Account for whereabouts of two missing brothers, 25 cows taken from Benue – Panel to police
THE Abuja-based Independent Investigative Panel probing rights abuses by the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad and other police tactical units, on Thursday, ordered police authorities to explain the whereabouts of two brothers and 25 cows taken away by SARS operatives from a village in Benue State since December 2019.
The brothers’ lawyer, Timothy Ahua, told the panel which was constituted by the National Human Rights Commission that the SARS operatives took away his two clients along with their 25 cows from Edumega District in the Okonkwo Local Government Area of Benue State on December 20, 2019.
He said the brothers, Matthew and Patrick Ella, had not been seen since then, adding that the police refused to produce them in violation of a court order directing that they be produced during the hearing of a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed on behalf of the brothers.
Ahua said, “On March 12, 2020, some officers of the Inspector General of Police Intelligent Response Team from Abuja stormed the victim’s village.
“They shot his brother, Patrick in the leg and took him to away. They also made away with 25 cows belonging to Matthew Ella.”
Respondents who were accused in the petition are Inspector Waziri Mustapha, Alhassan Emmanuel, Inspector Glory, the Inspector-General of Police and the Intelligence Response Team of the police force.
The Justice Suleiman Galadima(retd)-led panel ordered the police legal team to get the full details of the police officers named as part of the respondents.
The panel then adjourned till December 2 and asked the legal team to ensure that the missing brothers were produced in court by then.
