A human rights lawyer, Mr Morakinyo Ogele, has dragged the Inspector General of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu to Court.
He wants him explained in court the alleged killing of two students of the Federal University, Oye- Ekiti (FUOYE) during a protest.
Recall that September 10, the students, Kehinde Dada, a 100 level student of the Department of Agriculture and Horticulture and Okonofua Joseph, a 300 level Biology Education student, were hit and died by bullets allegedly fired by the police.
The students of the institution were protesting incessant power outage in Oye-Ekiti and other adjoining communities when policemen on the entourage of the wife of the governor, Mrs Bisi Fayemi allegedly opened fire on the students after the students were violent leading to attack on the first lady’s convoy.
Following the incident, the management announced the closure of the university.
Mrs Fayemi was in Oye Ekiti for an empowerment programme, which coincided with the protest.
The application was brought pursuant to Order 11 Rule 1 of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure Rules) 2009.
READ ALSO: Internet Fraud: Mothers of Yahoo Boys Form Association
Joined in the suit were; The Nigeria Police Force(1st respondent), the Inspector General of Police(2nd), and the Police Commissioner, Ekiti Command(3rd).
He urged the court to also determine “whether it is lawful for the court to award damages against the respondents under the circumstances.”
In an eight – paragraph written address attached to the application and obtained by Nigerian Tribune on Thursday in Ado-Ekiti, the applicant described the shooting “as an abridgement of the rights of the deceased as enshrined in section 33 of the 1999 constitution and that such action amounted to extrajudicial killing.”
Ogele sought a declaration that the killing was a breach of the constitution and also demanded an order directing the respondents to conduct a serious investigation within the Ekiti State Police Command and identify the officers responsible for the killings.
“An order directing the police to prosecute the officers. Also, being sought is an order compelling the respondents to conduct a compulsory psychiatric test on their officers for the safety of the Nigerian citizens and order directing the respondents to pay a sum of one billion naira (N1,000,000,000) as damages to the families of the students.
“The families of the students must be compensated because they were only exercising their constitutional rights of protest when they were murdered by men of the respondents, ” Ogele said.
Meanwhile, the authorities of the institution have directed students to resume for academic activities on November 11
According to a statement by the Public Relations Officer of the institution, Mr Godfrey Bajki, the decision was reached following a marathon deliberation of the University’s Senate which held yesterday.
