10/03/2017
THE TRUE STORY OF THE “APO SIX” CASE
It is en open secret that Nigeria has witnessed a lot of extrajudicial killings, but the case of the Apo traders who were killed by policemen from the Garki division of the Nigeria police in 2005 remains a clear example of police brutality.In 2007, I had the privilege of engaging in a serious investigative research into the problem of extrajudicial killings as a major human rights abuse in Nigeria and my research focused on the extrajudicial killing of the "Apo Six" traders of Eastern Nigeria origin. I was privileged to have attended the hearings and was given copies the investigative report by the Police as well as that of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry,
It has been almost 12 years since that fateful killings and a lot of persons cannot or may not remember the facts of the case as well as the severity of the injustice that occurs in trials of police killings. I thought it is important that I share the Excerpt of my investigate research to you all so that your minds may be refreshed on the issues of the case and also that you can see how badly the case was handled by the prosecution team.
The excerpt is long so I crave your indulgence to be patient with the long text. Thanks
"2.1 BACKGROUND/FACTS OF THE CASE
The Abuja Police reported that on 8 June 2005 in the Apo district of Abuja five young male traders and a female student were arrested on suspicion of armed robbery, taken to the Garki police station, and subsequently killed while trying to escape. The dead robbers were photographed with their weapons, a post-mortem was conducted as required, death certificates were issued after examination by a doctor, and the bodies were buried. When challenges to this story first emerged the Federal Capital Territory Police Commissioner, Emmanuel Adebayo, publicly affirmed these details. The case looked very typical of many reported by the police in Nigeria.
Unfortunately for the police, however, one of the “robbers” had managed to phone a relative from the police station and reported that the six had been involved in an altercation in a pub with a police officer. Their car had subsequently been ambushed by other police who were called in, they had all been badly beaten, and they were taken to the police station. Family members immediately sought their release but were unable to pay the bribe of N5,000.00 demanded by the police. Several of them were executed a few hours later. Another managed to escape but was recaptured and brutally killed by the police. In fact, no post-mortems were carried out, death certificates were not completed by a medical officer, and the bodies were hastily buried in a common grave.
The news of the killings spread rapidly. Rioters ransacked the Apo police station and demanded an investigation. The relatively new Acting Inspector-General of Police convened an internal investigation. But he also took the unprecedented and commendable step of making its proceedings public. Two further elements compounded the horror story that was to emerge. One police officer who took part in the killings allegedly provided the victims’ relatives with information on what really happened. He died of “tonsillitis” the day before he was supposed to give evidence to the inquiry. He was subsequently deemed to have been poisoned by two of his colleagues. Meanwhile, the Divisional Police Office in charge of the Garki police station on the fateful night “escaped” from detention .
In the course of the inquiry one police officer and the photographer on duty that night confirmed that the youths had been killed in cold blood. It was subsequently revealed that the “robbers” alleged weapons had been in police storage until they were removed by a police officer shortly before the incident. As a result of the inquiry ten police officers were arrested.
On 27 June 2005, the President unprecedentedly appointed a Federal judicial commission of enquiry to look into the “Apo Six” case, i.e. the killings of the six Nigerians. The terms of reference given to the Commission by the Federal Government include:
a. to determine the remote and immediate causes of the eruption of the violent clash between the Police and some traders in Apo Village;
b. to establish whether or not there was any armed robbery incident at Gana Street, Maitama Abuja on 7th June 2005;
c. to determine the identity of the six persons killed at Gimibiya Street, Abuja on 7th June 2005 and the circumstances surrounding their death;
d. to determine whether the six civilians killed at Gimbiya Street, Area 11 Abuja were indeed involved in any armed robbery incident at Gana Street, Maitama, Abuja;
e. to identify those behind the killings and destruction of lives and valuable property at Apo village;
f. to ascertain the extent of damage caused and lives lost during and after the incident;
g. to recommend appropriate measures to be taken to avoid the recurrence of similar incidents in future;
h. to make any other recommendation(s) which is/are incidental to the above terms of reference.
The Government while dissolving the Police Administrative Board of Inquiry gave as one of the reasons for so doing that the Police cannot be a Judge in their own case.
It must be stated from the onset that the Judicial Commission of Inquiry is fact finding one and thus nobody was put on trial.
