Nigerian Police and Extrajudicial killing part 2

Anambra State Branch
14 Orlu Street Fegge
P.O. Box 14883
Onitsha, Anambra State

19th September 2009.





The Inspector General of Police,

The Nigeria Police,
Force Headquarters,

Louis Edet House,

Central Area, Abuja.





EXTRA JUDICIAL KILLINGS, TORTURE, MASSIVE EXTORTION AND UNBRIDLED “MERCANTILISM” HAVE SERIOUSLY ERODED THE ANAMBRA STATE POLICE COMMAND.





Other Chronicle / Litany Of Killings And Abuses By Anambra SARS



The above subject matter refers,

Owing to the avalanche of negative reports still pouring into our state secretariat coupled with our independent field investigations, we are constrained to split this petition into two parts. The alleged murder of Mr. Chekwube Okeke allegedly by Officer Nicholas Ugwuoke and the brutality meted out to Mr. Godwin Essien was reported to our office while we were wrapping up this petition,the case as can be easily deciphered is much similar to that of Nonso Ayalogu, the same Ugwuoke as can be seen down here in this part 2 petition nearly killed our state secretary and treasurer Comrades Justus Ijeoma and Ezema Simeon on 9th July 2009 and have threatened to fulfill his vows next time they set their foot at Awkuzu SARS.

The lives of the principal officers of The CLO are already endangered because of our efforts in standing for those who are unjustly oppressed but we remain unrelenting in this task hence this further in-depth expose on the way it is in various SARS formations in the state.



The police members of the Special Anti Robbery Squared (SARS) are still merchandising and decapitating the human family instead of offering them protection and searching for armed robbers.



From their various units in different police stations in the state including their headquarters at Awkuzu, human life is a worthless thing as a chicken is accorded more dignity than a full-blooded citizen of Nigeria. Most of the officers are bloodthirsty and delight in inflicting horrendous torture on people. Some of their officers are patrons of various shrines and deadly native doctors where they are fortified and assured of adequate coverage incase of any petition over their atrocious acts, such matters against these bad eggs surprisingly die a natural death as the concerned authorities assigned to discipline them often dilly-dally over it and in most cases write a favorable report about them afterwards.



It is also disheartening just as our sister Organization- The Intersociety captured the scenario that the case of citizen Ayalogu is one out of over 120 persons that are killed extra judicially annually by the SARS in the state.



“More worrisome is the ungodly practice where “for the purpose of blood money, the SARS operatives have converted the offences of affray, criminal assault, theft, pick-pocket, stealing, receiving stolen goods, expiration of vehicle papers and drivers license to offences of armed robbery. Even purely civil matters such as land disputes, debts, and breach of agreements arising from business transactions have become armed robbery case” they (SARS) are also hired as debt collectors, framers, escorts, etc. they are torturers and extra judicial killers”.



“Money (astronomical bail fee) is a determinant factor with respect to the life and death of a detainee in the SARS dungeon. An armed robbery suspect who pays 1 million to 3 million to his or her captors or investigators is no longer an armed robbery suspect. If a suspect is detained up to one month, his/her family coughs out up to 90,000 as feeding fee which is paid without invoicing at a designated location within the SARS office premises. Funny enough, such detainee is given poor dietary meal per day while the so called “feeding fee” is collected and pocketed.”



The abuse of police powers and reckless shedding of blood by SARS operatives in Anambra dates back to the inception of their operations in the state but the documented evidence of the CLO started on 4th day of November 2004 when Comrade Ifeanyi Onuchukwu of Humane Justice Nigeria, an associate organization based in Nnewi was detained in the line of duty as an activist at central police station Awka where the special anti robbery squad then operated from. On this very day around 7:15pm, 20 able bodied men in SARS custody were brought out and shot dead in one fell swoop. The offence that warranted their mass shooting was that their relatives were not forth coming with their bail fees while the cell was getting overcrowded. Comrade Onuchukwu got their names before their massacre which have remained in the archives of the CLO till date. From our investigations, the SARS units operate in different categories, as it is in their head quarters at Awkuzu where citizen Nonso and Chekwube were killed, so it is in other units like Ekwulobia, Okpoko and Onitsha Area command office.



