Twenty three police officers are currently facing trial in Lagos State for various acts of brutality including murder, manslaughter and causing grievious bodily harm, according to the state government.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said Friday that the state government had commenced “the work of rebuilding Lagos and ending police brutality.”
Sanwo-Olu said on Twitter that the prosecutions were to “show our commitment” to the fight against violation of human rights in the state.
Facing trial are:Inspector Surulere Irede, Sgt. Sunday Ogunyemi and Corp. Hezekiah Babatunde all of them for manslaughter;Ogunyemi Olalekan for murder; Sgt. Gbanwuan Isaac for causing grievous bodily harm;Aminu Joseph for murder;Sgt.Alechenu Benedict for armed robbery;Sgt.Adebayo Abdulahi for involuntary manslaughter ;and Inspector A.Mohammed for armed robbery.
The rest include Matthew Ohansi for murder;Sgt.Segun Okun and Captain Adekunle Oluwarotimi for manslaughter and attempted murder;Adamu Dare for murder; Sgt.Mark Argo and 5 others for conspiracy and armed robbery;Corporal Pepple Boma for manslaughter; and Inspector Emmanuel Akpodana for attempted murder.
The others are: Emmanuel Uyankweke for manslaughter; Akanbi Lukmon for involuntary manslaughter; and Edokhe Omokhide for murder.
The state government has also filed murder charges against Afolabi Saka and Monday Gabriel while Yahya Adeshina and Aremu Museliu are to be charged with involuntary manslaughter and murder respectively.
In a separate statement on the matter,Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) asked the public to “keep track of our on-going diligent prosecution of these matters in the overall public interest.”