Can you believe that some of the judges could not control their tears when they got to abattoir?

When DPA started sending out petitions against police atrocities in Abattoir on 7th October, 2019, we did not initially send any to the Chief Judge of FCT Abuja. Rather, we sent to the National Assembly (the House of Rep and the Senate). We sent to the Presidency (President and Vice President). We sent to the Attorney General and the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the IG of police, but of course we sent to major international agencies and foreign governments..

We are not exactly sure how our petition made it to the Chief Judge of Abuja. But because our petition hammered on Abattoir atrocities either the Attorney General or the Chief Justice or someone in the presidency forwarded it to the attention of the Chief Judge, who liaised with the chief Magistrate. We suspect that the Attorney General might be at least one of those who contacted the Chief Judge.

The reason we suspect the Attorney General is that the same week the Chief Judge first tried to visit Abattoir,  Justice Kekemeke of the High Court of the FCT had an occasion to be angry with the police in his court. The Judge tried to adjourn a trial for 2 days. The police prosecutor asked for one month. The judge got very angry and said to the police: “You people don’t know what is happening. Everything has changed. The Chief Judge is breathing down our throats for us to expedite all these cases”. He went on to say that pressure was also coming from the Attorney General’s office. He further told the police that the accused people had been in prison and that he would not allow him an adjournment of longer than one week.

The incident in Justice Kekemeke court occurred the 3rd week of October. That was the week the Chief Judge initially visited Abattoir. He announced he was coming and the police knew exactly when he was coming. So, the police managed to move the inmates out of the cells. As early as 5am, the police moved the inmates out of the cell. When the Chief Judge entered Abattoir, he could not see the inmates that were shown in the Abattoir pictures DPA attached to its petitions. That caused the Chief Judge to ask repeatedly if there were not other inmates. One of the few inmates, the police purposefully left behind told the Chief judge that the inmates were taken away and hidden that morning. The Chief Judge understood. He told them not to worry that he knew what to do.

The Chief Judge left with his team. On Monday, 4th November, 2019, the chief Judge came back unannounced with a team of judges and magistrates – more than 10 of them. They arrived around 8:30am and they went straight to the Abattoir cells. They took the police by surprise. This time they saw worse than was shown on the pictures submitted by DPA. They saw hundreds of men emaciated to skeleton out of hunger. They saw people with torture injuries. The stench, the suffering was unbearable. Some of the detainees were too weak to stand on their feet.

The judges could not believe what they saw. Tears were seen trickling down the faces of some of the judges. The Chief Judge and his team immediately declared the place a mobile court and started issuing warrants for the detainees to be taken to the prisons where they could at least have food to eat and live. Some who were strong enough to go home were set free, depending on their stories.

This is a landmark victory for us, DPA members. But we must not relax yet. We still have a long way to go. When the police made the mistake of detaining Emeka Ugwuonye in Abattoir in July of 2018 for just a weekend, Emeka saw Abattoir and he swore to tell the world about Abattoir. He tried by making a documentary on Abattoir. The police decided to silence him the way they know best. So, they charged him with murder of someone he didn’t even know was in existence.

Today, we know that the corrupt police behind Abattoir were not able to cover up Abattoir. We demand for justice. We demand for a public hearing. Let the families of those killed in Abattoir come forward and talk about their pains. The victims deserve justice and healing.