Twelve years after the death of six Igbo traders which was carried out in 2005, Justice Ishaq Bello of the Federal Capital Territory High Court has today pronounced two accused persons, Ezekiel Acheneje and Baba Emmanuel, guilty.
The court found both men who were former policemen guilty and therefore sentenced them to death for culpable homicide.
The court before its judgement found Ezekiel Acheneje and Baba Emmanuel guilty of specifically murdering Anthony Nwokike and Augustina Arebun on June 8.
The death of the two persons, Anthony Nwokike and Augustina Arebun came a day after the policemen and the six traders were engaged in a face-off allegedly based on the directive of a senior officer, Danjuma Ibrahim.
The suspects in the murder case, Danjuma Ibrahim, Nicholas Zakaria, Ezekiel Acheneje, Baba Emmanuel, and Sadiq Salami were charged to court while one Othman Abdulsalami is still at large.
During the trial, eight policemen testified against Ibrahim revealing that he ordered the killing of the traders.
The policemen allegedly killed two of the traders in Apo, a satellite town in Abuja while other victims, Ifeanyi Ozo, Chinedu Meniru, Isaac Ekene, Paulinus Ogbonna, Anthony Nwokike and Augustina Arebun were killed while returning from a night party in 2005.
The defendants in the case claimed the six persons killed; five men and one woman were robbers who had first opened fire on them.
Following the attack, Ifeanyi and Augustina had initially survived the gunfire as Ifeanyi was able to cal a friend before they were taken outisde Anuja metropolis where they were killed.
The former president, Olusegun Obasanjo had ordered the probe of the case which revealed that te victims of the attack were returning from a nightclub located at Gimbiya Street, Area 11 in Abuja on the night of the incident.
