At last, justice has come the way of the oppressed. In a bold statement by a Nigerian court, a trigger-happy policeman has been sentenced to death by hanging after he was found guilty of gratuitously killing a young man in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, a little over two years ago.
Although the judgement delivered by Justice Lucky Boufili will not bring 20-year-old Emmanuel Victor back to life, his mother, Grace, in whose presence the boy was shot, and other members of the family can take cold comfort from the fact that the perpetrator, Matthew Egheghe, will not go scot-free. They can also be consoled by the knowledge that the courageous judgement will send a message to other security agents who take pleasure in routinely gunning down innocent citizens of this country in circumstances that tend to promote impunity.
Reports have it that, on that fateful day, Victor was returning from church, when he noticed policemen extorting money from some motorists. He probably felt compelled to intervene. Victor, therefore, reportedly confronted the policemen, asking them to stop their illegal activity. But rather than heed his admonition, Egheghe was said to have aimed his gun at him and shot him at point-blank range.
Hear the grief-stricken mother: “They shot my son brutally. As he fell while they were shooting him, the tallest of them still continued shooting him on the ground.” The distressed mother said she could do little to stop the killers from snuffing life out of her son. Even when she rushed to pick up her shot son, she said she was threatened and forced to stay away. She watched helplessly as his youthful life gradually ebbed away with each gush of blood from his body. What a ruthless display of bestiality towards a citizen by people paid to protect lives.
For such a dastardly act, only the maximum penalty, as delivered by the state High Court in Nembe, could have sufficed. It is also commendable that the police authorities, who are usually quick in rising to the defence of errant policemen, did the right thing for once. Egheghe and his two accomplices, Lucky Oberemelu and Monday Umeh, were not only dismissed, after an orderly room trial, they were promptly handed over to the appropriate authorities for trial. This should be the right path to follow in cases of this nature.
In many instances where innocent people are killed the way Victor was, the police sometimes arrange guns, machetes and other weapons as purported evidence of arms recovered from the dead persons, who are promptly labelled as armed robbers. In the case of Victor, who was said to have died clutching his Bible, a pair of scissors was thrust in his lifeless hand in place of the Bible. And under cross-examination, Oberemelu reportedly said that the three policemen were almost disarmed by the boy while armed with the scissors.
It is needless to say that the police have sent many to their untimely death in circumstances not unlike Victor’s. For instance, on November 7, 2012, a certain Kazeem, a bus conductor, was reportedly shot dead at Tipper Garage, Ketu, Lagos, by one Oluwakiyesi Olugboyega of MOPOL 50, Abuja. He was shot following a disagreement with the policeman over a N50 change from the bus fare.
Two years earlier, a bus driver by the same name was also shot dead at the Akowonjo-Egbeda area, a suburb of Lagos. The policemen were miffed that Kazeem refused to part with the N50 bribe that his colleagues were made to pay each time they passed the spot that the policemen, who were supposed to be on patrol, were stationed. Kazeem’s case was said to be the second in two weeks within the same area, as a motorcyclist had earlier been shot dead for refusing to pay a bribe of N20.
In a 2008 report, the Delta State branch of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, a non-governmental organisation, claimed that 10 Nigerians were killed nationwide every month at checkpoints by the police and the Army. In November 2007, the then Inspector-General of Police, Mike Okiro, disclosed that during his first 100 days in office the police killed 785 Nigerians, whom he described as robbers.
Earlier, in 2006, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, had stated that “the practice of summarily executing suspected criminals by the Nigeria police is widespread and systematic.” The international rights organisation, Human Rights Watch, claims that the police killed more than 8,000 Nigerians illegally between 2000 and 2007.
It is instructive that justice was served in the case of Victor because his relations insisted on going to court to seek justice. The role of the media in persistently following developments in the case also ensured that it was not swept under the carpet. What it means is that whenever such situations occur, those affected should not be afraid of seeking justice in the court of law. And whenever such cases get to the court, presiding judges should not hesitate to visit the severest punishment available on the offenders.
That is the way it is done in civilised societies. This way, we can begin to curb the frequent acts of lawlessness and lack of respect for human lives in Nigeria by security personnel.
Punch
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