8 S/African police officers in court over murder of Nigerian

Eight South African police officers are due to appear in Vanderbijlpark Magistrate’s Court today for the alleged torture and murder of a Nigerian, Ibrahim Olamilekan Badmus.

Ms Catherine Tenteza, Ms Gerhard Der-Walt, Mr Nkosinathi Ngwenya, Mr Aaron Arends, Mr Nomkhosi Khoza, Mr. Emmanuel Ngwane, Mr Msebenzi Mkhuma and Mr Joseph Mamasela were arrested last Friday by South Africa’s Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).

A statement by Nigeria’s Consul General in Johannesburg, Godwin The Nigeria Police Force says Sen. Dino Melaye and Sen. Ben MurrayBruce are to report to the Police Command in the FCT on Oct. 8 and not to the IGP monitoring unit for investigation as earlier stated.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the force on Oct. 5 had invited the duo to report to the IGP monitoring unit for investigation for public disturbance in Abuja.

NAN also reports that the duo who were members Adama, on Sunday, said Badmus, 25, a native of Ibadan, Oyo State was allegedly killed when the officers interrogated and suffocated him on Oct. 10, 2017, in Vanderbijlpark.

Adama commended the IPID who he said assured of a thorough investigation and they had kept to their word.

“It will set a new standard in prosecution of cases involving Nigerians in South Africa. It will also send a strong message out,” he said.

He also expressed hope that the accused would be convicted to serve as a deterrence to others.

IPID spokesperson Moses Dlamini had said that the accused claimed of the PDP that protested the outcome of the Osun governorship election at the force headquarters on Oct. 5, allegedly attacked policemen.

A statement by the Force spokesman, acting DCP Jimoh Moshood on Sunday in Abuja, said that the two Senators were captured on camera for their roles in the disturbance.

Moshood alleged that the duo pushed and hit policemen to forcefully gain entrance into the Force Headquarters that they had found drugs on the deceased.

He however said the claim was a false story to cover up the torture and murder of the deceased.

“There was a huge outcry from the Nigerian community when the death was discovered. At the time, the police also alleged that they were attacked by ‘drug dealers’,” he said.

Dlamini said IPID investigators had probed the matter amid a lot of “hostility” from some members of the South African Police Service.

He said two pathologists who conducted the postmortem confirmed that the deceased had indeed been tortured. to cause damage to Police equipment and Government properties.

He said that further investigation was ongoing to determine the level of involvement and culpability of other individuals during the protest.

The spokesman said that the invitation letters have been sent to them for compliance.

“The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has the statutory jurisdiction to investigate the matter,” he said. (NAN)