A retired Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mrs Caroline Afegbai has filed an appeal at the Federal High Court, Benin demanding for a stay of further proceedings in the petition by the family of late Mr Ibrahim Momodu, at the Edo State Judicial Panel of Enquiry on police brutality, pending the determination of the interlocutory appeal now before it.
In the suit by her counsel, Mr. Monday Agienoji, the retired top policewoman who was invited to testify by Justice Ada Ehigiamusoe is challenging the decision of the panel which dismissed her preliminary objection to the hearing of the petition filed by the family of the deceased for not giving her fair hearing.
The respondents are Mrs Okungbowa Momodu and the Edo StateJudicial Panel of Enquiry, #EndSars and Allied Matters.
The appellant/applicant argued that the Edo State Judicial Panel of Enquiry on #EndSARS has a limited lifespan of three months, noting that the ruling delivered by the Judicial Panel of Enquiry on November 18, 2020, dismissing her preliminary objection to the hearing of the petition filed by the family of the deceased, needed to be challenged in time to preserve the “status quo ante.”
Besides, she held that her fundamental right to a fair hearing must first be resolved before the Judicial Panel of Enquiry can proceed to hear the petition.
In the appeal which is supported by a four-paragraph affidavit, she held that the State Judicial Panel of Enquiry has no power or legal competence under the constitution or any enabling law to revisit, reopen or review a matter which the police at the highest level in Abuja thoroughly investigated.
She added that the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Edo State, wrote and rendered a legal advice which led to the prosecution and conviction of Mr Amadin Idahosa, adding that she was never indicted by the police investigation report or the DPP advice.
She held that the hearing of the petition is, “antithetical and at variance with the sacred doctrine of sub-judice” and capable of compromising the final outcome of the case at the Supreme Court, which is detrimental to the normative course of the administration of criminal justice.
The appellant/applicant held that Mr Amadin Idahosa who was convicted of manslaughter for the death of late Momodu is currently at the apex court where he is challenging his conviction, reminding that there is a likelihood of the appeal succeeding.
The family is presently demanding a compensation of N50 million, the arrest and prosecution of all police officers who were on duty and present during the shooting for complicity in the murder among others.
