***Announces scholarship for children of deceased to US varsity
Prof Zainab Duke-Abiola, one of the wives of the acclaimed winner June 12, 1993 presidential election, the late Chief MKO Abiola, has condemned in strong terms, the killing of Mrs Bolanle Raheem, a pregnant Lagos-based lawyer in Ajah area of Lagos on Christmas Day by a policeman, Drambi Vandi, an assistant superintendent of police (ASP).
The Professor and Chief legal consultant to the Nigeria Police, disclosed this during an interview with journalists in Abuja on Tuesday. Mrs Abiola also described the killing of her professional colleague as a dastardly act, heinous and cowardly.
She also demanded an independent probe of the murder and insisted on justice for the slain lawyer’s family.
Prof Abiola also described the killing and framing-up of defenseless and innocent law-abiding citizens in the country by the police as extra judicial, callous, evil, unwarranted and a recurring unfortunate decimal.
Noting that the poor remuneration of the police impacting negatively on their mental state is No Excuse for the extra judicial killings of innocent citizens by the police.
She also said she is aware that most police officers are unhappy over their welfare package especially under the present leadership of the Nigeria Police Force.
The development, she noted, is Still No Excuse for their failure to discharge their constitutional duties of protecting the citizens, instead of murdering them as the country is presently witnessing.
The Professor also called on the police authority to ensure that all officers involved in the dastardly act are made to face the court of law.
Speaking further, Mrs Abiola condemned the statement of the police authority that the arrested officers would face an orderly room trial.
She said the statement is unconscionable as the orderly room trials the police authority was referring to no longer exist.
According to the Queen of Kalabari Kingdom, the orderly room trials no longer exist since the tenure of former IGP Abubakar Idris.
She therefore wants the police to proceed to court of competent jurisdiction to try the officer that carried out the criminal act.
The Queen of Africa, who betrayed her emotion while speaking to journalists, also announced scholarship awards for the children of the deceased.
She said, “I’m giving her children scholarships up to tertiary institutions in America, Europe or any part of the world. They must get the best education whether the enemies like it or not.”
