APO SIX VICTIMS: FAMILIES TAKE PROTEST TO AGF

Family members of six traders who were killed in Abuja in June 2005 yesterday took their protest to the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to register their displeasure over the judgment of an Abuja High Court which sentenced to death two out of the six police officers who were charged for complicity in the killings. 

Justice Ishaq Bello of the FCT High Court in Abuja had Thursday sentenced two police officers, Ezekiel Acheneje and Emmanuel Baba, to death for killing two of the six traders in Abuja on June 8, 2005. 

The two policemen were found guilty of extra-judicial killing of Augustina Arebun and Anthony Nwokike at the Gaduwa Estate of Abuja. However three others including Deputy Commissioner  of Police (DCP) Danjuma Ibrahim,  Othman Abdulsalami and Sadiq Salami were discharged and acquitted by the court for want of evidence.

While protesting yesterday, the leader of the protesters, Chief Chimezie Ifeh who is also the chairman of Apo Traders Association, vehemently opposed the court’s decision on the matter. 

Ifeh queried the propriety of the court judgment, saying, “The real culprits of the gruesome murder of the Apo Six are let off the hook.” He said: “It was DCP Danjuma Ibrahim that orchestrated and executed our brothers and sister. 

But the same police officer and his cohorts were freed on Thursday by the court. We urge the AGF to appeal against the judgment and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book.”

Addressing the protesters on behalf of the AGF, the Director of Legal Drafting at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. Tahir Hamzam, thanked them for the orderly manner of the protest, saying the AGF would look into their grievances.

Family members of six traders who were killed in Abuja in June 2005 yesterday took their protest to the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to register their displeasure over the judgment of an Abuja High Court which sentenced to death two out of the six police officers who were charged for complicity in the killings. 

Justice Ishaq Bello of the FCT High Court in Abuja had Thursday sentenced two police officers, Ezekiel Acheneje and Emmanuel Baba, to death for killing two of the six traders in Abuja on June 8, 2005. 

The two policemen were found guilty of extra-judicial killing of Augustina Arebun and Anthony Nwokike at the Gaduwa Estate of Abuja. However three others including Deputy Commissioner  of Police (DCP) Danjuma Ibrahim,  Othman Abdulsalami and Sadiq Salami were discharged and acquitted by the court for want of evidence.

While protesting yesterday, the leader of the protesters, Chief Chimezie Ifeh who is also the chairman of Apo Traders Association, vehemently opposed the court’s decision on the matter. 

Ifeh queried the propriety of the court judgment, saying, “The real culprits of the gruesome murder of the Apo Six are let off the hook.” He said: “It was DCP Danjuma Ibrahim that orchestrated and executed our brothers and sister. But the same police officer and his cohorts were freed on Thursday by the court.

 We urge the AGF to appeal against the judgment and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book.”

Addressing the protesters on behalf of the AGF, the Director of Legal Drafting at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. Tahir Hamzam, thanked them for the orderly manner of the protest, saying the AGF would look into their grievances.