Curbing Extra-Judicial Killings In Nigeria By Okechukwu Nwanguma “EXTRAJUDICIAL killing in the police remains a shocking common occurrence,” Eric Guttschuss, Human Rights Watch researcher for Nigeria, was quoted in a BBC report in May 2009, four years after the June 7 and 8, 2005 cold-blooded murder of five young male traders and a female student (the Apo six) by the police in Abuja. Eight years after this most infamous case of extrajudicial killing in Nigeria’s history, the criminal trial of the identified killer-police officers has gone nowhere. Families of the victims appear to have given up hope for justice, especially after the prime suspect was granted bail in 2006 by the trial Judge, Justice Isyaku Bello, on dubious health grounds. Othman Abdulsalam, the then DPO of Garki Police Station where they were killed, also ‘escaped’ from police custody and has remained at large till date. The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, in his report, said: “If the Ap...
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