Before the Panel, the Police called on six witnesses, the deceased families called fourteen witnesses, the Ohaneze Ndi-Igbo called four witnesses, the Commission on their own called some witnesses. There was also presented to the Commission memoranda and germane and it include the memoranda from the Police containing 31 pages (which contained findings and recommendations of the DIG Mike Okiro’s Panel), from the deceased families containing 7 pages together with the sworn affidavit evidence of virtually all the witnesses that testified on behalf of the families of the deceased persons and photographs, from the Ohaneze-Ndigbo containing 4 pages and from DCP Danjuma Ibrahim containing 5 pages as well as other memoranda.
From the statements give by DCP Danjuma Ibrahim, the main protagonist in the case, both during the investigation by the Police Board of Inquiry and the memoranda which he sent to the Judicial Commission of Inquiry, he averred that at said day of 7th June 2005, while on visiting rounds, he received a distress call from DG, NEMA that armed robbers had operated in house located at Plot 417 Lake Chad Str., Maitama, using a Peugeot 406 Car. He later visited the scene. He further claimed to have received another distress call that armed robbers were operating at Crown Guest Inn at Area 11 Garki, Abuja. He added that at 12.30am, in continuation of his visiting rounds, he sighted a Peugeot 406 struggling with a Red Starlet Car with two men inside at Gimbiya Street. He claimed that while he was there, he suddenly saw the suspected Peugeot Car approaching them at the Pin-down-point, where he met with one Inspector and Three Constables. He further claimed that when the Peugeot 406 car attempted to escape, he used his BMW Car to block the road. He asserted that the occupants of the car fired at the Police, to which the Policemen responded. He stated that he came out of his car and brought out his pistol and fire two shots. Thereafter, the officer-in-charge of the Police ALGON Jeep, on his instruction, took the four presumably dead persons and two injured men, all occupants of the Peugeot 406, to Garki Police Station. He also stated that the Peugeot 406 was searched and the following items were recovered from it:
a. 2 locally made pistols;
b. 2 live catridges;
c. 2 expended cartridges;
d. 2 daggers; and
e. 1 cutlass.
The DCP added that he could not state exactly who amongst the Policemen at the scene fired.
However, Inspector Suleiman Audu, PC Yakubu Philibus, PC Haruna Mamot and PC Ibrahim Garba of the memo submitted to the Panel by the then Acting Inspector General of Police coupled with their evidence given to the Panel are to the effect that there was no shooting from the Peugeot 406 Car that DCP Danjuma Ibrahim collected the rifle of Inspector Sulieman Audu and shot at the Car. The scenario was re-enacted when the panel visited the scene. Inspector Sulieman Audu graphically told the panel how the incident took place.
Thus, after analyzing the testimony of Inspector Sulieman Audu, both at the Panel and at the scene, and the testimonies of PC Yakubu Philibus, PC Haruna Mamot and PC Ibrahim Garba, three things stood out distinctively to wit:
a. That no shoot-out between the Police and the deceased persons at Gmbiya Street, Area 11 Garki Abuja on that day;
b. That no shooting came from the Peugeot 406 Car;
c. That DCP Ibrahim Danjuma collected the AK 47 rifle of Inspector Suleiman Audu and shot the entire 10 bullets into the Peugeot 406 Car;
The evidence of Inspector Suleiman Audu, PC Yakubu Philibus, PC Haruna Mamot and PC Ibrahim Garba were to the effect that nothing was recovered from the said Peugeot 406 Car. The statement and evidence of Inspector Ishaya Nyaiwak (statement pages 21-22 of the memo submitted by the Acting Inspector General of Police) that the said locally made pistols were recovered from RITA LORI HOTEL a week before the incident. Also the evidence of PC Dennis Asawa to the effect that DPO CSP Othman Abdusalam specifically directed him on where to search in the said Peugeot 406 Car. The evidence of DCP Danjuma Ibrahim that the Peugeot 406 Car was not searched at Gimbiya Street even though different from his statement contained at pages 5-7 of the Acting Inspector General of Police also gave credence to the fact that the two locally made pistols were planted in the said Peugeot 406 Car by the Police.
The Ballistician report before the Panel stated in part that the locally made pistols allegedly found on the deceased persons had not been fired in recent time and the expended cartridges were not fired from any of the locally made pistols.
It can thus be seen that from the facts that no locally made pistols or any fi****ms had been found with deceased persons. The deceased persons did not pose any threat to the lives of the Policemen around including DCP Ibrahim Danjuma or were they (Police Officers) put under a serious apprehension of their safety to warrant the killings of the deceased persons.
