Finally, Apo Six Gets Justice As Court Sentences Two Police Officers To Death
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Almost 12 years after the Apo 6 killings, a Federal High Court in Abuja has finally sentenced two accused persons, Ezekiel Acheneje and Baba Emmanuel, to death.
The court found the accused guilty of killing the five young auto-spare parts dealers and a young woman in Apo, a satellite town in Abuja in 2005.
Recall that the victims, Ekene Isaac Mgbe, Ifeanyi Ozor, Chinedu Meniru, Paulinus Ogbonna, Anthony and Augustina Arebu, were said to be returning from a night club when they were stopped at a police checkpoint.
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According to the police, the victims were members of an armed robbery gang that had opened fire on the officers when stopped at the checkpoint.
However, a judicial panel of inquiry set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo found the police account to be false and recommended the trial of five officers for extra-judicial killings.
The indicted officers are Danjuma Ibrahim, Othman Abdulsalami, now at large, Nicholas Zakaria, Ezekiel Acheneje, Baba Emmanuel, and Sadiq Salami. The defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Delivering his judgement, Justice Ishaq Bello of the FCT High Court, on Thursday, convicted the former police officers to death for culpable homicide.
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Bello, however, freed three other policemen, who were prosecuted along with Achejene and Baba.
Those discharged and acquitted were a former Deputy Commissioner of Police, Danjuma Ibrahim, Nicholas Zakaria and Sadiq Salami.
One other accused person, Othman Abdulsalam, was said to be at large and was never brought to court throughout the trial.
