BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Police Watch, an assembly of concerned citizens comprising members of the Nigerian Bar Association in Osun State; the National Human Rights Commission; and other Non-Governmental Organisations, have accused men of the Osun State Police Command of engaging in the extrajudicial killing of three murder suspects while being conveyed to the Correctional Centre in Ilesa.
The three suspects: Tope Gbenga, Olaide Adelu Okiki, and Opeyemi Obaniwa; alongside one other, were said to have been killed by security personnel when some hoodlums attacked the vehicle conveying the murder suspects to the prison.
A statement issued by the police spokesman in the command, Yemisi Opalola, read that some unknown gunmen rode a motorcycle to somewhere around the Osunjela River where the security team was rectifying a fault on the bus in which they were traveling and opened fire on the cops in a bid to free the suspects.
It read that one of the armed men was felled in a gun duel while the three suspects who were in the bus during the shoot-out died from bullet injuries.
The other attackers, the statement read, abandoned their motorcycle and weapons and fled into the bush with gunshot injuries.
Corpses of the deceased were reportedly deposited at a morgue in Osogbo.
Police Watch, however, alleged that the accounts of the police on how the three suspects were killed were ridiculous and questionable. They petitioned Governor Gboyega Oyetola, asking that he should order a corona inquest into the matter.
A petition signed by a member of the group, Oluwasegun Idowu, accused the police of releasing the fourth murder suspect while detaining the other three suspects for six weeks in their custody at the Oja-Oba Police Division before their arraignment in court on August 26, prior to their killing.
It stated that images and video evidences in its possession contradicted the claim by the police that the suspects died at Asubiaro Hospital, Osogbo.
The group, contending that the suspects were killed in the bush, demanded that their corpses should be produced by the police insisting that an autopsy should be carried out on them.
The petition entitled, ‘Extrajudicial killing of three suspects in Osun,’ was addressed to Governor Oyetola, while the Human Rights Watch, the Complaint Response Unit of the Nigeria Police, and the Nigerian Bar Association, were copied.
It reads in parts, “We write as members of the Police Watch to bring to Your Excellency’s notice, the extra judicial killing of three young men who were accused of cultism and armed robbery in Osogbo, the Osun State capital on the 26th of August, 2021. The three young men are named, Tope Gbenga, Olaide Adelu Okiki and Opeyemi Obaniwa. One other suspect (whose name is withheld for his safety) was arrested with the above-mentioned on June 26, 2021 for the offences stated above.
“The young men were arrested by men of the Oja-Oba Divisional Police Headquarters, Osogbo, and were kept in the custody for up to six weeks without being arraigned in court contrary to the clear stipulation of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended). By the time they were eventually taken to court by the police, they had sustained bullet wounds on their legs, which were left untreated.
“The fourth suspect, whose name was withheld, had earlier been released by the police in a questionable manner while the remaining suspects with names listed above, were later (six weeks after their arrest) arraigned before the Osun State Magistrate’s Court presided over by Mr. A. Adeyeba. Because the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the kind of offences allegedly committed by the suspects, they were ordered to be remanded at the Ilesa Correctional Centre pending the issuance of legal advice on the case by the Osun State Director of Public Prosecutions. However, the Magistrate condemned the state in which the young men were presented (with untreated wounds which apparently were already decaying).
“Under what authority or provision of the law were the suspects kept in police detention for six weeks without being charged to court? Under what circumstance was the fourth suspect released without court trial, even when the Commissioner of Police had already described him as a notorious armed robber during a public parade?
“Why were the victims denied access to medical care even during detention as they were almost losing parts of their bodies, as evident in pictures and videos that are available?
“While the police claimed they came under attack by unknown assailants while taking the suspects to Ilesa, what injury came to the police officers and on what premise were the three suspects killed in supposed gun battle between the assailants and the police? Who shot at who since the police already said in their release to the press that they overpowered the unknown gunmen, recovered some weapons, killed four of the hoodlums and also inflicted injuries on the unknown gunmen?
“Where are the bodies of those killed? Contrary to claims of the police that the suspects died at the Asubiaro Hospital, video record available to us showed that the victims actually died at the said point of the alleged attack in the bush. The police need to explain how men who were cuffed and who already had their legs getting decayed were found in the bush dead.
“We are not contesting whether or not the suspects were guilty of the crimes they were accused of since that should have been determined by the court. Killing them in such a manner (which is suspicious) has denied them justice and is a dangerous precedence if not properly investigated. Therefore, we humbly demand that Your Excellency order a corona inquest into the case; that the bodies of the victims be ordered not to be interred under any guise, until autopsy is carried out on the bodies to determine the circumstances of their death.”
Meanwhile, the family members of one of the deceased suspects have abandoned the remains of their relative at the mortuary. According to the family’s lawyer, Taiwo Awokunle, the police had agreed to release the corpses of the suspects to their families but they did not show up.
“The family of my client (Tope Gbenga) said that the corpse of their son is not useful to them,” he said.
