Lawyers on the platform of Nigerian Young Lawyers Initiative for Peace and Justice (NYLIPJ) have called on the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, to reopen investigation into the killing of former national vice-chairman South-South zone of the Peoples Democratic Party, Aminaso Alfred Dikibo.
Solomon Arase
Vanguard had reported in 2004 that Dikibo was assassinated by some unknown gunmen in Delta state on his way to Asaba, the state capital, to attend a meeting of the governors, speakers and leaders of the zone forum when he ran into the killers.
To this end, the lawyers in a strong worded petition addressed to the IGP wondered why the panel of inquiry set up by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo since 2004 was yet to come out with a public statement identifying the perpetrators of the killing, National Mirror reports.
The petition, signed by the group’s coordinator and secretary general, Edward Omaga and Barrister Samson Esekhaigbe respectively, accused the police of complicity in the matter while wondering why there was no presence of policemen on the road where the assassination was carried out, even as there was supposed to be heavy traffic of top government functionaries plying the route to the meeting which was aborted due to the death of Dikibo.
The lawyers further stated that the probe panel had already established that the killing was politically- motivated.
They pointed that the panel accused Cairo Ojougboh of being responsible for the murder, judging from the manner he hurriedly took over Dikibo’s position in the PDP.
Eleven years down the line, the lawyers are expressing their expectation that the Nigerian police should have published the findings of its investigation in the media to clear doubts as to the culpability or not of Ojougboh in the case.
The group accused the police of incompetence, as it is saddled with the primary responsibility of protecting lives and property of all citizens of the country. They said that until the murder of Dikibo is solved and those responsible brought to book, it will be the conviction in many quarters that Nigeria is a lawless state where any crime can be committed without consequences.
The lawyers insisted that the police should produce the ex-PDP vice chairman’s Killer. They therefore have issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the police to publish the findings of its investigation or face legal actions.
They said: “We maintain that the inordinate delay on the part of the Nigerian Police Force to make public their final investigation report as it concerns the assassination of Chief Dik.”
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