Murder, So Callous!

The killing of Okorie Aneke, an indigene of Emene community in Enugu state, shows how increasingly callous and wicked the Nigeria police has become over the years.

Since May 15 this year Aneke was murdered in cold-blood in his Emene town, police authorities, rather than bring his killer (s) to justice, have done everything humanly possible to cover up the murder.

KlinReports learnt that policemen at a checkpoint along Enugu-Abakiliki express road, a few meters to Emene Junction, halted Okorie who was driving his commercial motorcycle in the morning of that fateful day. One of the policemen demanded N20.00 (twenty naira) from Okorie, but he responded that he just left his house to start the day's job.

Police officers in Nigeria have the penchant of insisting on collecting bribe from operatives of commercial motorcycles and vehicles before letting them go.

Thus Okorie's explanation that he was just resuming the day's work fell on deaf ears of the officers, as one of them insisted that he must part with N20.00 before he would be set free.

Within a twinkle of an eye, a Police Inspector in the team shouted, 'Bring it!'. A gunshot followed, Gboaaaaaaaah! Bullets from the gun shattered unsuspecting Okorie's back, pierced through, and busted out his heart through the chest.

If not for the keen interest of a passer-by lawyer, Vincent Obetta, the policemen had almost succeeded in, as usual, branding Okorie an armed robber and getting away scot-free with his murder. But Barrister Obetta witnessed the gory episode, as he was driving back to his Enugu base from Abakiliki, Ebonyi state at the time. The lawyer observed the most callous manner the killer cop murdered poor Obetta!

To conceal the killing, the killer policeman, according to Obetta, walked towards his victim, and hung his riffle on the neck of the dying Okorie. Okorie suspected a foul play, alighted from his vehicle, and told the killer cop to remove the riffle he hung on the neck of the dying man. The killer policeman refused.

Sensing danger as the neighborhood trooped to the scene, the policemen called up their colleagues at the nearby Emene Police Station. The team, led by the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) of the station, arrived the scene in a Hillux van. And the killer cop reported to the DCO that late Okorie and two unknown assailants who, he claimed, fled into the bush attacked him. The killer cop, also, reportedly maintained that the assailants wanted to snatch his gun from him, saying it was in the process that he gunned down Okorie.

But Barrister Obetta countered the killer policeman, maintaining that nobody was with the slain Okorie as at the time he shot him. Obetta added that Okorie did not attack the killer cop as he claimed, explaining to the DCO that the policeman shot Okorie while he (Okorie) was still talking with the other policemen.

The DCO, subsequently, asked the lawyer, Obetta, what he wanted the police to do over the matter. Obetta suggested that the dying Okorie should be taken to the National Orthopedic Hospital, Enugu so that his life could still be saved. Barrister Obetta, thereafter, assisted in lifting Okorie, who was writhing in pains, into the Police Hillux van for conveyance to the suggested hospital.

But rather than take the dying Okorie to the hospital, the Police Hillux van diverted to Emene Police Station, where the killer cop started boasting, in the presence of his Divisional Poloice Officer (DPO), that he had killed an armed robber.

Barrister Obetta was undaunted. Having followed the team to the station, he reported the cold-blooded murder of Okorie to the DPO, and emphasized that he was killed without any provocation.

By this time, an irate mob had gathered in front of the Police Station, but the DPO ordered their dispersal. Immediately, the police deployed canisters of teargas at the crowd, and fired gunshots into the air, a situation which led to pandemonium.

Barrister Obetta, also, had to run for his dear life, abandoning his vehicle behind. The scared lawyer sprinted towards Enugu-Abakaliki Express road, boarded a commercial motorcyclist (popularly called Okada) which took him to Enugu State Police headquarters where he sought to see the state Police Commissioner, Mohammed Zarewa, but he was told that the commissioner was not in the office. Obetta, later, met with the Officer in Charge of the Commissioner of Police Monitoring Unit, Mike Abatam, and narrated the murder story to him.

Barrister Obetta's visit coincided with a meeting of top police officers in the command to which he, on invitation, narrated the incident. The President of Emene Town Union and some leaders of his community were, incidentally, at the command at the same time. The top officers of the command, then, begged the community leaders and Barrister Obetta to, first, go and pacify youths of the community who were protesting Okorie's brutal murder. The police officers, also, pleaded with them not go to the press over the incident, asking them to give the police enough time to look into the matter.

Back at Emene Police Station, Okorie body was deposited in the mortuary. The police assisted Barrister Obetta to recover his car where he abandoned it during the stampede. They, equally, recovered the slain Okorie's motorcycle.

It is heart-rending that despite the forgoing and the obvious fact that Okorie was unjustly killed, Enugu state police command went to town with an information that Okorie was a criminal.

In fact, ASP Ebere Amaraizu, Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), in a radio announcement, stated that the deceased Okorie and two unknown other assailants had attempted to snatch the rifle of a policeman who managed to overpower them and shot Okorie.

What this meant is that PPRO Amaraizu bought into the criminal theory of the killer policemen. And this deliberate falsehood is, of course, meant to cover the criminality of the policemen involved in the broad daylight murder of innocent Okorie.

Investigations by KlinReports show that PPRO Ebere Amairizu, alongside other top police officers who felt that the current increase in police extra-judicial killings in Enugu state has become a big embarrassment to the command, chose to kill the murder case.

Okorie's brutal murder has, understandably, sparked off an avalanche of reactions from individuals and organizations in Nigeria.

To this effect, the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) condemns, in an unequivocal terms, the killing, demanding immediate arraignment of the killer cop before a court of competent jurisdiction. The organization, also, demands necessary protection to the star witness in the matter, Barrister Obetta, so that no harm would befall him.

Regretting the moves to cover up the extra-judicial killing of Okorie, CLO asks the Police Service Commission to look into the matter, with a view to taking necessary disciplinary actions against all police officers, including Amaraizu, involved in the falsehood of gun snatching theory.

'All hands should be on deck to ensure that the Late Okorie Aneke is vindicated even in death and the killer cop made to face trial for murder.

The Presidency is called upon to ensure that urgent action is taken to stem the increase in extra-judicial killings by men of Enugu State police Command, who now kill with impunity knowing fully well that their superior officers will always cover up the case for them', CLO wrote in a letter to President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, signed by Olu Omotayo Esq, Southeast Zonal Director, and dated May 19, 2009.

KlinReports, at this juncture, joins CLO in demanding that justice be done in the murder of Okorie. Police reckless killing of innocent Nigerians appear to have become the order of the day, and this is highly unfortunate.

Authorities of Nigeria should, therefore, stand up against this ravaging menace, else Nigerians will, soon, be exterminated by police officers, who are even paid salaries with their hard earned taxes. A stitch in time saves Nine!