The legal opinion presented by the Edo State Department of Public Prosecution in the case of the killing of 22-years-old final-year student of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Ibrahim Momodu, has been rejected by the Edo State Government.
Ibrahim Momodu was killed by the former Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Ogida Police Division, Mrs. Carol Afegbai, on the allegation of being an armed robber and was buried by the police without the consent of his family. public outcry for justice led to the exhumation of his body for a post-mortem examination.
The post-mortem showed that contrary to the claims of DPO Carol Afegbai, Ibrahim Momodu was shot three times from the back, whereas Mrs Afebgai claimed she shot him in the legs for self defense and he died on the way to the hospital.
Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice Henry Idahagbon, who announced the government’s position, said the police were yet to do a thorough investigation. Idahagbon spoke while addressing students and members of civil society organisations plus the bereaved family of who submitted a protest letter at his office.
He said: "The file was returned to my office yesterday. I have examined it and came to the conclusion that the police are yet to do a thorough investigation that can grant a prosecution for murder. Murder is a serious offense. The legal penalty is death. For any prosecution to be done in a murder case, we must get our facts straight, we must get the investigation straight and everything must be in line with the law before we can prosecute. Having examined the DPP report, I came to the conclusion that there are still lots of lapses. We are compelled to do another letter asking them to do investigation in specific areas. There is a difference between sentiment and law. We will not shy away from doing our prosecution. The law is blind. We will do what we need to do. The law will take its course. We will do the letter to the police and once their reply comes, anybody that needs to be charged to court will be charged to court."
The House of Assembly Speaker, Uyi Igbe, has said the House would soon set up an independent and separate panel of enquiry.
Meanwhile, Carol Afegbai who posted a statement to her Facebook timeline on June 3rd, claiming Ibrahim Momodu was an armed robber, has deleted the allegation, her informations and has changed her Facebook name to Eiea Afegbai.
I wonder why she would delete her allegation and change her name if she is really innocent.
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