Victim’s alleged enforced disappearance: NHRC panel vows not to sweep case under carpet

The independent investigative panel on rights violations by the defunct SARS and other police units, on Tuesday, vowed to see to the end of the case of the enforced disappearance of one Lukman Salihu.

Salihu, a native of Kogi State, was allegedly arrested in 2015 at Zuba, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, in a taxi on his way to school in Nasarawa State and since then his whereabouts remains unknown.

The chairman of the 11-man panel, Justice Suleiman Galadima (retd), made the vow at the resumed hearing of the petition, alleging enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrest, unlawful detention and denial of justice to Salihu.

The retired Supreme Court jurist declared that the petition was unique due to the fact that the police claimed that the victim was arrested and handed over to the Joint Military Action on Terrorism, a claim he said had to be verified, especially as Salihu’s whereabouts remained unknown six years after his arrest by the police.

“This matter is in a class of its own, it is unique. Police will have to prove the claim that the victim is not in their custody but has been handed over appropriately as alleged,” Justice Galadima declared.

Speaking in the same vein, the member of the panel, representing the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), John Aikpokpo Martins, said that there was a need to know exactly what had become of the victim, submitting that, “until that is established; the case will continue.”

Despite coming up several times before the panel, Salihu’s matter has yet to record any appreciable progress due to the failure of one of the respondents, Amadin Christopher, who has since retired from the police, to appear before the panel.

The panel, set up by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), had ordered Christopher, who was said to be the investigating police officer (IPO) in Salihu’s case before it was transferred to the Joint Military Action on Terrorism, to appear before it in order for him to state his involvement in the matter.

A counsel for the police, Fidelis Ogbobe, had previously informed the panel that his investigations on Salihu’s whereabouts revealed that he was involved in a case of terrorism and was handed over to Joint Military Action on Terrorism in New Bussa, Niger State, by the police who arrested him.

Meanwhile, while adjourning the case to when the panel revolves next year, Justice Galadima referred the case to the NHRC for the continuation of the investigation.

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Victim’s alleged enforced disappearance: NHRC panel vows not to sweep case under carpet