Killing Of EFCC Operative By Colleagues: Ministry Subverting Justice, Father Cries Out

The family of Inspector Abel Isah Dickson, an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), who was allegedly beaten to death by his colleagues in the Sokoto office of the commission, has accused the Ministry of Justice of deliberate attempts to frustrate the prosecution of the suspects.

Two officers of the EFCC, Assistant Superintendent Apata Oluwaseun Odunayo and Inspector Ogbuji Titu Tochukwu, were alleged to have inflicted fatal injuries on Abel on May 5, 2023 for allegedly refusing to sign off on incomplete exhibits seized from a suspect in detention and handed over to him.

Abel was said to have been rushed to the Usmanu danfodiyo Hospital, Sokoto, where he died on May 7 as a result of the heavy injuries inflicted on him.

The late officer was buried on Saturday, May 13, 2023, in his Mushere community, in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State.

The then Executive Chairman of EFCC, Abdulrasheed Bawa, thereafter dismissed the two officers and charged them to court on two counts of culpable homicide.

But Dickson Isah, the father of the victim, has accused the ministry of Justice of trying to subvert justice by deliberately delaying the prosecution of the suspects.

Speaking to Daily Sun in an interview, the bereaved father said that some few weeks ago, some officials of the ministry invited him to testify as a complainant, when in actual fact, it was their employers that preferred charges against them.

Isah expressed surprises that more than three months after the incident, the suspects were yet to face the full wrath of the law as the prosecutors have been dragging its feet.

He said, “The ministry of Justice invited me to come and testify as a complainant, when I am not. The incident happened in Sokoto and I was not there. Their employers arrested them and charged them to court. So how can I go and testify over what I don’t know. I think the ministry of justice is trying to delay the prosecution of the suspects for some reasons I don’t know because I don’t understand why they should still be in detention more than three months after the incident.

Isah was however full of praises for the anti-graft agency over the manner they handed the matter.

The bereaved father, who himself was a staff of the commission, said, “I must express my appreciation to EFCC for the way the whole issue was handled. They took charge right from the start by taking him to the hospital, paid all the fees, including the autopsy performed on him after his death.”

Meanwhile, the management of NewsGate Magazine is demanding justice in the death of the EFCC operative killed by his colleagues in the Sokoto zonal office of the commission.

In a statement signed by the Magazines Chairman, Nanyah Daman, the non-prosecution of the suspects is a travesty of justice.

The statement said, “It is surprising that his killers have not been brought to justice as they still in detention months after the incident.

• – Daily Sun