A group under the platform of Justice for Alex has accused the Nigerian Police Force of failing to respect court orders which mandated compensations after a policeman shot dead a journalist, Alex Ogbu in 2020.
The group under the aegis of ‘Justice for Alex’ also accused the police of failing to produce the trigger-happy policeman whose action took Alex’s life.
According to Gerald O Katchy, Sadare Oladimeji, both coordinators of the group, the police has even failed to prosecute they policeman who killed Alex, adding that since the journalist was killed five years ago, there have been continual call for justice to no avail.
The said, “as we will remember, five years ago, exactly on 21 of January 2020. Comrade Alex Ogbu was brutally shot and killed by men of Nigeria Police on January 21, 2020, during a protest by the Shiites in Berger roundabout, Abuja.
“Since the gruesome murder of Alex Ogbu, his family, friends and Comrades have been crying for justice and have taken several steps in this regard, including medical, political and legal steps. Permit us to inform you that five years down the line, we are still in this struggle for justice because as law abiding citizens, we believe one of the inalienable rights we hold as citizenry is right to judicial redress.
“We therefore saw to it to activate this mechanism to get Justice for Comrade Alex Ogbu.
“Of cause, while not loosing cognizance of the fact that, no amount of (posthumous) justice will ever bridge the irreparable loss that befell the family and Alex’s comrades but then, for history and also towards ensuring that trigger -happy, brutal, unprofessional and killer Police Officers who populate the rank and file of the Nigeria Police Force are exposed and duly sanctioned and weeded out.
“As a way of update, let us bring to your collective knowledge that, after more than three years of legal battle, on Wednesday, June 21st, 2023 Justice Mohammed Abubakar of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sitting at Court 58 in Kurudu, Abuja, ordered the Nigeria Police Force to pay the sum of N50,000,000 (fifty million Naira) to the family of the late Comrade Alex Ogbu as compensation for his killing.
“Till date since after the Judgement cum Court Order, the police has not complied with this Order. It also did not appeal against it, and so it simply treated the Pronouncement of a competent Court of the Land with pure scorn and impunity.
“Several efforts have been made to make the Police see reason and obey court Judgement, but all has no far not yielded desired results as the Police authorities have adamantly ignored the court order and deliberately frustrated all attempts to pay the family the judgement Sum awarded it.
“Letters have been written to the Police Service Commission, the Ministry of Police affairs, National Assembly and Inspector General of Police on this issue. Distinguished Senator Abba Morro has also written to the Inspector General of Police to honour the judgement but was also met with rebuff.
“The IGP and the Nigerian police force obeying the court judgement will stand as some level of healing to the already bad situation we have suffered with regards to police brutality and help in deterrence to other reckless and lawless police officers who may want to venture into the abhorrent route of extra judicial killings in the future’
For the late Alex Ogbu who left behind an “unemployed wife with a two-year-old daughter, now six years old,” the group said, “As we will remember, five years ago, exactly on 21 of January 2020, Comrade Alex Ogbu was brutally shot and killed by men of Nigeria Police on January 21, 2020, during a protest by the Shiites in Berger roundabout, Abuja.
The also enjoined the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) of which he was a member to assert their authority and join others to restore the late Ogbu’s humanity.
They appealed to Nigerians to help caution the police and threatened to picket the Nigerian police headquarters, stating that “Comrades in the diaspora will be mobilised to do the same at selected cities and important areas in no distant time if the Court Judgement is not obeyed.”
Even the IMN had called on the FCT Commissioner of Police, Bala Ciroma, to surrender the police officer who shot Ogbu for prosecution.