Okpoko SARS
The special anti robbery squad Okpoko operates inside Okpoko police station Obodoukwu road Ogbaru division near upper Iweka. Policemen from this unit are brutal, vulgar and crude in their dealings with citizens. They specialize in mass arrest of innocent citizens every evening and dumping them inside their dingy and batcher like cells. This is their greatest way of raising illicit money most days. On 18th November 2008 in their usual method, they arrested Comrade Hyginus Ngoka a member of the CLO and dumped him along with 55 others in a compacted cell. When CLO got wind of the development the state secretary, Comrade Justus Ijeoma was sent to secure his release. To the chagrin of all of us, the squad led by one Sergeant Tony compiled a list of all the detainees, they were threatened to be taken to Awkuzu, and labeled as armed robbers if they don’t cooperate. In their extortionist tendencies, the 12 months calendar of the year was used as identification mark to describe the amount collected, for eg. If they collected N6,000 from a detainee, June being the 6th month of the year shall be written across the person’s name etc. this method according to our findings is for accountability when they want to share the money with their superior and to confuse any prying eyes on their system.



March 18th 2009, citizen Kenneth Emenuga was crossing the express road with a bag containing raw materials for cellophane bag production. The Okpoko SARS led by supol Ogbuagu rushed at him like a thief and bundled him into their cell already filled again with over 40 peoples. He was released when CLO intervened but not without serious altercation between the CLO and the Squad leader Supol Ogbuagu who felt that we are spoiling business for him.



April 6th 2009. A team of SARS men from Okpoko led by John Ponch pounced on our secretary Comrade Justus Ijeoma while on board a cyclist (okada) along Bishop Onyeabor by New Cemetery road Onitsha. Without any questions, they grabbed his bag, hit him severally with gun butts on the face and ankle and bundled him into their patrol van to Okpoko station. On reaching there, they discussed in hushed tone among themselves, the same Supol (ASP) Ogbuagu called SP Kolo of the Awkuzu SARS office on phone, telling him thus ‘there is a man I’m sending my men to bring to you at Awkuzu, make sure you grill him so well since I can see that he is claiming to know so much” On reaching Awkuzu, SP kolo that newly came to Awkuzu then remembered courtesy and asked comrade Ijeoma who he is, he introduced himself as a CLO activist and the manner he addressed them put fear into SP kolo , eventually he was allowed to go home while the team apologized profusely to him for their “overzealous” character.



Another encounter by the CLO and the Okpoko SARS on Friday 9th July 2009 ended up at Awkuzu SARS but not without an open threat by Supol Ogbuagu to our secretary to stay clear of coming for anybody’s bail in the station again or else he will be shot dead next time. From our findings, Supol Ogbuagu is not only a corrupt officer but very deadly.



Ekwulobia SARS:

The Ekwulobia SARS in Aguata division of the state ranks top among the units that operate like their central headquarters at Awkuzu. They are “experts” in transferring criminal liability to uninvolved parties in order to hold them culpable. Torture and extra judicial killings also form the fulcrum of their major assignments.



On 16th May 2009, they invaded the family house of comrade Emeka Umeagbalasi the immediate past chairman of Anambra CLO and the incumbent board of trustees chairman of International Society for civil liberties and the rule of law [ntersociety). The Ekwulobia unit led by Supol Oko stormed their family house and took eight of them captive on the reason that they were searching for their missing Ak47 rifle. The intervention of the former state commissioner of police Amusa Bello saved the Umeagbalasi’s from facing the gallows. For an offence they knew nothing about they were slapped severally, handcuffed and tortured to confess where they kept the police rifle and shown about five graves including a fresh one where according to them “those who proved stubborn are kept in perpetuity”



Onitsha Area Command SARS
The team from this group specializes in arresting innocent people, threaten them to be taken to SARS Awkuzu with intent to instill fear in them and extort some money from them. Unfortunately all the policemen from this unit that engage in this dastardly act conceal their identity by wearing bullet proof vests only without their name tags or epaulet. The notorious group from this division use police trucks with reg no NPC 413 C (special Anti Robbery Operation Onitsha). Severally they arrest people reading newspapers at the upper Iweka newsstands opposite Nitel office and extort money from them. Two of their victims are Samuel Okoli 08060559429 and Basil Ezeigwe of 16 Nri Street Woliwo Onitsha.

