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General News of Tuesday, 1 June 2021

Source: saharareporters.com

24 hours after shooting of Sowore, police yet to sanction trigger-happy officer

Altine Hyelhira Daniel Altine Hyelhira Daniel

The Nigeria Police Force has yet to issue queries and sanctions 24 hours after Altine Hyelhira Daniel, one of its notorious police officers, shot human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, during a peaceful protest at the Unity Fountain, Abuja on Monday.

The protest was held to demand an end to insecurity in the country and was an assembly of several concerned Nigerians and groups before the police forcefully disrupted the protesters with gunshots and tear gas canisters.

SaharaReporters had on Monday reported that Altine Daniel was part of the deadly Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), sometimes known as a killer squad before it was banned.

After 24 hours that the police clamped down on the peaceful protesters in a commando-style, nothing had happened yet to anyone of them, including Daniel, which confirms the high-handedness and indiscipline rife also with the police's top echelon.

Sowore was on Monday morning shot at the Unity Fountain, Abuja while he was trying to gain entrance into the place.

The activist was said to have been speaking with a detachment of police officers stationed at the public facility when the female officer fired at him.

SaharaReporters had gathered that Daniel, a Chief Superintendent of Police, was moved after the disbandment of SARS to the operations department of FCT Police Command where she continued harassment, physical assault and supervision of killing of innocent protesters.

The notorious female officer was also the one that led the detachment of police officers that tear-gassed Nigerian showbiz maestro and rights activist, Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, in August 2017 during a peaceful protest.

Daniel has well led many operations that led to the death of many Shi'ites members during #FreeEl-Zakzaky protests in Abuja, the nation's capital.

The Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) at the weekend had said 78 of its members were killed by the police between 2018 and 2021.

The African Action Congress (AAC) had, among other groups which condemned the police's shooting of Sowore, called for the arrest and prosecution of the female police officer, Daniel who shot at Sowore, who is also the National Chairman of the party.

The party had said the attempt on the life of Sowore was well-planned but poorly executed.

It also described it as a botched political assassination attempt on Sowore by the Buhari government.

A statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Femi Adeyeye, had described the attack as attempted murder and therefore called for the immediate arrest of the officer and the team that perpetrated the act.

"We maintain that the shooting of the National Chairman, Omoyele Sowore in Abuja this morning by the police is a well-planned but poorly executed and botched political assassination attempt by Buhari government and its think tank! We demand the immediate arrest of CSP Altine and her team.

"The attack on peaceful protesters today is the last thing they had to do to intimidate the people and to send the signal of how deadly they could be in the next few days if people attempted to stage any form of protest.

"We want to assure the murderous Buhari regime that this shall be counter-productive in the long run as it is very impossible to beat citizens to stupor like this and still forbid them from crying or determine the place where they can cry," the party had said.