Enugu: Rights group demands sack of Danmallam, Abdurrahman, Olotu
by Rasheed Sobowale
By Dennis Agbo
Leading research and investigative human rights organization in Nigeria, the International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law, Intersociety, has called for outright dismissals of the Assistant Commissioner of Police, AIG, in charge of Zone 13, Alhaji Danmallam Mohammed;
The Commissioner of Police in Enugu State, Alhaji Ahmed Abdurraham, and the immediate past Director of the DSS, Enugu State, Mr. Obande Olotu, over their separate and collective roles in the massacre of no less than 30 people in Emene-Enugu state on August 23, 2020.
Intersociety’s demand is contained in its investigative report on the mayhem and mass murder of unarmed civilians on a Sunday, which the human rights group released during the weekend.
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Board Chairman of the group, Mr. Emeka Umeagbalasi, in the report alleged that Mr. Obande of the DSS, who was swiftly transferred barely a day or two after the massacre, had put a call across to the Enugu Commissioner of Police, Ahmad Abdurrahman, who unilaterally and magisterially deployed the Joint Security Taskforce, comprising soldiers, DSS and Air Force personnel as well as Police SARS,
Police Anti-Cult and Police Anti-Terrorism squads and ordered them to shoot at close range and kill any defenseless citizen sighted in the area.
The group further alleged that Abdurrahman also did put a call across to AIG Danmallam Mohammed who ordered for deployment of Police SARS, Police Anti-Cult and Police Anti-Terrorism squads from Anambra State; insisting that the Judeo-Christian citizens of Igbo extraction were massacred by the combined efforts of the trio, including Major General Lasisi Adeboye of the 82 Division of Nigerian Army.
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Umeagbalasi said: “From the foregoing, therefore, the trio of CP Ahmad Abdurrahman, AIG Danmallam Mohammed, and Mr. Obande Olotu is unfit to continue to serve as sworn officers of the Nigeria Police Force and the DSS as well as to be continuously serviced with the country’s public funds as public servants.
“They not only abused their offices and powers in the massacre but also acted unprofessionally, crudely, and hatefully. Their continuing stay in their respective positions and offices, if allowed, is very dangerous and a serious threat to the lives and safety of other defenseless citizens of the country particularly members of Judeo-Christian and moderate Muslim faith.
The authorities of the Police Service Commission and the State Security Service are hereby strongly called upon to investigate and dismiss the trio and hand them to the appropriate prosecuting agencies to be prosecuted for mass murder and associated felonies.”
The group also called on the authorities of the Enugu State Police Command, the Enugu State Directorate of DSS, and the 82 Div of the Nigerian Army to immediately disclose publicly and correctly the names, identities, and the number of the dead citizens they respectively took away during the massacre as well as those they shot at close range and critically injured and the arrested others.
“We also strongly condemn the death during the massacre of two DSS operatives who were mobbed to death by angered mobs. Intersociety is strongly opposed to all forms of deaths or killings outside the law including the killing of security personnel and unarmed citizens,” Umeagbalasi said.