Another notorious squad from the Onitsha Area Command office patrol with an unmarked mistsubishi L 300 bus. Their team leader ASP Akpan is not only corrupt but take special delight in indiscriminate and unlawful detention of citizens. Several times we got reports of confiscating people’s legitimately bought goods and vehicles by the team and severally have we intervened to save the situation. On Wednesday September 16 2009, ASP Akpan nearly killed our state secretary Comrade Justus Ijeoma if not for the timely intervention of the chairmen of the CLO and Intersociety.



Awkuzu SARS:

A visit to Awkuzu SARS evokes horrible feelings, those employed to “serve and protect” have turned their instruments of coercion into a weapon of warfare on defenseless citizens. Cases of real armed robbery suspects are combined with minor matters involving business transactions, report of personal disputes among two individual etc. Cries from victims of torture rent the air often piercing through the environment.



On investigation, CLO discovered that about 5 cells are operated there, those kept in cell 3-5 are barred from entertaining any visit from any quarters, they are inflicted with serious psychological and physical injuries during torture. Some in the process own up to crimes they never committed while some chose to die than accept another person’s guilt.



Inmates are detained naked, the roofs of their cells are leaking while the rains pour on the helpless detainees at random, the inmates urinate in a plastic bottle and pour it inside a hole dug at the center of the cell. There is no disparity between an armed robbery suspect and a driver caught without a valid driving license



On Thursday August 2009, CLO saw two dead bodies brought out from the cell, Another detainee was at the point of giving up when Okechukwu the “doctor” was called, he ordered for a bottle of malt and milk which was given to the dying soul before he was taken away.



The Awkuzu SARS parades many “merchants and killers” as police officers but these names have featured prominently in our findings as the worst- Supol Idoko, PC Obiodor, SP kolo and IPO Tony, Supol Bello and Nicholas Ugwoke.







On 20th May 2009 Citizen Chileta Anigbogu a trader at Tools and Allied Market Bridge Head was about to cross the road to the other side when police team led by Supol Bello arrested him, he was detained at the SARS cell Awkuzu until the state secretary of CLO comrade Ijeoma was sent to effect his release, before then they had demanded for N50, 000.



On Friday 9th July 2009, the secretary of CLO comrade Justus Ijeoma in company of comrade Alex Olisa also of the CLO went to Okpoko SARS unit in Ogbaru Anambra to secure the release of a cousin (Chikaodili) to the state treasurer the CLO who was accused of bearing forged vehicle papers.



According to Ijeoma, “our insistence on not paying a kobo out of the sum of N300, 000 demanded by the IPO Inspector Nwafor nearly cost us our lives, when we approached the leader of the team ASP Ogbuagu, things got worse and out of ferocity and frustration, they transferred the case to Awkuzu and dared us to step our feet on Okpoko SARS again and meet our waterloo. At Awkuzu, illegality begot compounded illegality; suspects were being tortured not minding our presence. A group of male suspects were seen being hit all over their bodies with metal objects for “urinating in the cells” not even their private regions were spared.



By the time we came back the next day on the instructions of the OC SARS CSP Felix, the relatives of the two other suspects who were arrested alongside citizen Chikaodili had paid 50,000 each to secure their freedom. Though citizen Chikaodili was released to us unconditionaly but we saw hell. Officer Nicholas Ugwuoke etc threatened us with death publicly. A suspect who just bought his freedom after six weeks of unlawful detention for receiving stolen goods informed us in confidence that two days back, two detainees were brought out and killed extra judicially for resisting the cell commander and refusing to bribe him. The cell commander had reportedly alerted SARS operatives and accused them [the fellow detainee] of trying to escape from cell. The said operatives bundled them out of cell and caused them to be sent to the land of no return”.



GRAND SUMMARY AND DEMANDS
We took time to itemize all the various faces of criminality and anomaly which the police through the SARS operatives perpetrate in Anambra state because of its grave dangers not only to the image of the police and Anambra people but to our country Nigeria among the comity of nations.



