23rd November, 2020
By Jethro Ibileke
The Edo State Judicial Panel of Inquiry sitting in Benin, on Monday ordered a retired Chief Superintendent of Police, Mrs. Carol Afegbai, to appeared before it on Thursday.
She made the order to the ex-policewoman to appear before the panel to explain the circumstances surrounding the gruesome shooting of one Ibrahim Momodu, by the police on May 27, 2013, in Benin.
Family of the deceased, in a petition by their lawyer, Mr. Jefferson Uwoghiren, alleged that he was killed by Corporal Amadin Idahosa, on the order of Mrs. Afegbai, who was the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at Ogida Police Station, where he was then detained.
They are demanding a compensation of N50 million, the arrest and prosecution of all police officers who were on duty and present during the shooting for complicity in the murder, among others.
The petition was titled “Extra-Judicial Killing of Mr. Ibrahim Momodu: Urgent request to invite, investigate and prosecute one Mrs. Carol Afegbai, a Chief Superintendent of Police and others at large, for complicity and conspiracy to murder, obstruction of justice and conducts prejudicial to public peace.”
Uwoghiren recalled that on the fateful day, Momodu was shot on the order of the DPO without provocation, legal justification, illegally, allegedly for being an armed robber and was subsequently buried in a shallow grave in a public cemetery in Benin, in a desperate attempt to cover up the deed.
Chairman of the panel, Justice Ada Ehigiamusoe, resolved to summon Mrs. Afegbai because of her belief that the ex-policewoman is likely going to give material evidence therein on her behalf and would not come voluntarily.