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POLICE ACCUSED OF FAILING TO PRODUCE OFFICER WHO KILLED JOURNALIST, ALEX OGBU, PAY N50M COMPENSATION AFTER FIVE YEARS
The Nigerian police have been accused of failing to respect court orders which mandated compensations after a policeman shot dead a journalist Alex Ogbu in 2020.
The group under the aegis of ‘Justice for Alex’ also accused the police of failing to produce the trigger-happy policeman whose action took Alex’s life.
In a statement signed by Gerald O Katchy, Sadare Oladimeji, both coordinators of the Justice for Alex group, it was noted that since the killing of Alex Ogbu five years ago, there have been continual call for justice to no avail.
It was noted in the statement that the late Alex Ogbu left behind an “unemployed wife with a two-year-old daughter, now six years old.”
The group said, “As we will remember, five years ago, exactly on 21 of January 2020, Comrade Alex Ogbu was brutally shot and killed by men of Nigeria Police on January 21, 2020, during a protest by the Shiites in Berger roundabout, Abuja.
“Since the gruesome murder of Alex Ogbu, his family, friends and Comrades have been crying for justice and have taken several steps in this regard, including medical, political and legal steps.
“Permit us to inform you that five years down the line, we are still in this struggle for justice because as law abiding citizens, we believe one of the inalienable rights we hold as citizenry is right to judicial redress.”
The group noted in the statement that the demand for justice may not stop the sadness associated with Alex Ogbu’s untimely death, it was committed to ensuring that ‘brutal, unprofessional and killer police officers who populate the rank and file of the Nigeria Police Force are exposed and duly sanctioned and weeded out.’
The Nigerian police were also accused of failing to comply with a court order, which mandated the payment of N50 million as compensation for his killing.
It said, “As a way of update, let us bring to your collective knowledge that, after more than three years of legal battle, on Wednesday, June 21st, 2023, Justice Mohammed Abubakar of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sitting at Court 58 in Kurudu, Abuja, ordered the Nigeria Police Force to pay the sum of N50,000,000 (fifty million Naira) to the family of the late Comrade Alex Ogbu as compensation for his killing.
“Till date since after the Judgement cum Court Order, the police have not complied with this Order. It also did not appeal against it, and so it simply treated the pronouncement of a competent court of the land with pure scorn and impunity.
“Several efforts have been made to make the police see reason and obey court judgement, but all has no far not yielded desired results as the police authorities have adamantly ignored the court order and deliberately frustrated all attempts to pay the family the judgement sum awarded it.”
It was also noted that despite writing letters to the police, saying the court judgement should be honoured, there has been no headway.
The statement noted that while a similar case happened in the United States of America with the killing of George Floyd, Nigeria’s case has been different due to lack of justice.
It said, “Comparatively, four after killing of Comrade Alex Ogbu while on duty as a journalist, similar police brutality was recorded in faraway Minneapolis, United States of America with the killing of Gorge Floyd, and we saw how swiftly the council and US Government quickly brought justice to the family left behind and the correctional measures they took to minimise such occurrence.
“Here we are five years after this irreplaceable and gruesome killing we are still seeking for justice and importantly also to recall that he is a member of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) among others and yet being met with such treatment without seemingly even a fight from the organisation he belonged to, really puts some question marks on it and other hard-working members alive.”
They appealed to Nigerians to help caution the
They threatened to picket the Nigerian police headquarters, stating that “Comrades in the diaspora will be mobilised to do the same at selected cities and important areas in no distant time if the Court Judgement is not obeyed.”
In 2020, SaharaReporters reported that an autopsy result showed that the victim was killed by police bullet contrary to claims that he was an accident victim.
Ogbu was killed while covering a peaceful protest by members of Islamic Movement in Nigeria calling for the release of their leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.
The IMN had called on the FCT Commissioner of Police, Bala Ciroma, to surrender the police officer who shot Ogbu for prosecution.
His wife, Francisca Ogbu, also told SaharaReporters in 2020 that the police were economical with truth.
She added, “I want the police to come out and say the truth and let the world know that they killed my husband.
“They have so far been economical with the truth by trying to alter the narrative and claiming that my husband was an accident victim.
“The notice given to us to bring a pathologist for the autopsy investigation to be carried out at the National Hospital was short.”
“All I want is justice for my late husband,” she said.
