The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) says it has
cleared all the obstacles on the prosecution of the 33 indicted operatives of
the now-disbanded special anti-robbery squad (SARS).
Tony Ojukwu, NHRC executive secretary, said all the required
materials needed in the case have been forwarded to Abubakar Malami,
attorney-general of the federation.
In 2019, a presidential panel had indicted 35 police
officers in 12 states and the federal capital territory (FCT) but recommended
33 for prosecution.
But Malami had said the panel, chaired by Ojukwu, did not
carry out a proper investigation and failed to establish the needed evidence to
prosecute the officers.
“Admissible evidence such as exhibits, medical evidence,
statements of the suspects and witnesses that can be used in court has not been
obtained or recorded in the appropriate sheet from the suspects and witnesses
by the appropriate,” the AGF had said.
However, The Nation quoted Ojukwu as saying all relevant
materials, including the original case files, have now been forwarded to the
AGF to act on the cases.
He also said the necessary documents have also been
submitted to the Police Service Commission (PSC) and Mohammed Adamu, the
inspector-general of police.
“We have sent all the original cases files, not only to him
(the AGF), but to all the states, because the law says it is either the
attorney general of the federation or the attorney general of the states,” he
was quoted to have said.
“There are about 13 states involved, and I can assure you
that we have dispersed all the original case files to all the 13 states.
“Secondly, we have submitted the list of these officers,
with other necessary documents to both the Police Service Commission and the
inspector general of police.
“So, they need to do the needful. Moving forward, I expect
that, once these internal procedures are tidied up, they should be able to do
what they are supposed to do. This is because, as at today, we have sorted out
these two obstacles identified by the AGF.”
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These SARs State-Aided Robbery Squad should be prosecuted by an independent prosecutor. Malami may not be able to secure the justice the people deserve. Malanis hands maybe tied even before the trial begins and could sabotage his own case against the SARS we have seen this before.
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