Two Months After Death Of Hausa Boy, DPO, 5 Others Still In Detention Without Trial
Two months after the alleged killing of 16-year old Abdulahi Idris at Mile 3, Diobu in Port Harcourt, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Mile 3 Police Station, Mr. Baridon Monsi and five other police officers are still being held at the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID) without trial.
Mr. Monsi and the four other police officers were arrested on June 11, 2019 over alleged complicities in the death of the deceased, a cart pusher who hailed from Kano State.
National Network gathered that the suspects were held in prison custody on the orders of the outgone State Commissioner of Police, CP Usman Belel as he was not satisfied with the explanations offered by DPO Monsi regarding circumstances that led to the death of Idris.
The DPO was alleged to have ordered the killing of the deceased and another unidentified man, after wrongly accusing them of stealing a generator.
It was gathered that some youths had on the fateful day, accosted and beaten up Idris who had used his cart to convey the generator on the instructions of the supposed owner. The deceased and the yet-to-be-identified man were later arrested by officers of the Mile 3 Police State and detained on the orders of the DPO.
However, trouble started when the victim’s relatives visited the station in the evening of that day and the DPO could not give satisfactory explanation on the whereabouts of the ‘suspects’.
The DPO, Monsi was said to have told the deceased’s relatives that the duo had been transferred out of the station.
National Network learnt that on suspicion of foul play, the relatives of the ‘suspects’ immediately proceeded to Police Headquarters at Moscow Road in Port Harcourt where the matter was reported to former CP Belel.
Irked by the development, the Police Commissioner was said to have visited the Mile 3 Police Station later in the evening and confronted the DPO who allegedly confessed to ordering the killing of the Hausa boy and his friend.
Monsi had reportedly taken the Commissioner to where Idris and his friend were buried; their corpses exhumed while the DPO and five other officers were arrested on the orders of the CP Belel.
The Spokesperson of the Rivers State Police Command, Nnamdi Omoni had earlier confirmed the arrest of the DPO and five others to our reporter while adding that investigations had commenced.
Checks by National Network indicate that the victims have since been buried after autopsy was carried out on them at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH).
When contacted, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) through its South-South, South-East Coordinator confirmed that the DPO and the other officers were still in detention and has not been arraigned in court.
Some residents of Port Harcourt who spoke to National Network expressed reservation that justice may not be served after all as indicated by the delay in arraigning Monsi and the other officers.
