The Bayelsa State Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality and Other Related Matters has in a ruling on a petition awarded N16m against the police for extrajudicial killing of a teenager, late Innocent Kokorifa, in Yenagoa.

Innocent, who was 17 when he was shot dead by a trigger-happy officer in August 2016, was the son of Mr Daniel Kokorifa, a Federal Road Safety Corps official attached to the Rivers State Command.

Kokorifa, who is a native of Okpotuwari in the Southern Ijaw, Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa, had in his petition numbered BYS/JPI/012/2020 prayed the panel to also consider the sum of N6m incurred since the brutal murder of his son.

The chairman of the panel, retired Justice Young Ogola, in the ruling awarded Kokorifa the sum of N16m in temporary compensation.

In another ruling, the panel also ordered the release of the corpse of another teenager, Emmanuel Victor, who was brutally killed by a policeman in 2011 in Yenagoa.

The panel further awarded the sum of N5m to the mother of the deceased 17-year-old, Grace Victor, for proper and decent burial of her son even though the culpable officer had been prosecuted and sentenced to death by hanging.

Ogola remarked that “there is no compensation for what was pronounced as vicarious liability or so; nothing that the policeman, who committed the crime, has already been sentenced to death.”

Similarly, the panel delivered judgments on over 13 petitions it received and awarded over N40m to the various petitioners in damages. 

The US Senate on Saturday voted to acquit former President Donald Trump on a charge of incitement of insurrection despite significant Republican support for conviction, bringing an end to the fourth impeachment trial in the country’s history and the second for Trump.

Seven Republicans voted to convict Trump for allegedly inciting the deadly January 6 riot at the Capitol, when a mob of pro-Trump supporters tried to disrupt the electoral vote count formalizing Joe Biden’s election win before a joint session of Congress.

That is by far the most bipartisan support for conviction in impeachment history. The final vote was 57 to 43, 10 short of the 67 votes needed to secure a conviction.

Republican Senators Richard Burr of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania all voted guilty.

The vote means the Senate cannot bar Trump from holding future federal offices.

Moments after the vote concluded, the former president issued a statement praising his legal team and thanking the senators and other members of Congress “who stood proudly for the Constitution we all revere and for the sacred legal principles at the heart of our country.”

“This has been yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country. No president has ever gone through anything like it,” Trump said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the vote “the largest and most bipartisan vote in any impeachment trial in history,” but noted it wasn’t enough to secure a conviction.

The trial “was about choosing country over Donald Trump, and 43 Republican members chose Trump. They chose Trump. It should be a weight on their conscience today, and it shall be a weight on their conscience in the future,” he said in a speech on the Senate floor.

With control of the Senate split 50-50, the House managers always had an uphill battle when it came to convincing enough Republicans to cross party lines and convict a former president who is still very popular with a large part of the GOP base.

In his closing argument, House manager Joe Neguse, D-Colo, argued, “The stakes could not be higher. Because the cold, hard truth is that what happened on January 6 can happen again. I fear, like many of you do, that the violence we saw on that terrible day may be just the beginning.”

Lead impeachment manager Jamie Raskin, D-Md., urged the senators to think of the future.

“Senators, this trial, in the final analysis, is not about Donald Trump. The country and the world know who Donald Trump is. This trial is about who we are, who we are,” Raskin said.

Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen, meanwhile, insisted his client did nothing wrong and maintained he was the victim of vengeful Democrats and a biased news media. He called the impeachment proceedings a “charade from beginning to end.”

The managers’ task became more difficult Saturday when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced in an email to his colleagues that he would vote to acquit since Trump was already out of office.

“While a close call, I am persuaded that impeachments are a tool primarily of removal and we therefore lack jurisdiction,” the influential Kentucky Republican wrote in the email, which was obtained by NBC News.

McConnell, who’d rebuffed Democratic efforts to start the trial while Trump was still in office, had condemned Trump’s conduct after the riot and said he’d keep an open mind about voting to convict — something he’d ruled out entirely during Trump’s first impeachment trial last year.

After voting to acquit, McConnell blasted Trump for his “disgraceful dereliction of duty” and squarely laid the blame for the riot at Trump’s door in what amounted to an endorsement of many of the arguments laid out by House impeachment managers in a speech on the Senate floor.

“There’s no question — none — that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” McConnell said.

McConnell had suggested in the email earlier in the day that Trump could still face other penalties.

“The Constitution makes perfectly clear that Presidential criminal misconduct while in office can be prosecuted after the President has left office, which in my view alleviates the otherwise troubling ‘January exception’ argument raised by the House,” he wrote.

Opening arguments began on Wednesday, with House managers blaming the riot on Trump’s months-long campaign to cast doubt on the 2020 election, and his repeated assertions that the only way he would lose was if the election was “stolen.”

They focused on his fiery speech on the morning of the Jan. 6 riot, where he urged his supporters to “fight like hell” — and his refusal to take action after they did.

Trump declined a request from managers to testify at the trial, and refused to even submit a statement for it, facts Raskin urged senators to keep in mind on Saturday.

