‘Justice’ by ambush

Hardball

Terrorism, or indeed any form of crime, never pays, because there always comes the day of reckoning. That is what the Yoruba mean when they say, ‘Every day is for the thief, but one day for the owner.’ But in every civilised society, answering for a crime must be on the basis of having been convicted for that crime; far less so where there are claims of the suspect having renounced his crime. That is what makes us a community of decent beings, not brutes.

The killing by soldiers on 8th September of notorious Benue State bandit Terwase Agwaza, alias Gana, rankles because it was not just extra-judicial, but also an alleged backstab of someone who reportedly had renounced his misadventure and was en route formalising his new conviction. The killing seems like ‘justice’ by ambush, as opposed to the civilised standard of justice not only being done – after fair hearing – but being seen to be done.

Accounts by Benue people said Gana, who for many years had led a militia terrorising Benue and Taraba communities, was killed while he and 42 other repentant criminals were being conveyed to Makurdi after they embraced state government’s amnesty program. The dreaded militant only lately came out of hiding and was hosted to a reception by the Sankera Traditional Council in Katsina-Ala, which was attended by traditional and community leaders. He was thereafter headed with other repentees to the state capital to meet Benue Governor Samuel Ortom in company with the community elite and clergymen who had mediated the truce, with police personnel on hand when the convoy was intercepted at a roadblock mounted by the Army on Gbese-Gboko-Makurdi road. Gana and followers were allegedly picked out of the convoy and led away, with reports emerging shortly after that he’s been shot dead. “I was very surprised…because that wasn’t the plan,” Ortom told journalists.

The Army have been reluctant to join issues. But on the heels of the incident, the Commander, 4 Special Forces Command in Doma, Nasarawa State, Major-Gen. Moundhey Ali, said Gana was gunned down in a shootout with soldiers. Visuals of slain Gana showed a rifle placed by his body.

Former Benue governor and now senator representing Benue North-east, Gabriel Suswam, faulted the Army’s narrative, saying inter alia: “Even war criminals captured alive are entitled to certain rights. The claim that Gana was killed in a gunfight needs further explanation because those who accompanied him and saw him being taken away, including his Local Government Chairman, do not believe he was in possession of any arms.”

Really, if there was a shootout, why was it only Gana that was killed while not even injuries were reported among others present? This killing bears every hallmark of the police execution of Boko Haram kingpin Mohammed Yusuf in July 2009 and should be thoroughly investigated and redressed by government.

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