CALL TO LAGOS POLICE COMMISSIONER TO PROSECUTE THE POLICE OFFICERS WHO KILLED A 60-YEAR-OLD DEEJAY AND ASSAULTED THE PUNCH CORRESPONDENT IN OKOKOMAIKO, LAGOS
28 August, 2013
The Commissioner of Police
Lagos State Police Command
Force Headquarter
Ikeja
Lagos
Dear Sir,
CALL TO LAGOS POLICE COMMISSIONER TO PROSECUTE THE POLICE OFFICERS WHO KILLED A 60-YEAR-OLD DEEJAY AND ASSAULTED THE PUNCH CORRESPONDENT IN OKOKOMAIKO, LAGOS
The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders {CACOL} as an aggregate of human rights, community based, and civil society organization with anti-corruption agenda across Nigeria deemed it necessary to draw your attention to the extra- judicial killing of a 60-yr-old man, Mr. Adamson Bello and the detention of The Punch Correspondence, Mr. Samson Folarin.
Late Adamson Bello, a deejay was allegedly killed by a stray bullet fired by one of the policemen guarding one South Bound Hotel in his area on Sunday, 25 August, 2013.
According to The Punch{Pages 4 and 5} of Tuesday, August 27 2013, the deceased met his untimely death when on the fateful day, he sat in front of his house a few meters away from the new hotel which was being guarded by a team of policemen. It was alleged that one of the policemen fired aimlessly which hit the man on his chest. In an attempt to save the man’s life, several efforts made to get a police report proved abortive due to the lackadaisical attitude of the police officers at Okokomaiko Police Division. Unfortunately, the deceased died at Badagry General Hospital because he could not get medical attention.
Similarly, it was alleged that a correspondent of The Punch who was sent to the area to investigate the incident was abducted and molested by the employees of the said hotel thinking the reporter might have some vital information that may lead to the arrest of the perpetrators of the acts, which they wanted to prevent. According to the newspaper report, Samson Folarin, after speaking with the deceased wife and some other persons in the area, he decided to get the comment of the hotel PRO. He was, however, grabbed by some employees of the hotel at about 12:34pm on the street and taken inside the hotel, where they grilled him and accused him of not consulting them before talking to the residents and later took him to Okokomaiko Police Station.
At the station, the Divisional Police Officer, Temple Ituma and the Divisional Crime Officer both verbally assaulted Folarin and later claimed he had been arrested for violating the privacy of the hotel and his camera, phones and other materials were subsequently seized. He was then taken to one dimly lit room where other suspects were kept. Mr Folarin asked to speak with his editor but was denied and later asked to disclose the source of his information. It was reported that Folarin was kept in the room for six hours before he was released around 7pm after the pictures he took had been deleted and forced to sign an undertaking not to return to the area.
The venom spilled on The Punch journalist was unjustifiable under any guise. It is very disheartening that some employees of South Bound Hotel could misinform the police only to serve their selfish interest. Our Coalition condemned the misuse the Nigeria Police for personal vendetta. It should be noted that acts like this, do not endear the police, who should be the custodian of the law and order, to the common man.
More so, the spate of extra-judicial killings has risen in recent times and the reason why the killings continue was because perpetrators are hardly brought to book. Recent happening has shown that families of victims are intimidated by the police, while some others are just too afraid to speak. Most times, police deliberately messes up investigation by encouraging families of the victims to hurriedly bury them, while on other occasions they might claim killer cops are impostor in police uniform and refuse to investigate.
However, the effort of cleansing the image of the police could never be attained with some bad eggs still serving in the Nigeria Police Force. The killing of Adamson Bello and incarceration of the journalist speak volume of the havoc the police cause hapless and helpless Nigerians on daily basis. It is saddening when police stuff life out of the people who they are constitutionally mandated to protect.
The freedom of information is fundamental human rights of every Nigerian and a responsible and responsive police force should ensure that it consciously promotes it with a view to ensuring that the public get the right information at all times. It is absolutely wrong for the police to hide under what operated before, as this is an attempt to reverse the gains of the Freedom of Information Act. It is a slap on the fundamental human rights of Mr. Folarin for the police to demand where he got his information.
It is necessary that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police takes necessary action to fish out those police officers behind the killing of Mr. Adamson Bello with a view to prosecuting them. Moreover we stress the need for citizen lives to be protected by security agencies, hence a stop must be put to using live bullet on innocent and harmless citizens. A solution must be found to curtail any future occurrence.
OUR PRAYER
Prosecution of the police officers involved in the killing of Mr. Adamson Bello.
Adequate compensation for the deceased family.
Adequate compensation for the Punch Journalist for infringement on his fundamental human rights.
The probe and prosecution of employees of South Bound Hotel, for gross misconduct.
We thank you in anticipation as we believe you will use your good offices to ensure that justice is done in this case and perpetrators of these reprehensible acts are duly punished to serve as a deterrent to other trigger-happy policemen.
Above all, with prevalent unlawful arrest, detention and killing of Nigerians coupled with police brutality and outright abuses of human rights, we advocate training and retraining of all serving police officers in order to discharge their duties conscientiously.
Yours faithfully,
