By Martins Odeh
Justice Ishaq Bello of the FCT High Court will on March 9, deliver judgment in the alleged extra judicial killing of six Apo traders.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that traders allegedly killed by the police are Ifeanyi Ozor, Chinedu Meniru, Isaac Ekene, Paulinus Ogbonna, Anthony Nwodike and Augustina Arebun.
The Attorney General of the Federation in 2005 charged six police officers to court for the alleged crime.
The defendants are Danjuma Ibrahim, Othman Abdulsalami , Nicholas Zakaria, Ezekiel Acheneje, Baba Emmanuel and Sadiq Salami.
They were arraigned on a nine count charge of conspiracy and culpable homicide, which contravened the provisions of Sections 97 and 221 (a) of the Penal Code Law.
NAN recalls that the absence of the defendants (Ibrahim) presently enjoying a court bail had stalled the judgment earlier slated for Feb.13.
The defendants allegedly played different parts in the killing of the victims, aged between 21 years and 25 years, while they were returning from a night party on June 7, 2005 in Abuja.
Following their deaths and the subsequent public outcry, an official panel of inquiry was set up by ex- President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration to unravel the plot.
The report of the panel said that the victims were at a nightclub located at Gimbiya Street, Area 11 in Abuja on the night of the incident.
The panel further said that face-off had ensued between Ibrahim and the group when the female victim (Augustina) allegedly turned down Ibrahim’s love advances at the club.
NAN further recalls that the other five policemen accused of the killings and eight other police witnesses had testified that Ibrahim, the senior police officer among them, had allegedly ordered the killings.
However, the defendants, including Ibrahim, had pleaded not guilty to the allegations.
NAN further reports that the provisions of Sections 97 and 221 (a) of the Penal Code Law with which the defendants were tried attracts death sentence. (NAN)
