Senator Ewuga, Rep, Others Indicted Over Nasarawa Killing, Commission Asks For Prosecution
This time may not be the best for Senator Ewuga as the Nasarawa State Commission of Inquiry on the Ombatse killings has indicted based on the grounds that he is one of the financiers of the Ombaste and also that false evidence on oath before the commission.
According to the report, Ewuga’s action is said to be punishable under Section 158(1) of the Penal Code Law, as applicable in Nasarawa State.
According to report excerpts of the commission which was made available to newsmen yesterday in Lafia the Nasarawa State Capital stated that 74 security personnel, comprising 64 policemen and 10 personnel of the Department of the State Services were killed by the Ombatse militia group at Alakyo Village on May 7, 2013.
The Report also showed that was not any spiritual force that caused the death of the security officials as evidence revealed that the Ombatse militias used firearms, cudgels, cutlasses and other lethal weapons in killing and injuring the affected personnel who were on lawful duty at Alakyo.
According to the commission’s report a combination of factors were responsible for the spread of communal violence in the state, some of which include ethnic rivalry to achieve political dominance; youth restiveness due to non-profitable engagement such as the high unemployment rate; manipulation of the youth by the political elite to achieve personal political objectives, and mutual ethnic suspicion and antagonism.
The Commission also added that it condemned the role played by the “Eggon Traditional Council and its elders in the tacit support of the activities of the outlawed Ombatse group” noting that “the Commission would have recommended the outright sanction of the council, but however “strongly recommends the formal admonition and reprimand of the Council and its elders in the interim, for their moral failure to call the Ombatse and such affiliated Eggon groups to order when they exceeded the bounds of reason”.
The Commission of Inquiry blamed the state government for not proscribing the Ombatse militia as it also recommended the immediate prosecution of senator Solomon Ewuga, representing Nasarawa North Senatorial District; and Haruna Kigbu, a House of Representative member representing Lafia Obi Federal Constituency.
The Commission also recommended “that all persons on the stated list who appeared before the Commission whether as summoned witnesses or memoranda witnesses and intentionally gave false evidence on oath before the Commission should be prosecuted forthwith under Section 158(1) of the Penal Code Law (as applicable in Nasarawa State)”.
“Their false testimonies were calculated to misdirect the Commission and prevent it from making proper findings on its Terms of Reference. The law qualifies such false evidence as an act to pervert the cause of justice”.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Commission is particularly recommending the following persons for immediate prosecution under the section given the high social standing of the persons who are least expected to misdirect the cause of justice: Senator Solomon Sunday Akku Ewuga, Hon. Dr. Haruna Joseph Kigbu, Hon. Nathaniel Agyo Mesa,” the Commission reported.
“Federal Government’s unemphatic concern over the Alakyo killings even when its agents were the victims has not helped in the containment of violence in the State. The Federal Government’s attitude has given room for tendentious interpretations (largely of a political nature).
“Due to lax enforcement of the law by the relevant component units of the State’s criminal justice system, namely, the law enforcement agencies (especially the police), the Ministry of Justice and the Courts, obvious perpetrators of violence have been left unencumbered and emboldened to remain what they are”
“Delayed and non-implementation of recommendations in the Reports of earlier Commissions of Inquiry has contributed to the patent disregard of Government authority with respect to the ban,” the commission reports.
