Will I Ever Get Justice In Nigeria?
*Right hand cut off.
*Dumped at the clinic to die.
*No justice in sight.
It is precisely nine months now since 42-Year-Old Zira Tizhe from Michika town , the headquarters of Michika Local Government of Adamawa State was denied the taste of Justice after his right limb was cut off by members of an illegally constituted Islamic Hunters Association operating within the territories of Moda District of Michika Local Government over an alleged offense that has remained a mystery.
Investigations by Exclusive Global revealed that the victim was arrested by the group of hunters numbering about seventeen at midnight in company of his family members in his family compound on the grounds of alleged involvement in a burglary case at the moda market of the District.
In spite of the fact that the crime committed against Tizhe was brought to the attention of the Police in Michika, he was taken and dumped at the Michika General without the police or the Hunters showing up to pay for his medical bill or monitoring his medical theraphy.
In a letter of petition written to the Chairman of the Police Service Commission and the National Human Rights Commission among others and made available to Exclusive Global, the victim is seeking prompt intervention of the Authorities for justice and apprehension of the culprits.
Keep a date with us for details of the investigations. Meanwhile, below is the full text of the petition:
Investigations by Exclusive Global revealed that the victim was arrested by the group of hunters numbering about seventeen at midnight in company of his family members in his family compound on the grounds of alleged involvement in a burglary case at the moda market of the District.
In spite of the fact that the crime committed against Tizhe was brought to the attention of the Police in Michika, he was taken and dumped at the Michika General without the police or the Hunters showing up to pay for his medical bill or monitoring his medical theraphy.
In a letter of petition written to the Chairman of the Police Service Commission and the National Human Rights Commission among others and made available to Exclusive Global, the victim is seeking prompt intervention of the Authorities for justice and apprehension of the culprits.
Keep a date with us for details of the investigations. Meanwhile, below is the full text of the petition:
C/o EYN Church
Hinjawa, Moda District,
Michika, Adamawa State.
May 9, 2018
09060432172
The Chairman,
Police Service Commission,
Federal Secretariat Complex,
Shehu Shagari Way, Abuja, Nigeria.
Sir,
Hinjawa, Moda District,
Michika, Adamawa State.
May 9, 2018
09060432172
The Chairman,
Police Service Commission,
Federal Secretariat Complex,
Shehu Shagari Way, Abuja, Nigeria.
Sir,
A CASE OF MISCARIAGE OF JUSTICE AND COLLABORATION TO INFRINGE ON MY FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS
After months of mental torture, frustrations and continued denial of the right to justice, I have resorted to take my case to the Police Service Commission and the National Human Rights Commission as my last bus stop to seek justice after suffering injustice, grevious hurt, humiliation and frustrations in the hands of an illegally constituted body of Local hunters, the Police and the judiciary.
My experience as an Ordinary citizen of this nation leaves me with no hope that a poor ordinary citizen can be given the right to justice even when his rights to existence and freedom are threatened in Nigeria.
Today, I am incapacitated with my right hand cut off without any justice in sight while the criminals who threatened my very existence are allowed to move freely without apprehension.
For clarity and better understanding of my plight and circumstances, the detailed narrative below will suffice.
My name is Zira Tizhe, Higgi by tribe from District of Michika Local Government of Adamawa State. I am 42 years old and currently divorced. My ordeal can be traced to August 8, 2017 when I was stopped and ordered to alight from a keke NAPEP by a group of Hunters on a Stop and search mission close to Moda market. The Hunters were operating under the leadership of one Haruna Madugu and numbering about thirty (30). When I sought for an explanation, they furiously asked me to hand over my Infinix cell phone and insinuating that my character is questionable. Little did I know that their intention was to frame me up and to claim that I stole the cell phone from one of them until one Danjuma Ibrahim Bagi (one of them) ordered me to leave their presence and threatened to deal with any of them who attempts to humiliate me further. It all happened on a Sunday at about 9:00am
A day later being Monday August 9, 2017 I was in a Local Restaurant operated by one Happy, a lady I was courting before she became my wife (from Igbo tribe) when this same group of hunters stormed the Restaurant numbering fifteen (15) at about 9:00am. The group led by one Ali Alhaji Abdu engaged me in an argument over what they described as “imposed curfew” by them. As the Argument persisted, they hit me on the back of my head resulting to excessive bleeding. While I was still bleeding, they dragged me to District Head of Moda who ordered them to take me to the Police Station. On arrival at the Police Station, the Police refused to accept me because of my situation but later agreed to keep me in their custody after much persuasion by the Hunters’ group to provide some amount for my treatment the next morning. Apart from the fact that my accusers did not provide money for my treatment the next day, they falsely accused me of breaking into the shop of Happy, the same Igbo lady I was courting, a situation that prompted the Police asking them to come along with the lady to confirm the alleged offence. The lady in question who was a principal witness denied knowledge of any case of Robbery and sought for Police company to visit the scene of the alleged crime. It was a claim the police verified to be false. It was the same lady, Happy who gave out N10,000 for my treatment. All the Police could do was to ask me to leave without even apprehending the offenders.
