DCP, Abba Kyari
It has been alleged that a robbery suspect, Moses Mfe, was shot by the police during arrest and then left to die.
According to a lawyer Micheal Utsaha who presented the case on Thursday at the ongoing independent investigative panel on SARS and other units of police in Abuja, the robbery suspect was reportedly with the injury without any treatment at the police custody.
Utsaha told the panel that the murder was committed by Abba Kyari-led IGP Intelligence Response Team who arrested the suspect in November 2019 in Markudi, Benue State on suspicion of conspiracy and armed robbery.
He said the suspect died slowly and painfully with the gunshot injuries without medical treatment.
Utsaha said late Mfe was arrested alongside his friend Raphael Tersoo by the police team at different locations in the state, adding that he once visited the two suspects at the Suleja correctional centre.
He said that the police had refused to disclose the news of the suspect's death to his family until the matter was brought before the panel where police admitted that the suspects died in the cell.
Utsaha told the panel that the second suspect had since been in detention and had not been charged to the court.
He said an order of the court was obtained to move suspects from police detention to prison when SARS was disbanded.
Following the fear and concerns expressed by the lawyer over the status and well-being of the second suspect, chairman of the panel, Suleiman Galadima, ordered the police to produce the suspect before the panel as the matter was stood down for two hours.
Upon the arrival of the suspect at the panel and having satisfied that he was still alive, the chairman ordered the police to arraign him before a court of competent jurisdiction in Makurdi where the alleged offence was committed by next Wednesday.
Galadima said the bail would be considered by the court and adjourned the matter to March next year.
Deputy commissioner of police and leader of the Inspector-General of Police's Intelligence Response Team, Abba Kyari, was represented by inspector Mohammed Seidu while inspector Vincent Makinde who arrested the suspects was absent.