Lawyers demand justice over alleged murder of NSCDC officer
Doosuur Iwambe, Abuja
Following the brutal killing of an Assistant Superintendent of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Ogah Jumbo by two traffic police officers last week at Nyanya, the Association of Idoma Lawyers have demanded for justice.
The association in a letter jointly signed by the Chief Godwin Obla (SAN) and Dr. J. Y. Musa (SAN), patron and president of the association respectively, the Idoma lawyers said that any attempt to cover up the case will be strongly resisted.
The lawyers queried the decision of the police to prosecute a case in which it was the accused. According to Obla, the decision of the police falls short of the objective parameters of justice delivery.
He added that even if the deceased officer was guilty of any traffic violation as alleged by his killers, it was not enough reason for him to be killed as the law stipulates a penalty of fine for such act.
“The association, consistent with its pursuit of objective parameters of justice delivery, wishes to strongly suggest and indicate its interest to be mutually involved in a post-mortem examination of the cause of death of the deceased.
“These indication and suggestion should not be understood to mean our lack of confidence in the police to carry out a dispassionate work in this regard, but as stated above, only towards achieving the pursuit of the whole hog of objective parameters of justice delivery.
“Otherwise, in the event of any cover up or foot-dragging in the prosecution of this heinous and clear case of wanton culpable homicide, the association will spare no efforts at exploring the alternative prosecutorial route of direct criminal prosecution provided by the laws of the FCT.
“This we shall not hesitate to undertake alongside an already contemplated civil action in humongous sums in hundreds of millions of naria in damages,” Obla added.
The association further expressed worry over the response of the police as postulated by the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, who said at a press conference that the force was not responsible for the death of the NSCDC officer.
“While the force public relations officer can choose to interpret the demand of his job descriptions only from the narrow prism of protecting the image of the force at all cost and to any extent even at the expense of values of humanity and sanctity of life, however, to do so in the face of contrary hard facts of verifiable eyewitness accounts and video recordings of the incident, is counter-productive to the very ends of good image sought to be achieved by that officer,” he stated.
