Ruya Auta, a Nigerian Police officer has been sentenced to death by hanging for lethal injection for the extrajudicial killing of 20-year-old University of Jos student, Rinji Bala on May 13, 2020.
The sentence was delivered at a High Court in Jos, Plateau State, North Central Nigeria on Monday December 8, 2025, after a five-year trial.
Rinji was shot dead by Ruya, who was attached to Operation Safe Haven (now known as Operation Ensuring Peace), a joint task force established to quell violence in Plateau and neighbouring states.
The incident occurred during a COVID-19 lockdown when Rinji and friends were mistaken for robbers and subjected to torture and abuse by security personnel.
“It has been five years of efforts and tenacity to bring justice to the deceased, the family, and even the government”,, Garba Pwul, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria who represented the Plateau State Government in the extrajudicial killing case against Ruya, said afterwards. “It is a capital offence, so we had to follow the case carefully. Today, we have seen justice served”, he said.
Emmanuel Gyan, Rinji’s childhood friend and eyewitness to the killing, expressed mixed emotions about the verdict, starting that it reopened old wounds and brought back traumatic memories.
“Since that day, there has been no peace”, he said, emphasizing the need for healing and justice.
The case has sparked widespread outrage and highlighted concerns about police brutality and systemic abuse within Nigeria’s security agencies, echoing the sentiments of the 2020 #EndSARS nationwide protests.
-9News Nigeria.
