THE KILLING OF AN INNOCENT AND UNARMED CIVILIAN BY THESE BLACK HEARTED, BEASTLY AND WICKED NIGERIAN SOLDIERS CAPTURED IN THIS PHOTOGRAPH OVER THE WEDNESDAY’S SIT-AT-HOME ORDER BY PRO-BIAFRAN AGITATORS, IS CONDEMNABLE, EVIL AND CULPABLE HOMICIDE, JUST AS THE NIGERIAN ARMY DESERVES TO BE SUED FOR ENFORCEMENT OF THE DECEASED FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS…
THE KILLING OF AN INNOCENT AND UNARMED CIVILIAN BY THESE BLACK HEARTED, BEASTLY AND WICKED NIGERIAN SOLDIERS CAPTURED IN THIS PHOTOGRAPH OVER THE WEDNESDAY’S SIT-AT-HOME ORDER BY PRO-BIAFRAN AGITATORS, IS CONDEMNABLE, EVIL AND CULPABLE HOMICIDE, JUST AS THE NIGERIAN ARMY DESERVES TO BE SUED FOR ENFORCEMENT OF THE DECEASED FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS…
By: Bar. Michael Chinedu Ozor
On Wednesday, 30/05/2018, most residents of Aba including my very self, observed the Sit-At-Home order of the pro-Biafran agitators as I personally shunned the court case I had at Osisioma High court, in Abia state that same date.
Unfortunately, it was a sad and untimely end for one Nnamdi, from Mbano in Imo state, who was reportedly living at Chigbu street off Uratta junction by Port Harcourt road,Aba when he was hit by a stray bullet fired by soldiers of the the Nigerian Army.
According to Enyiocha, an eye witness who watched from his house and who incidentally is the youth leader of the community, the said Nnamdi had come out to buy something along the road when the incident happened. He also said the soldiers and some chaps, nay dissidents had had some altercations over the barricades those chaps had put up to restrict movement, thus leading to staccato bursts of gunshots fired by the said soldiers.
A close look at the said photograph revealed that the said soldiers after killing the said Nnamdi was dragging his lifeless body away and towards their hilux van, for God knows why!
One begins to wonder what were the intentions of the same soldiers that had asked residents of Abia state to ignore the said Sit-At-Home order and at the same time they turned round and blatantly fired gunshots in the air over mere altercations with civilians! What if everyone had defied the said order and gone about their business? Or perhaps found within the vicinity of the unfortunate incident just like the late Nnamdi?
What does a person armed with a gun finding unarmed persons scampering for safety and protection and openly fire gunshots intend to cause? Under the Criminal Code Act, that person intends to cause the natural consequences of his act, namely: to grievously harm that person or to kill the person.
The right to life is sacrosanct and sacred. It is the highest and most important of all the fundamental rights of the citizens as constitutionally guaranteed by section 33(1) in Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution (As Amended).
In the case of IGP v. Ikpila(2016) 9 NWLR pg. 236, the Court of Appeal held “…the very tremendous powers vested in the police…” in this case the Nigerian Army, “…do not give them a carte Blanche power to exercise it with impunity or in reckless disregard of the laws of the land to infringe upon the inalienable fundamental rights of the citizens as constitutionally guaranteed in the country…”.
While I express shock at the horrendous and vicious manner in which the Nigerian army kill the unarmed and innocent civilians, of particularly the pro-Biafran agitators, at a time when most armed herdsmen are on killing spree in various parts of the country, I hereby urge the Chief of Army Staff to fish out the killer soldiers of Nnamdi, and hand them over to the Nigerian police for investigation and prosecution on charges bordering on culpable homicide.
