The Judicial Commission of Enquiry probing the killing of security forces at Alakyo in Nasarawa State was yesterday told that it lacked the legal powers to do some of its assignment.
The Legal Adviser to the Ombatse Militia Group, Mr Zachary Zammani Alumugu, spoke at the inaugural sitting of the commission in Lafia, the state capital.
Alumugu said Ombatse was never banned.
The panel was set up by Governor Tanko al-Makura following the killing of over 50 policemen and operatives of the State Security Services (SSS) in an ambush allegedly by members of the Ombatse members at Alakyo on May 7.
But the group denied complicity in the mass killing.
Alumugu explained that the group’s preliminary objection was to enable the commission decide if it was competent to adjudicate on some of the provisions in its terms of reference regarding the alleged proscription of Ombatse by the Nasarawa State Government last year.
He said: “I want to derail a little, to comment on the setting up of this commission and its terms of reference, particularly as they relate to the use of other laws.
“For instance, number two of the terms of reference mandates the commission to enquire into why Ombatse was still existing, despite its proscription vide Nasarawa State Legal Notice No. 4 of 2012.
“With the greatest respect, I want to tell the commission that this law was fraudulently made. It has never been. The making of a law like this has procedures.
“You will have to set up either a District Judge or a Justice of the Peace to look into the problems of the people and thereafter agree and make recommendations.
“It is on the basis of that that the governor can make this law. That has not been done. The penal section this commission has been asked to use can only be executed by a District Judge.
“If this commission uses that law, I want to ask, with what power? Are you clothed with the powers of a District Judge or by the mere fact that you are a Commission, you now assume other powers?
“Those two laws, with the greatest respect, are inappropriate as far as I am concerned. I am saying so because we don’t know where to go subsequently.”
The lawyer explained that it was a cardinal principle of criminal justice that a person being brought to trial must be told his offences in clear terms to enable him defend himself.
Alumugu said: “In the face of what I refer to as defective laws to be used by the commission, how do we prepare ourselves? This is what I want to point out.
“Like I said before, I don’t know whether it will be the duty of the commission itself to reassess it or we will proceed only probably without that law, because this is a very serious business.
“The combined effect of this commission, with its terms of reference is ‘go and prepare a First Information Report (FIR) and bring it.’
“Is this commission clothed with such powers? So, we want to see whether we can come around and joke or come around and look serious. The nature of this commission is not one that any one should joke with.
“We are talking about the death of people. Consequently, there will be the death of other people in the event they are found to have had a hand in it. That will be the recommendation to charge them under Section 221. And that is where we are having a problem.”
When the Commission’s Chairman, Justice Fola Gbadeyan (rtd), asked the lawyer whether that was his recommendation, he said: “No. That is what I assume by the provision, sir. What I am saying is that if it is so, we should be told clearly that the commission will use all those laws so that we can prepare ourselves properly.”
When further asked by Justice Gbadeyan if he submitted a memo to the panel, Alumugu said: “Yes, sir. On behalf of the people of Eggon, in Doma Local Government Area.”
Justice Gbadeyan, who was the Chief Judge of Kwara State, told the lawyer that the doors were still open for him to retrieve his memorandum and include the objections he raised.
He warned that it was wrong to cross a bridge one has not reached.
In an interview with The Nation, Alumugu said the introduction of the alleged “fraudulent and defective laws” into the panel’s mandate was an attempt to “rig” Ombatse into the killing saga.
He said: “Just because you want to rig Ombatse into it, Law Number Four is proscribing Ombatse. It was done in the governor’s bedroom. This is supposed to be an open thing.
“You must set up a panel and the panel must invite people who will contribute. It is on the basis of the recommendations of that panel that you can proceed to proscribe with that law. This is unknown to us. It never happened in Nasarawa State. Nobody was ever invited.”
When asked whether he was challenging the jurisdiction of the panel, the lawyer said it was only on the proscription law and the reference made to the penal code.
Alumugu said: “We talk about the jurisdiction of the panel with respect to this law. I am not saying that the whole of the panel is wrong. They already have a law, which is the Judicial of Inquiry law. This is guiding them. But the state government has gone and brought in two other laws to guide them. It is these two other laws, that is, Law Number Four and the Penal Law of Northern Nigeria.
“There must be a District Judge or a Justice of the Peace who would sit. Based on his recommendations, the governor can make that law. That has not been done, to our knowledge. So, how did he come to that conclusion?
“The commission should take notice that if they make any pronouncement in that area, it is going to no issue.”
The lawyer said he would appeal the decision of the panel, if it bases its findings on the controversial laws.
“We are going above. No doubt about it. And that is why I say you are going to waste time because you are going to come back,” he said.
Alumugu stressed that no official of the Ombatse militia has been invited. He added that yet the group had been banned.
He said: “I am an official of Ombatse. I am the Legal Adviser. That is why I insist that I have not been banned. I have never been called to any commission to down and say whether I am good or bad.
“I have not been banned. So, why should they come and tell the commission to work on a law that does not exist?
“Secondly, you are asking the panel to use the Penal Law; that law should be constituted by a District Judge or Magistrate. If you say they should use it, did you swear in members of the Commission of Inquiry as District Judges or Magistrates? Or, can you just go and pick up a law from somewhere and start using it? This is what we are saying. So, I am opposed to using this law.”
