The "Apo Six"
The “Apo Six”

 Two policemen namely Emmanuel Baba and Ezekiel Achejene were this Thursday sentenced to death by an Abuja High Court for killing six Igbo traders of the Apo Mechanic Village in Abuja in 2005.

The traders who were motor parts sellers, namely Chinedu Meniru, Paulinus Ogbonna, Anthony Nwokike, Ifeanyi Ozo, Isaac Ekene and a female, Tina Arebun were shot dead by policemen while they were returning from a night club on June 8, 2005.

The deceased were allegedly shot on the orders of a Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Danjuma. Altogether, six policemen: Ibrahim Danjuma, Abdulsalam Othman (a DPO who has been at large since the incident), Nicholas Zakaria, Emmanuel Baba, Ezekiel Achejene and Sadiq Salam were charged by Federal prosecutors for the crime.

In delivering the judgment, Justice Ishaq Bello said he relied on the confessional statements by the 4th and 5th defendants namely Emmanuel Baba and Ezekiel Achejene to convict them of the crime and sentence them to death.

Justice Bello said the two policemen displayed “impunity of the highest order and showed no regard for the sanctity of human life” by killing Anthony and Tina whom they admitted they shot directly. The two policemen had said they shot Anthony and Tina based on a “directive” from the absconded DPO, Othman.

However, Justice Bello discharged and acquitted the remaining three officers who were available for trial, including DCP Danjuma for lack of evidence linking them directly to the actual crime. The court considered the charges against the three policemen as vague and weak.