Anxiety persists as court defers judgment in Apo Six killing

Ishaq Bello, justice of the federal capital territory (FCT) high court, has deferred judgment in the case of policemen accused of killing six traders in the Apo district of Abuja in 2005.

The judge had scheduled judgment for Monday, but he later communicated an adjournment of the matter to both the prosecution and the defence lawyers in his chamber.

He gave March 9 as the new date.

Danjuma Ibrahim, Othman Abdulsalami (now at large), Nicholas Zakaria, Ezekiel Acheneje, Baba Emmanuel and Sadiq Salami – all policemen – were alleged to have murdered the victims.

The office of the attorney-general of the federation is accusing the police officers of killing Ifeanyi Ozo, Chinedu Meniru, Isaac Ekene, Paulinus Ogbonna, Anthony Nwokike and Augustina Arebun.

The victims, aged between 21 and 25 years, were returning from a night party in 2005 when they were allegedly killed.

The defendants had pleaded not guilty to the allegations, making the trial to go through full stretch of adjudication from 2005 to date.