A petitioner’s lawyer, M.E. Chukwu, had informed the independent investigative panel on rights violations by defunct SARS and other police units that the police had already admitted killing and burying the remains of one Mr Emmanuel Ogbogu, a petitioner before the panel, before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions.
Chukwu made this known to the 11-man panel, set up by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, at the resumed hearing of the petition filed by Emmanuel Ogbogu against Mr Celestine Ani of the defunct SARS Awkuzu, Anambra State, Mr James Nwafor, OC SARS Awkuzu, Anambra State Commissioner of Police and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP).
The petitioner alleged enforced disappearance in the petition, which is marked 2020/IIP-SARS/ABJ/64.
The counsel informed the panel, headed by a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Suleiman Galadima, that the Anambra State Police Command where the incident allegedly took place had written a letter to the House Committee, stating that Ogbogu had since died and was buried.
According to him, the police letter informed that the petitioner died in a shootout involving him and some police officers in Anambra State.
Chukwu added that the police further stated in the letter that an autopsy was conducted on the remains of the deceased but the report was burnt during the #EndSARS protest in 2020 and therefore cannot lay hands on it.
Earlier, the lead counsel for the police, James Idachaba, had told the panel that he would make effort to reach out to the first respondent in the petition, Celestine Ani, who he said the counsel for the petitioner claimed was currently serving the Anambra State government, with a view to making him appear before the panel.
He, however, declared that the second respondent, James Nwafor, would be difficult to reach because he had retired and he (Idachaba) did not know his current address.
While adjourning the petition to December 23, Justice Galadima (retd) directed Idachaba to take a copy of the said letter to the Force Headquarters to ascertain its veracity or otherwise and report back to the panel.
He further directed the lead police counsel to get information about any officers needed in the panel so as to ensure their appearance when necessary as the panel has limited time to dispense with the petitions before it.
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