BY EGUFE YAFUGBORHI
PORT HARCOURT — FOUR
police officers were, yesterday,
arraigned before a high court
sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers
State for allegedly killing two
persons and shooting another
in the foot over a failed
attempt to extort N50 from a
bus driver.
The suspects, ASP Omorogbe,
Inspector Emmason Udo,
Hadiza Musa and Samirah
Ileya of the Abacha Road
Police Station, Obia/Akpor
locality of Port Harcourt were
alleged to have shot the
victims sometimes in 2010
while the driver of the
commercial bus in which the
victims were riding attempted
to escape from the policemen
who demanded N50 from him
at a check point.
They were said to have been
arrested on the orders of then
Police Commissioner who
insisted on their being tried for
alleged killings.
In the suit No PHC/858/2010
filed against the suspects, the
applicant, Ifeanyi Echemazu,
whose mother in-law was shot
in the leg said he took the
action to pursue justice for his
mother-in-law and the two
passengers who died during
the ordeal.
“The suspects thought nobody
was alive to testify against
them in this matter, but Mrs.
Christiana Aliko who was hit
on the leg is here to testify that
those who boarded the vehicle
were passengers and not
robbers as the suspects
claimed,” Mr Chidi Ekah,
counsel to the applicant told
the court.
He added that the driver of the
commercial bus whose
resistance to the alleged N50
extortion provoked the fatal
shooting is also alive to tell the
story.
Justice Georgewill of State
High Court who presided over
the hearing, however,
adjourned the matter to April
23, 2013 to allow the applicant
and defence counsel time to
present more witnesses.

Our legal system and endless adjournments.