On why he waited for the panel to be set up before raising objections, Alumugu said: “We were served with the law only when this Commission was set up. That was when we were told.”
On whether or not he was aware that Ombatse has been proscribed by the state government, the lawyer said: “We did not know. We heard it on the air that we were proscribed.”
On why he did not question the development earlier, Alumugu said: “Why should I question it? Like I said before, Ombatse is a religious organisation. Have you proscribed the Catholic church? Or, have you proscribed the mosque? Is it us that you take for granted? We have stories to tell here. This is the time to do so, and I can assure you of that.”
In his inaugural address, Justice Gbadeyan said the commission would be guided by the principle of equity, fairness and justice in the discharge of its duties to ensure peace.
He said: “It is our hope that the successful completion of the work of the commission will be the beginning of the end of the kind of violent conflicts at issue in the state.
“We solicit the abiding cooperation of the media, making accurate, non-sensational and unbiased reportage of proceedings. The truth must be told truthfully. We will all do well by being less emotional.
“We have been provided with all that we require to carry out our assignment. Moreso, we have been given free hands in the matter.”
The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Innocent Lagi, urged the panel to discharge its responsibilities without fear or faour.
Lagi said: “It is the responsibility of every indigene and every citizen of this country to guarantee social order, particularly that of the government.
“On the part of government, it is its responsibility to both create and sustain social order, which is the abidance of the rules and regulations set up for human coexistence, considering the diverse nature of human beings.
“I will pray to God to give you the courage to discharge your responsibilities, firmly, faithfully, without fear or prejudice.”
The Chairman of the Nasarawa State branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), represented by Mr Ortan Gabriel Akaaka, said his members would cooperate with the panel to ease its job.
Akaaka said: “The task ahead of this commission is a very serious one. For members of the Bar, we assure you of our full cooperation so that the purpose for which this commission was established would be achieved.
“We want to request members of the public to divorce themselves from emotional matters because it is only when we do so we will be able to accomplish this mission. We will accord this commission with all relevant facts and issues that will assist its job.”
Others on the nine-member panel are: Mr Muntasir Mohammed; Mr. Ibrahim Bakut; a retired State Security Service (SSS) Director-General, Brig.-Gen. Woriboye Dick Iruenabere, a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) Hamisu Ali Jos (rtd.); Prof Femi Odekunle; Malama Zainab Goggo Bayero; an educationist, Mr. Idrisu Abdullahi Bawa; National President of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Asabe Baba Nahaya and a Permanent Secretary and the commission’s Secretary, Abubakar Sadiq Ishaq.
The panel will continue its assignment on Monday.
The “Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the recent killings of members of the Nigerian Security Forces (Nigeria Police and the Department of State Services), Destruction and Confiscation of Security Personnel’s Operational Vehicles and Weapons in Alakyo Village of Lafia Local Government Area and Matters Connected Therewith” has the following terms of reference:
• To inquire into the remote and immediate cause(s) of the killings of over 50 Nigeria Security Personnel on the 7th of May, 2013 and the extent of the involvement of the outlawed ‘Ombatse Militia Group’ or any other group whatsoever in the said act and or mayhem.
•To inquire into how and why, despite its proscription vide Nasarawa State Legal Notice No. 4 of 2012, Vol. 15, the outlawed Ombatse Militia continued to cause breach of the peace in Nasarawa State.
•To inquire into how and where the outlawed Ombatse Militia was formed or evolved, its founders, promoters, sponsors, financiers, members, aiders and abbettors and examine their role(s) in the killings of the said Nigeria Security Operatives on or about the 7th of May, 2013 and recommend appropriate punishment for those found culpable within the provision of the Penal Code as applicable in Nasarawa State.
• To inquire into the modus operandi of the said outlawed Ombatse Militia and how it acquired/acquires its finances, arms, ammunitions, charms and weapons of attack and destruction including how they are stored and distributed and identify persons or groups, supporters and or collaborators and recommend, provide and exert appropriate punishment for those found culpable within the provision of the Penal Code as applicable in Nasarawa State and other extant statues regulating arms and ammunitions.
•To identify the number of people including Nigeria Security Personnel who lost their lives and who sustained varying degrees of injuries, the extent of properties destroyed and damaged as well as the economic loss in the killings of Nigeria Security Personnel on or about May 7, 2013 and other areas of the state etc, and the perpetrators or culprits with a view to recommending, providing and or exerting appropriate penal sanctions in accordance with the Penal Code as applicable in Nasarawa State and other extant penal statutes, etc.
•To identify the persons, groups, community or communities, associations or organizations who have been involved, directly or indirectly whether as leaders, sponsors, financiers, members, aiders, foot soldiers, errand boys, spies, collaborators or backers, etc in the massive and unwarranted killings of individuals and large scale destruction of lives and properties at Alakyo, Barikin Abdullahi and Kwandare in Lafia Local Government, Iggah in Nasarawa Eggon Local Government, Burum-Burum in Doma Local Government, Yelwa-Bassa in Kokona Local Government of Nasarawa State respectively and recommend, provide and exert appropriate penal sanctions in accordance with relevant penal statutes.
•To examine and proffer suggestions/advice on ways, means and methodology through which Government can deal with, curb and completely wipe out the activities of this outlawed militia or any other militia or illegal or anti-social group or groups in the state; and
•To highlight any other matter incidental to the Commission’s terms of reference and make appropriate recommendation(s).”
