It was a tearful day as more petitioners in Abuja gave
various testimonies at the Independent Investigation Panel set up
to look into the allegations of brutality and highhandedness by
personnel of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad
(SARS).
While the session is ongoing in some states, that of the
nation’s capital continued for the second day on Thursday at the
Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court.
Two cases came up for hearing but the first, which has to do
with an allegation of unlawful detention, could not be heard as
both the petitioner, one Bala Mohammed and the respondents or their
representatives were absent at the venue.
The respondents were the Inspector-General of Police, the
Commissioner of Police at the FCT Command, and the defunct
SARS.
The session was, however, thrown into a moody atmosphere as a
testimony taken by one Chinenye Igwetu, narrated how her sister,
Miss Linda, died as a result of the action of a policeman.
She recounted that Linda was killed by a policeman on the night
of July 3, 2018, while on patrol.
Chinenye, who broke down in tears at a point while narrating
what happened, said her sister had gone out with her friends in
celebration of her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) passing out
parade scheduled for the next day.
According to the petitioner, the police claimed that late Linda
who was in the car with two others refused to stop when they were
flagged down.
Following the refusal, the police were said to have burst the
tyres of the vehicle but in the process, L inda was shot and that
led to her death, Chinenye said.
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5, 2020, a petitioner, Chinenye Igwetu, breaks down in tears as she
narrates how the police killed her sister in Abuja on July 3,
2018.
Then she received a call from one of her sister’s friends who
was also in the car at about 4:30am.
The man, identified as Mr Tobi, asked her to come over to the
Garki Hospital and upon her arrival, she noticed a pool of blood at
the entrance with several policemen there.
“I saw Tobi dressed in blood and he was in handcuffs. I asked
him what happened, and he could not answer because he was still in
shock.
“A policewoman there took me aside and asked if I was the sister
to Linda. She was like I have to be strong and narrated the
experience that they had to trail these guys (that’s my sister and
her colleagues) to the hospital,” the petitioner said.
She added, “Tobi said on their way from Civic Plaza. After they
passed the plaza, they heard a loud sound and he thought it was one
of his tyres and he looked at the mirrors and saw that the tyres
were ok.
“He said my sister tapped him slowly and was gasping for air and
when they turned on the light in the car, she was already in a pool
of blood.”
Chinenye noted that they later discovered that Linda had been
shot, adding that the policewoman at the hospital identified the
policeman who fired the shot.
After giving her testimony, she demanded justice and
compensation for her family who she said were yet to get over the
incident.
The sitting was later adjourned until Friday and scheduled to
commence by 10am.