“I ask any of you, if you were charged with inciting violent insurrection against our country, and you’re falsely accused, would you come and testify? I know I would,” Raskin said.

The trial was the fourth of an impeached president. No president has ever been convicted.

– NBC News

• Another protest will worsen poverty – Kogi governor

There is a growing tension in many parts of Nigeria, including Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, as police have vowed to resist a fresh #EndSARS protest by aggrieved youths billed to start on Monday, December 07.

The organisers of the planned phase two protest said through social media platforms, especially Twitter, the action was to demand the release of all protesters detained after the first phase protest.

They also asked all accounts of #EndSARS leaders frozen by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) lifted.

In addition to the scores of police and other citizens killed and burning of many police stations, about 269 private and companies’ assets were destroyed in the last #EndSARS protests.

Many police stayed away from duty for days to protest the mayhem visited on them by hoodlums that hijacked the first protest.

At least 243 government facilities were torched and 81 warehouses looted.

The hoodlums broke into prisons in some states and set about 2,000 inmates free.

The police said about 196 policemen were injured, 164 police vehicles destroyed and 134 police stations razed.

The police have therefore warned that the fresh protest would not be tolerated and asked the planners to abort the action.

Spokesman for the police in Lagos, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, in a statement, said no such gathering would be permitted.

The statement read, “The command has reliably gathered intelligence that certain individuals/groups have concluded plans to lure unsuspecting Lagosians, especially youths, into their planned protest which is proposed to commence December 7 (today) at designated locations in the state.

“The Lagos State Police Command wishes to re-echo and remind the public that the Government of Lagos State, businesses, individuals and security families still groan in losses and pains that the last violent #EndSARS protest occasioned.

“Lagos State is still nursing the wounds orchestrated by some violent #EndSARS protesters and not fit to accommodate such protest for now.

“In the light of the above, the Lagos State Police Command, therefore, warns those who might want to disguise under #EndSARS protest to cause another set of mayhem, brouhaha and violence in the state, to desist from such plans as the police and other security agencies will not fold their arms seeing individuals or groups orchestrating another violence and anarchy in the state.

“The command also warns parents and guardians to warn and discourage their children and wards from being lured into any act, gathering or protest capable of causing violence in the state.

“The command wishes to reiterate that any unlawful gathering, procession or protest will be suppressed professionally in accordance with the provisions of the law.

“The police command encourages Lagosians and those who are in Lagos for their genuine engagements to go about their lawful businesses as all hands are on the deck to maintain law and order within the length and breadth of Lagos State.”

In Abuja, the police said they were ready to ensure there was no breakdown of law and order.

The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, had also said the force would not allow another #EndSARS protests.

The Abia State Police Command no protest would be allowed without the approval of the Commissioner of Police, Janet Agbede.

The Police in Rivers State said its officers and men were ready to frustrate any second wave of the #EndSARS protest.

The spokesman, Nnamdi Omoni, said the command had intercepted some intelligence about its possibility and was ready to curtail it.

He said, “We uncovered intelligence of the likelihood of the protest and we have put measures in place to curtail it”.

But supporters of the planned protests said they were undeterred by the threats by security operatives.

They said labelling #ENDSARS protesters as criminals would not demoralise them.

One of them, Bisi Oluwagbemileke wrote, “#EndSARS, where are we meeting tomorrow (today)? I just want us to keep applying pressure and retweeting aggressively. I am ready with my joggers and canvas. Let’s hit the road.”

Another, Ayobami Olunloyo, said, “To label #EndSARS as simply being about police reform, is a grave error. It (was) is about societal reform. Police brutality was merely a trigger and the final straw for too many citizens who do not deserve to be brutalised randomly or to live in fear and terror.”

Meanwhile, Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello urged youths to shelve any plan for another round of #EndSARS protests.

He said such a move would do further harm to the economy and stretch the already overwhelmed security architecture.

The governor, in a special broadcaston Sunday, said, “I deem another round of #EndSARS protests to be premature and counter-productive at this time.

“Apart from the higher likelihood of conflict with the police earlier canvassed, we must also admit that the security situation in the country is very precarious at the moment.

“All patriots must therefore make a conscious effort not to degrade a parlous security situation further.

“Nationwide protests at this time will only overburden the load-bearing capabilities of our security architecture increasing the likelihood of total collapse.

“No matter the narrative, I doubt that out-of-control anarchy is an objective of the #EndSARS protests.

“It is also true that we live in an economy that is bleeding badly right now. Traditional responses to COVID-19 have hurt, not just Nigeria, but all other countries of the world. Many have fallen into recession.

“To worsen matters, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) predicted three days ago that the pandemic could push the number of people living in extreme poverty to over one billion by 2030. Thank God they are owning up to my earlier prediction, warning and caution.

“Nigeria’s earning and foreign exchange situation is too fragile as we speak, to resist sustained shocks.

“Another nationwide protest will worsen the multidimensional poverty indices all over our country and work greater hardship on the ordinary Nigerians we claim to be advocating for.”