, former president of Aka Ikenga and a legal practitioner, Goddy Uwazurike, the judge for convicting and sentencing the accused to death.

He said the judgment had been long in coming, while declaring: “It is gratifying that the era of kill and go is coming to an end.”