ONYEDI GABRIEL, PORT HARCOURT
Family members of the deceased Abdulraheem Abiodun Jimoh, who was reportedly killed in cold blood by a police team have given the police in Rivers State seven days to pay them N150 million compensation.
The family in a letter written on their behalf by a legal firm, G.B. Sanusi and Associates and addressed to the Commissioner of Police said the late Jimoh, their breadwinner, was brutally murdered on December 18, 2020 while he was riding a motorcycle in the company of his younger brother Ismail Jimoh.
The letter, which was dated March 4, 2021 and signed by the Principal Partner, G.B. Sanusi, said Jimoh was killed around Elelenwo, Port Harcourt by policemen attached to the Elelenwo Police Division.
The letter, which was authorised by the wife of Jimoh, Madam Olaiya Azeezat Omolara Jimoh, said despite identifying a police officer named Wonde Nwogwu as being a principal suspect among the team that allegedly carried out the dastardly act, the police had yet to conduct their in-house trial on the culprits.
The letter said: “Please be informed that our clients’ husband, father and sole breadwinner by name Abdulraheem Abiodun Jimoh (in company with his younger brother Ismail Jimoh) was brutally murdered on 18th day of December 2020 when both were riding a motorcycle back home on their way from an end of the year activities around Elelenwo, Port Harcourt where they were stopped by a group of drunk and unruly Policemen attached to the Elelenwo Police Division.
“Suffice to state that the offending Police officer named Wonde Nwogwu (rank unknown) and members of his team who were manifestly accomplices to murder and the subsequent attempted murder of the younger brother named Ismail Jimoh are yet to undergo the necessary orderly room trial, let alone being tried for their respective offences in a Court of law.
“It is most worrisome, that even when the so called bad eggs allegedly soiling the image of the Nigerian Police Force are clearly identifiable, the top echelons of the force do not deem it fit to take any meaningful steps towards purging the system of these elements, therefore speaking volumes as to the sincerity of the Police authority in its efforts to sanitize the force against antipeople tender lier.
“It is against the above background that we hereby demand compensation on behalf of the family left behind by Abdulraheem Abiodun Jimoh and his brutalized younger brother Ismail Dare Jimoh in the sum of N150,000,000 the said sum to be paid within seven days of your receipt of this letter.
“Please do take notice that in the event of any refusal or neglect by you to accede accordingly, we shall be left with the only option of seeking judicial remedies”.
The letter said the family after seven days would initiate a legal action to seek the recovery of compensation through the enforcement of the fundamental rights on behalf of the dependants of Abdulraheem Jimoh whose life was brutally cut short by an operative of the Nigerian Police.
It said the family would institute a further action on behalf of Ismail Dare Jimoh, who was not only unlawfully and illegally detained but was nearly killed when the team of the police in an effort to hide the fact of the murder of his brother threw him out of their patrol pick-up van and left him on the hard surfaced road for dead.
It said the family intended to file an action in mandamus, where an order would be sought compelling the immediate orderly room trial and murder trial of the team of policemen responsible for the assault on the fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens.