By Emma Okereh
A Police witness, Sergeant David Moses on Friday confessed before the IIP-SARS that he shot Simon Aondofa Nyamkwange at Eterna filling station in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja when he allegedly struggled with him in an unsuccessful attempt to snatch his riffle from him (Sergeant Moses).
Testifying before an 11-Member Panel, presided by Dr. Garba Tetengi (SAN), on behalf of the Chairman, Justice Suleiman Galadima (rtd), the Police Sergeant stated that while he was guarding the filing station with his Superior, ASP Danjuma Kadiri Ogwu, five men wielding shinny cutlasses scaled the perimeter fence of the filling station and that he shot one of them, Simon Aondofa Nyamkwange while he made a futile effort to collect his riffle.
He told the panel that the incident happened on the 27th of April, 2020 and that on that fateful day, the other four men who came with the late Simon Aondofa Nyamkwange took to their heels immediately they discovered that one of them had been shot.
According to the Sgt Moses, the victim did not die on the spot which informed his decision to contact CSP Emeka Onyia, Police Admin Officer, who in turn informed Wuse Police Station to provide a vehicle to convey the victim to Wuse General Hospital, Abuja for treatment.
Continuing, he said that he visited the victim at Wuse General Hospital where he learnt of his death
On cross-examination by counsel to the Complainant, G. Mpatsavdue who asked if the men who scaled the fence of the filling station were armed, he said that they were only holding shinny cutlasses and that a jackknife was later found in possession of the late Simon Aondofa Nyamkwange when he was admitted in the hospital.
Similarly, ASP Danjuma Kadiri Ogwu who also testified as the second witness in the petition filed by Abraham Nyamkwange on behalf of his late brother, informed the panel that he was posted as the Officer in charge of security in the filling station and that he was around on the day of the incident.
He stated that though he was not on the same spot with Sgt Moses to witness the shooting but he heard noise confirming a public disturbance at the filing station.
Sergeant Moses, he testified, informed him about his encounter with the five men who according to him gained an illegal entry into the filling station, having not passed through the gate but jumped perimeter fence of the premises.
On cross examination by Complainant’s lawyer, Mpatsavdue, ASP Ogwu said that he did not hear the sound of gun on that very day the victim was shot.
He was further asked to confirm if all he narrated before the panel were just what he was told by the first witness, Sgt Moses who confirmed that he was the person who fired Simon Aondofa Nyamkwange and he said “I was around” but did not hear the sound of the gun.
In the same petition, following failure by the police to release the corpse of late Simon Aondofa Nyamkwange to the family for proper burial since over 600 days that he died, the panel ordered the Chief Medical Director of Wuse General Hospital or his representative to appear before the panel on December 1st, 2021 to enable the panel elicit relevant information on the circumstances of the death of the victim.
The panel also order that autopsy should be conducted on the body of late Simon Aondofa Nyamkwange by Wuse General Hospital and that as soon as it is concluded it should release the corpse to the family of the victim for burial.
It further directed that the report of the autopsy should be brought before the panel.
In another petition of confiscation/seizure of property allegedly belonging to Chukwuemeka Amadi, the panel adjourned the matter for report.
Before the adjournment, counsel to the police, Fidelis Ogwobe told the panel that the Complainant did not prove that his vehicle was recovered or taken over by the police.
According to him, he relied only on a hearsay evidence that someone told him that his car was with the police, which according to him cannot hold water in the instant case.
He therefore prayed the panel to discountenance and dismiss the petition on the ground that it is speculative and malicious in nature.