One of the founding fathers of the USA Thomas Jefferson wrote concerning Civil liberties in the US constitution saying “we hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal”. The bulk of chapter iv of the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria asserts the freedom due to its citizens, beside local laws, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights UDHR Article 5 states that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel Inhuman or degrading treatment / punishment”.



The African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) and the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials adopted by the UN general assembly on December 17 1979 on its 5th congress maintains in part 8 thus “no law enforcement official shall inflict, instigate or tolerate any act of torture or other cruel inhuman or degrading treatment”.



The UN code of conduct for law enforcement officers article 2 says, “ In the performance of their duty law enforcement officials shall respect and protect human dignity and maintain and uphold the human rights of all persons”



Article 7 also states “law enforcement officials shall not commit any act of corruption. They shall also rigorously oppose and combat all such acts”.



The Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials adopted at the 8th crime congress of the UN part IV provides that ‘in carrying out their duty, law enforcement officials shall as far as possible apply non violent means, …part V further provides that “whenever lawful use of force and fire arms is unavoidable, law enforcement officials shall minimize damage and injury, respect and preserve human life, ensure that assistance and medical aid are rendered to any injured or affected persons at the earliest possible moment as well as ensure that relatives or close friends of the injured or affected persons are notified at the earlier moment”



Nigeria has ratified all these protocols, unfortunately many of our law enforcers carry on with murderous impunity, our adoption of the SARS activities and the killings of citizens Nonso Ayalogu and Chekwube Okeke as a case study in Anambra remains one sample out of the various ugly faces of crime fighting in the state.

Right now in Anambra, the mobile police formations including the recent 600 (650) drafted into the state have continued to mount multiple road blocks and upped their ante in extortion and harassing of motorists.



The regular black/ black policemen are also having their field days in various towns in the state especially Awka, Onitsha and Nnewi ‘dealing’ with those they are supposedly paid to protect.



Society is dead without conscientious objectors; therefore we say enough of these senseless killings and brutality even as we adopt our previous demands in part 1 of this project and call for these additional requests:



Dissolution of all SARS units in Anambra and fresh reconstitution of all the officers and rank and files to work in the new formations with a specified code of conduct to guide their operations. The new SARS also should be stripped of handling criminal investigations and such investigative matters referred to the state CID and other competent bodies for proper investigations.



We also restate our earlier position in our last press statement dated 1st September 2009 and join our sister organization the Intersociety in calling again for a holistic mass transfer of various officers and men that have overstayed out of Anambra State.



Extra ordinary situations require extra ordinary measures, in the last 8 months (2009 alone) Anambra State police command had 4 different commissioners of police, we hope the new CP Philemon Leha shall be our Messiah that will change the face of policing in the state. The state is in dire need of committed officers and rank and file whose policing method shall focus on intelligence report gathering, crime bursting, and proactive security instead of reactionary policing and proclivity for personal accumulation at the expense of human lives.



Our decision not to extend a formal congratulatory letter after your confirmation as the IGP on 3rd August 2009 was deliberate; this is because we knew that floodgates of encomiums/ messages would definitely pour in for you including those with other personal/ vested interests.



But our major concern lies on the success of your tenure. Various groups and media houses have also reeled out various agendas for you but in all we believe on your promise not to disappoint Nigerians especially going by the speedy confirmation of your appointment.

We cannot continue to fold our hands and watch while innocent citizens are mowed down everyday in the name of law enforcement.



May God give you the needed wisdom to demystify the ‘demons’ ravaging the police and enthrone the tradition of professionalism justice and discipline in the Nigerian police.



Kindly do the needful.



Yours faithfully for the CLO.



Comrade Aloysius Attah.

Chairman, Anambra State Branch.

08035090548



The President Fed. Rep. of Nigeria
The Senate President

The Speaker House of Representatives

The Governor Anambra State

The Chief Judge of Anambra State

Speaker Anambra State House of Assembly

The Chairman, Police Service Commission

The AIG Zone 9 Umuahia

The Minister for Police Affairs Abuja

The Commissioner of Police Anambra State

The Executive Sec. National

Human Rights Commission

The United Nations Sec. General

The UNO High commissioner for Human Rights
Amnesty International London UK

Human Rights Watch New York USA

United Action for Democracy Nigeria

Intersociety Nigeria

The Area Commander Onitsha