As to how many were persons died at the first point of contact, i.e. Gimbiya Street, Area 11 Garki Abuja, there was a lot of conflicting and contradicting evidence. The evidence of DCP Danjuma Ibrahim was corroborated by the evidence of Yakubu Alama, a security guard at Syndicate Plaza, Area 11 Garki Abuja, who was on duty on the night of the incident to the effect that only one person died at Gimbiya Street and that the remaining five were taken to Garki Police Station and he, DCP Danjuma Ibrahim, handed them over to the DPO Garki Police Station, CSP Othman Abdulsalam. The statement of PC Ezekiel Acheneje as contained at pages 8 – 9 of the memo submitted by the Acting Inspector General of Police gave a graphic account of those they shot which sum up to five people. In the memo, his statement provided thus:
“…That on the way along Kabusa road, one of the suspects jumped down from the vehicle and was chased by PC Anthony Idam and PC Amos Musa, who came back to inform the team that they had shot him. He further stated that another suspect with handcuffs started running away and was shot by PC Sadiq Salami. Thereafter, the team dragged down the remaining suspects and PC Baba Emmanuel shot them. That they conveyed the bodies of three men and a girl to the station where they were ordered by the DC Ops., Mr. Danjuma Ibrahim and their DPO to make sure they find the escaped suspect and kill him.
That at this point was when he signed a riffle and they proceeded to comb the area until the suspect was finally handed over to them by members of the public. And that since the DPO had already ordered them to kill the suspect armed robbers that he wasted no time in firing the last suspect…”
From the above abridged statements and testimonies, the number of persons killed at Gimbiya Street, Area 11 Garki Abuja and subsequently were shrouded in doubt. One account said five, another said three, another two. The evidence of the photographer Chukwudi Chukwu is to the effect that when he arrived at 3.00am on the 8th of June 2005 to take photographs, he saw only three men dead and he took their photographs, collectively and individually. When he (Chukwudi Chukwu) was called at about 6.30am of the same 8th of June 2005 to take more photographs, two more corpses, a girl and a boy had been added to the first three, he saw by 3.00am.
From the statement and evidence before the Commission, it was evidently clear that some people were killed at Gimbiya Street, Area 11 Garki Abuja and some people killed thereafter near Prince and Princess Estate, Gadua Abuja. The common denominator flowing from both statements and testimonies of witnessed is that all the deceased were killed by the Police in a continuous single exercise of elimination to conceal facts.
Also, it was found as fact that though there was robbery at the house of the DG, NEMA, the car used for the robbery was a Red Honda Haller and not a Peugeot 406. Furthermore, by the evidence of Ben Agari, owner of Crown Guest Inn, he stated that those involved in the robbery at his hotel never came with any car and they escaped through a pathway to the road where they boarded a Red Toyota Car. Thus, the issue of Peugeot 406 for in the said robberies on that fateful day was introduced by DCP Danjuma Ibrahim.
2.2 FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE JUDICIAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY
The Judicial Commission of Inquiry was headed by Justice O. O. Goodluck, a serving High Court Judge of FCT, Abuja with Chief Osita Okeke, DIG Parry Osayande (Rtd), Brigadier General Okunbor and Hauwa as members, Barrister Idu was made the Secretary of the Panel and Barrister Oluwole Aina as Counsel to the Panel.
The Judicial Commission of Inquiry was sworn in on 27th of June 2005 (nineteen days after the killings/incident) and commenced sitting on 29th of June 2005. The Judicial Commission of Inquiry concluded her sitting on the 5th of August 2005 with the admission in evidence of the autopsy reports on the Six deceased persons carried out by two renowned anatomic Pathologists namely Professor Olusegun Ojo and Professor E. J. C. Nwana with the Nigerian Police Force Pathologist in attendance. The cause(s) of the death of two of the corpses could not be ascertained due to their bad state of decomposition but rather that of the other four corpses were ascertained to be due to high velocity missiles which the pathologist (Professor Olusegun Ojo) admitted under cross-examination to be consistent with bullet shots.
The findings and recommendations of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry were presented to the Federal Government which thereafter issued a Government White Paper on November 2005.
