Wole Balogun, Ado Ekiti
An Ekiti based human rights lawyer, Mr Morakinyo Ogele, has sued the Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu, over the alleged shooting of two students of the Federal University Oye Ekiti (FUOYE) by cops during a protest held in the town recently.
The students, Oluwaseyi Kehinde, a 100 level student of the Department Agriculture and Horticulture and Okonofua Joseph, a 300 level Biology Education student, were hit by bullets allegedly fired by the police and died.
The application was brought pursuant to Order 11 Rule 1 of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure Rules), 2009.
Policemen attached to the Ekiti State first lady, Mrs Bisi Fayemi, on September 10 during a protest organised by FUOYE’s students to express their grievances over epileptic power supply, allegedly shot the students during the protest and alleged violent attack on the convoy of Ekiti State First Lady, Erelu Bisi Fayemi.
Mrs Fayemi was in Oye Ekiti for an empowerment programme which coincided with the protest.
Joined in the suit are the Nigeria Police Force (1st respondent), the Inspector General of Police (2nd) and the Police Commissioner, Ekiti Command (3rd).
In the suit filed at the Ado Ekiti High court on October 30, the applicant urged the court to determine whether it is lawful for the officers of the respondents to allegedly kill the students in such a brutal manner.
He urged the court to also determine “whether it is lawful for the court to award damages against the respondents under the circumstance.”
In an eight-paragraph written address attached to the application, the applicant described the shooting “as an abridgement of the rights of the deceaseds as enshrined in section 33 of the 1999 constitution and that such action amounted to extra judicial killing.”
Ogele sought a declaration that the killing was a breach of the constitution and also demanded for an order directing the respondents to conduct a serious investigation within the Ekiti State Police Command and identify the officers responsible for the killings.
“An order directing the police to prosecute the officers. Akso, being sought is an order compelling the respondents to conduct compulsory psychiatric test on their officers for the safety of the Nigerian citizens and order directing the respondents to pay a sum of one billion naira (N1,000,000,000) as damages to the families of the students.
“The families of the students must be compensated, because they were only exercise their constitutional rights of protest when they were murdered by the men of the respondents,” he said.
However, FUOYE, which had been closed down following to the crisis, will reopen on November 11 for academic work.