Group supports Bayelsa checkpoint killing victim's family

A human rights group, Agape Birthright, has vowed to ensure that relatives of Emmanuel Victor, a 20-year-old, who was killed by policemen in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, get justice.Emmanuel was reportedly shot by policemen after allegedly criticising them for extorting money from commercial motorcycle operators popularly known as okada riders.But the President of Agape Birthright, Ms. Annkio Briggs, who spoke in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Monday, promised that the group would do everything according to the law to ensure that those behind the killing of Victor were punished.Briggs, who is also the spokesperson for Ijaw Republican Assembly, expressed shock that the police could be involved in extra judicial killings without minding the implications.She explained that a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, had already written the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, and had given him a timeframe to react to the matter.Falana is going to sue the police and ensure that relatives of the late Emmanuel Victor are duly compensated. But that is not the issue now. The issue now is that the police must tell Nigerians why they (police) have turned their arms against law abiding citizens of the country.The police must tell Nigerians why they killed an innocent young man, Emmanuel Victor, in Yenagoa. We are not relenting in the fight against this injustice and our group is prepared to follow this matter to a logical conclusion, she added.According to her, the way operatives of the security agency defend one another on issues affecting the lives of law abiding Nigerians shows that most policemen are not aware of their responsibility.She called on the Federal Government to begin a re-orientation programme for the police, adding that it was wrong for the government to arm an untrained policeman.She said, If we allow the countrys police to continue this way, they will become unauthorised murderers. It is sad that the police have no idea of what their functions are.
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