Five (5) months later, to be precise on January 31, 2018 someone came knocking on my door at about 3:00am while I was sleeping in company of the lady whom I later married with our 7 year old child. I got up from sleeping suspecting it was one of my nephews in the compound who may be having a problem in the middle of the night. As I ignorantly opened the door, behold I saw people numbering about seventeen coming out of their hiding. I tried to ask what was wrong and the response I got was that I was being suspected for breaking into a commercial store at Moda market. Knowing that it was one of those conspiracy and set up games, I insisted that it was wrong to take me away in the middle of the night without informing my family members and the “Bulama”, the ward Head, a plea they outrightly rejected. For fear of my life, I had to struggle with them to wake up my mother who lives the next door. My mother who attempted to shout to attract the attention of the neighbourhood was hit on the month and smashed on her chest by one of our midnight unscheduled visitors. When they discovered that the commotion was gradually attracting curious crowd, they dragged me along with my family including the seven-year-old to a destination where I was stripped naked and given the beating of my life under the supervision of the District Head, Malam Dabo and the village Head, Mallam Asarami. One shugaba, as he is fondly called ordered one of his sons called Grema to cut of my hand which he did with a sword and left me in my own pool of blood. It was the District Head, Malam Dabo who called on one Hon. Haske Ngidda to take me to the police station in Michika. Hon. Haske declined to do so because of the severity of my case. They however succeeded in convincing one Babangida Dija to take me in his starlet car. After I complained I had no strength in me to get into the car, they threatened to cut off my leg, a threat they almost carried out. One of them fondly called Roger Bashiru Kawo almost cut off my left leg with a sword when he stroke and bundled me into the boot of the car.
As usual, when I was forced to Michika Police Division in Adamawa, the Police rejected me and asked them to take me to the Hospital where I was dumped and abandoned. There was nobody nor the Police to take care of me. I was forced to sell my inheritance to save my life in the Hospital. It was after my discharge from the Hospital that I visited the Police station to complain of the poor handling of my case and to know the update only to discover that the police had done virtually nothing in respect of my case. I was compelled to take my case further to the Mubi Area Police Command. When the Area Command sought for an explanation from the Michika Divisional Police officer, he lied over the detention of suspects. All the police could do shortly after that was to ask me to compute my Medical Bill and charged to court only six out of the eighteen suspects associated with my case. I still cannot comprehend what the Police was up to.
Since the matter was taken to the Chief Magistrate Court Michika, the court only sat twice as at early May this year. Surprisingly, there were no sittings for the Eight adjournments made by the court, a development that calls for serious concern.
More disturbing is that my new Igbo wife, Happy has been forced to relocate to the East, her home town because of alleged threat to her life after she was arrested by the Police and detained for two days by the Michika Police Division.
Below is the list of the suspects, I submitted to the police:
1. Mohammed Hamidu 9. Grema Shugaba
2. Bashiru (Roger) Kawte 10. Ali Abdu Maya
3. Abdullahi Saidu 11. Yaro Ali Ustaz
4. Lawan Mai Changi 12. Gombre Mai Kiwo
5. Mallum Chimado 14. Malam Kawo
6. Bamanga Buba 15. Hamman Mamman
7. Yahya Shugaba 16. Usman Kawu
8. Modibbo 17. Musa Yakwata
18. Alh. Idi Moda
My experience as an Ordinary citizen of this nation leaves me with no hope that a poor ordinary citizen can be given the right to justice even when his rights to existence and freedom are threatened in Nigeria.
