5 Nimbo Massacre Suspects Drag Police, Enugu AG to Court

5 Nimbo Massacre Suspects Drag Police, Enugu AG to Court

The five Fulani herdsmen in police net for the murder of over 40 persons at Nimbo in Uzo Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu state on May 25, 2016, have filed a case against the Attorney General of Enugu State and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Mellitus Eze and the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Idris Mohammed before the Federal High Court, Enugu, for failing to try them months after their arrest and detention.

Vanguard reports that the suit, filed by Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network, CRRAN, stated that both the Attorney General and the IGP failed to commence the criminal trial of the five suspects of Nimbo massacre: Mohammed Zurai, Ciroma Musa, Saleh Adamu, Suleiman Laute and Haruna Laute.

Commenting on the development in Enugu on Thursday, the President of CRRAN, Olu Omotayo stated that the suit became “imperative in view of the blunt refusal of the Attorney General to perform his constitutional duty to arraign the five detained suspects for criminal trial despite our written application to his office to that effect.”

Omotayo said that CRRAN was seeking the court’s declarations that “the continued detention of the suspects at the police headquarters, Abuja, by respondents since the 25th day of May 2016, without trial, and the refusal of the 1st Respondent who was under the misconception of law that he needs the consent of the Federal Attorney General and the Presidency to arraign them for trial before a court of competent jurisdiction constitutes a flagrant violation of the applicants’ fundamental rights guaranteed under sections 34, 35 and 36(5) of the 1999 Constitution and Articles 5, 6 & 7, of the African Charter on Human & Peoples Rights, (Ratification and Enforcement Act) Cap. A9 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and therefore illegal, unconstitutional, null and void.

He prayed the court to “direct the Enugu State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice to charge the applicants to court forthwith for whatever offence they might have committed or order their release if the state is not ready to prosecute them.”

Meanwhile, a member of Enugu State House of Assembly, Hon. Sunday Ude-Okoye representing Awgu North Constituency, on Thursday made a desperate plea for his community which, according to him, is on the verge of annihilation by Fulani herdsmen.

The lawmaker who cast his mind back to the mayhem carried out on Nimbo, lamented that the herdsmen have threatened to attack another community, Aku in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area, although security agencies have assured Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of adequate safety of lives and property.