Before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry, the following facts were established:
I. The Peugeot 406 being driven by one of the deceased person had six occupants including the driver, five males and one female ;
II. The Police buried the corpses of the six deceased persons in two shallow graves at Utako Districk Abuja FCT under the supervision of DPO of Garki Police CSP Othman Abdulsalam (still missing) at the ratio of 4:2;
III. At the first point of contact between the Police and the deceased persons at Gimbiya Street, Area 11 Garki Abuja, not all the deceased persons were killed there ;
IV. No shooting came from the Peugeot 406 Car being driven by one of the deceased ;
V. The only female occupant in Peugeot 406 Car was strangled to death by DCP Danjuma Ibrahim and PC Dennis Asawa ;
VI. The two locally made pistols, two live cartridges, two expended catridges, cutlass and daggers allegedly found in the Peugeot 406 Car were planted by the runaway DPO Garki Police Station, CSP Othman Abdulsalam in other to brand the deceased persons as armed robbers ;
VII. From the Ballistician’s report, the two expended cartridges were never shot from any of the two locally made pistols allegedly planted by the DPO Garki Police Station CSP Othman Abdulsalam in Peugeot 406 Car;
VIII. That the two locally made pistols allegedly found in the Peugeot 406 Car being driven by one of the deceased persons had not been shot/fired in the last six months prior to the ballistician examination ;
IX. That the two locally made pistols allegedly found in the Peugeot 406 Car were recovered from a Hotel in Abuja called RITA LORI HOTEL more than two weeks before the incident of 8th June 2005;
X. That the two locally made pistols on request by DPO Garki Police Station CSP Othman Abdulsalam were brought from the armoury of Garki Police Station by the armourer by name Inspector Ishaya Nyaiwak and given to him who in turn planted them inside the Peugeot 406 Car being driven by one of the deceased persons ;
XI. The deceased persons were not armed robbers since no gun(s) were found on them nor did they shoot at the Police at the Check Point in Gimbiya Street Area 11 Garki Abuja;
XII. The only escapee from the gruesome killings by the Police both at Gimbiya Street Area 11 Garki and beside Prince and Princess Estate, Gadua Abuja was arrested and killed by 7.30am on the 8th of June 2005 by the Nigerian Police Force;
XIII. That the autopsy report showed conclusively that they were killed by highly velocity missiles consistent with bullet shots;
XIV. That Inspector Suleiman Audu, the Head of the Police atrol team at Gimbiya Street Area 11 refused to shoot at the Peugeot 406 on the orders of DCP Danjuma Ibrahim because there was no threat to the lives of the Policemen on duty with him including that of DCP Danjuma Ibrahim from the occupants of the Peugeot 406 Car;
XV. That the Policeman (Late PC Anthony Idam) who mysteriously died a day before he was to testify before the Police Administrative Board of Inquiry was poisoned according to the autopsy report .
Flowing from the preponderance of incontrovertible evidence adduced before the Commission, they held that they were not left in doubt about the complicity of the following persons in the unlawfully killings of the 6 deceased , namely;
(1) DCP Danjuma Ibrahim
(2) DPO Abdulsalam Othman
(3) Inspector Suleiman Audu
(4) Ezekiel Acheneje
(5) PC Sadiq Salami
(6) PC Dennis Asawa
(7) Emmanuel Baba
(8) ASP Nicholas Zachariah
The Commission thereafter recommended that they should all be charged and tried in accordance with the appropriate law. This recommendation was accepted by the Federal Government and it directed the Police Force to take the necessary disciplinary action against the 8 persons and then charge to court .
The Commission also recommended a compensation in the sum of N3,000,000.00 (Three Million Naira) to be paid to each family of the deceased as an award for general damages arising from the killings of the 6 persons.
The Commission also recommended that the Police Force should take immediate steps to pay the family of Anthony Idam his insurance benefits and other payments, due and payable to him. It also recommended that such payment should be without prejudice to the funeral expenses of N500,000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) already contained in their interim report .
If the Apo 6 were an isolated incident it would be a tragedy and a case of a few bad apples within the police force. Unfortunately, many of the ingredients - the false labeling of people as armed robbers, the shooting, the fraudulent placement of weapons, the attempted extortion of the victims’ families, the contempt for post mortem procedures, the falsified death certificates, and the flight of an accused senior police officer - are all too familiar occurrences.
Thus the Apo 6 killings were not an aberration. The Government response, however, was noteworthy in four important respects: the Inspector-General of Police was responsive to protests; the internal police inquiry was public; a judicial inquiry was established; and compensation was paid. These elements need to become routine in the future."
THANKS FOR READING