Today, I am incapacitated with my right hand cut off without any justice in sight while the criminals who threatened my very existence are allowed to move freely without apprehension.
For clarity and better understanding of my plight and circumstances, the detailed narrative below will suffice.
My name is Zira Tizhe, Higgi by tribe from District of Michika Local Government of Adamawa State. I am 42 years old and currently divorced. My ordeal can be traced to August 8, 2017 when I was stopped and ordered to alight from a keke NAPEP by a group of Hunters on a Stop and search mission close to Moda market. The Hunters were operating under the leadership of one Haruna Madugu and numbering about thirty (30). When I sought for an explanation, they furiously asked me to hand over my Infinix cell phone and insinuating that my character is questionable. Little did I know that their intention was to frame me up and to claim that I stole the cell phone from one of them until one Danjuma Ibrahim Bagi (one of them) ordered me to leave their presence and threatened to deal with any of them who attempts to humiliate me further. It all happened on a Sunday at about 9:00am
A day later being Monday August 9, 2017 I was in a Local Restaurant operated by one Happy, a lady I was courting before she became my wife (from Igbo tribe) when this same group of hunters stormed the Restaurant numbering fifteen (15) at about 9:00am. The group led by one Ali Alhaji Abdu engaged me in an argument over what they described as “imposed curfew” by them. As the Argument persisted, they hit me on the back of my head resulting to excessive bleeding. While I was still bleeding, they dragged me to District Head of Moda who ordered them to take me to the Police Station. On arrival at the Police Station, the Police refused to accept me because of my situation but later agreed to keep me in their custody after much persuasion by the Hunters’ group to provide some amount for my treatment the next morning. Apart from the fact that my accusers did not provide money for my treatment the next day, they falsely accused me of breaking into the shop of Happy, the same Igbo lady I was courting, a situation that prompted the Police asking them to come along with the lady to confirm the alleged offence. The lady in question who was a principal witness denied knowledge of any case of Robbery and sought for Police company to visit the scene of the alleged crime. It was a claim the police verified to be false. It was the same lady, Happy who gave out N10,000 for my treatment. All the Police could do was to ask me to leave without even apprehending the offenders.
Five (5) months later, to be precise on January 31, 2018 someone came knocking on my door at about 3:00am while I was sleeping in company of the lady whom I later married with our 7 year old child. I got up from sleeping suspecting it was one of my nephews in the compound who may be having a problem in the middle of the night. As I ignorantly opened the door, behold I saw people numbering about seventeen coming out of their hiding. I tried to ask what was wrong and the response I got was that I was being suspected for breaking into a commercial store at Moda market. Knowing that it was one of those conspiracy and set up games, I insisted that it was wrong to take me away in the middle of the night without informing my family members and the “Bulama”, the ward Head, a plea they outrightly rejected. For fear of my life, I had to struggle with them to wake up my mother who lives the next door. My mother who attempted to shout to attract the attention of the neighbourhood was hit on the month and smashed on her chest by one of our midnight unscheduled visitors. When they discovered that the commotion was gradually attracting curious crowd, they dragged me along with my family including the seven-year-old to a destination where I was stripped naked and given the beating of my life under the supervision of the District Head, Malam Dabo and the village Head, Mallam Asarami. One shugaba, as he is fondly called ordered one of his sons called Grema to cut of my hand which he did with a sword and left me in my own pool of blood. It was the District Head, Malam Dabo who called on one Hon. Haske Ngidda to take me to the police station in Michika. Hon. Haske declined to do so because of the severity of my case. They however succeeded in convincing one Babangida Dija to take me in his starlet car. After I complained I had no strength in me to get into the car, they threatened to cut off my leg, a threat they almost carried out. One of them fondly called Roger Bashiru Kawo almost cut off my left leg with a sword when he stroke and bundled me into the boot of the car.
