Policeman that killed banker jailed for 12 years

Five years after the incident that claimed the life of a banker in the
heart of  Abuja, justice however, has come to the family of messes
Okere of mpape Abuja, as Justice Silvanus C. Oriji of the Federal
Capital Territory (FCT) High court sitting at Apo, Abuja has sentenced a police officer,
Olotu Owoicho, to 12 years imprisonment for causing the death
of one Mrs. Doris Nonye Okere, who was killed in 2011.

The judge delivered the verdict Wednesday, six years after
late Mrs. Okere was hit by a bullet released from an AK47 in the hands
of Owoicho, a police officer
attached with the Police headquarters, but posted to the Mpape branch
of Zenith Bank PLC, a suburb of Abuja.

Owoicho, father of four children was arraigned on 28 June, 2011, on
two-count charge of culpable homicide punishable with death and also
causing grievous by reckless use of firm arm. He pleaded not guilty to
the charges preferred against him.

However, the court convicted Owoicho, for the offence of culpable
homicide not punishable with death (manslaughter) contrary to section
222 (7) of the Penal Code punishable under section 224 thereof which
prescribed life imprisonment or lesser term.

Also, the judge found the convict not guilty of culpable homicide
punishable with death, as the prosecution had during the trial failed
to establish that he intended to cause the death of the deceased.

After listening to the plea of Owoicho Counsel, Barrister Noah Imoni,
urging the court to temper justice with mercy as he had been in prison
custody since December 31, 2011 when the incident occurred, the judge
sentenced him for the term of 12 years, running retrospectively from
28 June, 2011.

Recal that Late Doris, who was a cashier with the then
Bank PHB, Wuse zone1 branch, became another victim of the many
incidences of extra-judicial killings by some trigger-happy security
operatives in the Nigeria, in the excuse of trying to enforce the law.

The incident happened the early morning of January 31, 2011 when the
convict, of the Squadron 44, who was the chief security officer in
charge of all security operatives in the bank, opened fire on a taxi
conveying the deceased to her work place when her son was barely
eleven months old.

Owoicho, was said to had reacted angrily by firing bullets at vehicle
when the driver allegedly ignored his warning not to make a U-turn
around the vicinity of the bank; and the bullets from his gun
instantly snuffed the life out of late Doris, an incident which
aggravated sympathizers who besieged the bank and set it ablaze. END

Promote unity, support gov’t, AMAC Vice Chair tasks Kugbo traders

By Idu Jude Abuja

The Vice Chairman of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), in the
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Lawrence Onuchukwu has admonished
traders in Kugbo Furniture Market, to always promote unity and
peaceful co-existence amongst all people of the council.
He specifically urged them to always believe in God and pray for their
leaders as well as support government, in order to ensure the delivery
of the dividends of democracy to the people in the council and FCT at
large.

Speaking while in a working visit to the furniture market, located
along the popular
Keffi-Abuja Expressway, in the outskirts of the FCT, Onuchukwu noted
that they should not only support the government at the local level,
but also the government at the centre.

He added that he was there to join in praying to God for the council
and government at the centre, and give them an account of his
stewardship in the last seven or eight months.

He also used the occasion to thank the traders for their support
during the election that brought him and the AMAC Chairman, Abdullahi
Adamu Candido.
On his part, Chairman, Kugbo Traders Association, Comrade Peter
Nwaigwe, said he was overwhelmed and excited seeing the AMAC Vice
Chairman in their midst, just to identify with them. END