In a curious twist, the House of Representatives yesterday rejected a motion seeking to probe the alleged killing of 13 police officers by suspected militants in Bayelsa State, saying the matter was already being investigated by the police.
The motion to probe the killings was brought by Hon. Henry Ofongo (PDP, Bayelsa), on the first day of business after the House resumed from its two-weeks Easter break, who called for an inquest into the killings by the relevant committees of the House.
The 13 policemen went missing on the 6th of April with the Movement for the Emancipation for the Niger Delta (MEND) claiming responsibility for their deaths, saying it was a warning to security agencies not to take their threats lightly, after the militant group had threatened to resume hostilities in the oil-rich Niger Delta. After repeated denials by the Bayelsa State Police Commissioner that the policemen were only missing, their bodies were later found in the creeks on the 9th of April.
In a related development, the House has directed its committees on Police Affairs and Human Rights to commence investigation into the alleged killing of one Mr Chrisantos Nwabueze Okorie, a bus driver in Lagos by a police officer.
This was after Honourable Raphael Igbokwe (PDP, Imo) who alleged that the deceased bus driver was “brutally murdered” by the police without provocationin the Mushin area of Lagos State, on Thursday, April 12, 2013 .
He maintained that, ”the extra judicial killings of innocent civilians by the police was becoming a national embarrassment, and if not curtailed, Nigerians will continue to lose their lives in that manner.”
When the motion was put to vote by the Speaker, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, who presided over the session, it was unanimously supported.