Badagry killings: NGO coalition tasks President and Police to punish culprits, honour victims

CSP SALIU SAMUEL, one of the officers killed.

On 31 May, a coalition of three reputable non-governmental organisations (NGOs) urged President Goodluck Jonathan to set up a judicial commission of inquiry into the recent killing of some police officers in Badagry, Lagos State, by suspected soldiers.

The coalition, comprising CLEEN Foundation, Network for Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) and Community Life Project, said this was necessary in order to fish out the killers and bring them to justice, and also to discourage impunity and atrocities committed by soldiers and other personnel of armed services in the country.

Speaking with reporters in Lagos on behalf of the coalition, Executive Director, CLEEN Foundation, Mr Innocent Chukwuma, said the groups were demanding an inquiry “rather than the current espirit de corps panel established by the Chief of Army Staff and the Inspector General of Police, which may end up sweeping the matter under the carpet”.

Chukwuma said the groups were also demanding that the murdered policemen be given a national burial, which should be attended by President Jonathan. He said: “This is to make the point that it is not only the death of fellow politicians that he cares about, but that the lives of ordinary Nigerians, including the men and women in police uniform, matter”.

The coalition also asked that the families of the slain policemen be adequately compensated for the loss of their breadwinners and the pillars of their homes.

It added that: “The Nigeria Police should also establish a memorial hall within the Force headquarters in honor of the officers who died in the line of duty, which should be named the ‘Badagry Three Hall’.   The Force should also consider setting aside a day or week every year to organise activities in memory of fallen policemen”.

The background to the coalition’s demands is the incident in Badagry on 24 May, in which the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Badagry Police Division, CSP Samuel Salisu in the company of the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO), DSP Samson Okedusi and the Operations Officer, ASP Afolabi Taofeek, on a peace mission to 242 Recce Military Cantonment at Ibereko Badagry, were reportedly ambushed and killed by unidentified soldiers. In response to the incident, the Chief of Army Staff and the Inspector General of Police jointly constituted a committee to investigate the killings.

[See the Press Statement titled: BRING THE SOLDIERS TO JUSTICE! also on this website].