Francesa Ogbu, wife of late Abuja based journalist Alex Ogbu has accused the Nigeria Police Force of not implementing a court order to pay her family N50m as compensation for her husband’s death.
Alex Ogbu was killed on January 21, 2020 while covering a protest by members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) demanding the release of their leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.
The police initially claimed he died from a fall during the protest but an autopsy later revealed he died from blood loss from gunshot wounds.
Three years after, the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Kurudu presided over by Justice Mohammed Abubakar ruled on June 21, 2023 that the police were liable for Ogbu’s death and ordered them to pay N50m to his family.
But Francesa said the police have not implemented the judgment nor filed an appeal.
She spoke to journalists in Abuja, “They are not respecting the court.”
She added that the police has not complied with the judgment, nor did they appeal judgement.
The widow said the forces are showing pure contempt and impunity for the judgment of a court of the land.
Francesa said letters have been written to the Police Service Commission, Ministry of Police Affairs and the IGP but all have been ignored.
She said Senator Abba Moro even wrote to the IGP but nothing happened.
In her statement, Francesa said the police are frustrating justice.
“Several attempts have been made to make the police see reason and obey the court judgment but all have not yielded results. The police authorities have refused to obey the court order and frustrated all efforts to pay the judgment sum awarded to the family,” she said.
She disclosed that reason for the press conference is to draw attention to the police’s non compliance and to demand accountability.
Efforts to get comments from the FCT police spokesperson, Josephine Adeh were unsuccessful. When contacted, the Force spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi asked for the name of the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) handling the case but did not respond further.
This is a case of police impunity. Nigerians families are still fighting for justice after the first loss.