Senator Okoro files N3b suit against Nigeria Police over alleged murder of 31 years old son

ABUJA– Former Senator Fidelis Okoro, has sued the Nigerian Police over alleged extra- judicial killing of his son for alleged armed robbery. Okoro who represented Enugu North Senatorial District, on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, between 1999 and 2007, filed the suit before the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja. The presiding judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo has meanwhile, adjourned the case till December 5 for hearing, and ordered service of notices on all the defendants. Joined as defendants in the suit are the Inspector General of Police, Muhammed Adamu, the Police Service Commission, PSC, and ASP Mohammed Yusuf. In his statement of claim, Okoro alleged that his son Mr John Chukwuemeka Okoro, 31, was shot in cold blood by a police officer identified as one ASP Mohammed Yusuf, adding that Chukwuemeka was shot in Gudu District of Abuja, shortly after he returned from London where he was studying Business Administration. According to the plaintiff, his son met his untimely death on August 11, 2014, while he was “relaxing and having fun with his friend, Sunny Black.” According to the plaintiff, the incident occurred after a police patrol team allegedly led by Yusuf, with Force No. AP/No 79224, claimed they pursued a car snatching syndicate to the area based on a tipoff. Okoro further stated that in the course of the police operation, an argument which ensued soon after, led Yusuf to shoot the victim on the leg and chest, resulting to his instant death. The plaintiff told the court that his son’s body was taken all the way to Gwagwalada General Hospital Abuja, where the police officers told the hospital authorities that the deceased was a victim of hit and run vehicle, even as the hospital thereafter admitted his body into the mortuary. He said that when he was informed about the circumstances surrounding his son’s death, he got his lawyer to write a formal petition to the police authorities, calling for a full scale investigation into the gruesome murder, as both the report of the autopsy conducted by the police medical department and an orderly room trial by a panel reportedly indicted the accused police officers, leading to their detention and subsequent dismissal from the police. Okoro, lamented that, five years after the probe, and subsequent dismissal, none of the officers were prosecuted, hence his decision to file the action, seeking justice for his late son. The plaintiff’s Counsel, Mbanefo Ikwegbue, among others, asked the court to award N3billion against the defendants are general and aggravated damages, as well as to mandate/direct the the police and PSC to immediately arraign/charge the 4th Defendant before a court of competent jurisdiction over murder.
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