As usual, when I was forced to Michika Police Division in Adamawa, the Police rejected me and asked them to take me to the Hospital where I was dumped and abandoned. There was nobody nor the Police to take care of me. I was forced to sell my inheritance to save my life in the Hospital. It was after my discharge from the Hospital that I visited the Police station to complain of the poor handling of my case and to know the update only to discover that the police had done virtually nothing in respect of my case. I was compelled to take my case further to the Mubi Area Police Command. When the Area Command sought for an explanation from the Michika Divisional Police officer, he lied over the detention of suspects. All the police could do shortly after that was to ask me to compute my Medical Bill and charged to court only six out of the eighteen suspects associated with my case. I still cannot comprehend what the Police was up to.
Since the matter was taken to the Chief Magistrate Court Michika, the court only sat twice as at early May this year. Surprisingly, there were no sittings for the Eight adjournments made by the court, a development that calls for serious concern.
More disturbing is that my new Igbo wife, Happy has been forced to relocate to the East, her home town because of alleged threat to her life after she was arrested by the Police and detained for two days by the Michika Police Division.
Below is the list of the suspects, I submitted to the police:
1. Mohammed Hamidu 9. Grema Shugaba
2. Bashiru (Roger) Kawte 10. Ali Abdu Maya
3. Abdullahi Saidu 11. Yaro Ali Ustaz
4. Lawan Mai Changi 12. Gombre Mai Kiwo
5. Mallum Chimado 14. Malam Kawo
6. Bamanga Buba 15. Hamman Mamman
7. Yahya Shugaba 16. Usman Kawu
8. Modibbo 17. Musa Yakwata
18. Alh. Idi Moda
Prayers
In view of the circumstances surrounding my case and the apparent display of lack of interest to give me justice, I wish to observe and recommend the following:
1. The removal of the Divisional Police Officer of Michika Police Station for lack of competence and unethical behavior exhibited in the handling of my issue.
2. The immediate prosecution and ban on the illegal Hunters Group of Moda District because of their illegal activities and what they represent in the face of law.
3. I also call for the immediate removal and prosecution of the District Head of Moda and his village Head for their complicity in the life threatening circumstances I had to go through without executing the mandate of their office to promote justice and fair play.
4. I demand the collective payment of N500million compensation by the Police, District and village Head of Moda and other suspects who have a finger in my incapacitation, injustice, defamation of character and infringement on my fundamental Human rights.
5. The transfer of my case from the Chief Magistrate Court to a Court of competent jurisdiction and the acceleration of the process of justice from the police to the courts.
6. The Adamawa Nation Judicial Council (NJC) should investigate the interest of the Chief Magistrate Court, Michika and to take appropriate action to forestall such experience since justice delayed is justice denied.
7. If within three weeks on the receipt of this complaint my demands are not met, I may be forced to take another line of action within the confines of the Nigerian Constitution.
1. The removal of the Divisional Police Officer of Michika Police Station for lack of competence and unethical behavior exhibited in the handling of my issue.
2. The immediate prosecution and ban on the illegal Hunters Group of Moda District because of their illegal activities and what they represent in the face of law.
3. I also call for the immediate removal and prosecution of the District Head of Moda and his village Head for their complicity in the life threatening circumstances I had to go through without executing the mandate of their office to promote justice and fair play.
4. I demand the collective payment of N500million compensation by the Police, District and village Head of Moda and other suspects who have a finger in my incapacitation, injustice, defamation of character and infringement on my fundamental Human rights.
5. The transfer of my case from the Chief Magistrate Court to a Court of competent jurisdiction and the acceleration of the process of justice from the police to the courts.
6. The Adamawa Nation Judicial Council (NJC) should investigate the interest of the Chief Magistrate Court, Michika and to take appropriate action to forestall such experience since justice delayed is justice denied.
7. If within three weeks on the receipt of this complaint my demands are not met, I may be forced to take another line of action within the confines of the Nigerian Constitution.
Signed:
Zira Tizhe Michika
Zira Tizhe Michika
CC: The Chairman
- National Human Rights Commission, Abuja
- The Inspector General of Police Force Headquarters, Abuja
- The Speaker, Adamawa State House of Assembly, Yola
- Amnesty International
- Civil Liberty Organizations
- The Police Commission, Adamawa State Police Command, Yola
- The National Judicial Council, Adamawa State
- The State Directorate of State Security Services, Yola
- The Emir of Mubi, Mubi Traditional Council, Yola
- All District Heads of Michika LGA
Above for your information and necessary action please.
Signed:
Zira Tizhe Michika
