NIGERIA: DISMISSED SARS OFFICER SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLING

February 16, 2021:

A State High Court in Benin City, Edo Sate, on 12 February 2021, sentenced a police constable, Joseph Omotosho, to death for conspiring with four other constables, said to be at large, to kill a car dealer in 2015.
The slain car dealer, Benson Obodeh, was suspected by the police to belong to a criminal gang.
Mr Omotosho, who was dismissed from the Nigerian police after the incident, served with the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a police unit that was notorious for its brutality and other forms of human rights abuses.
The four other dismissed constables were also convicted but not sentenced because they were not present in the court.
They were identified as Adeleke Adedeji, Abena John, Oniyo Musa, and Henry Shobowole.
The four were said to have escaped while on trial from one of the Medium Security Correctional Centres in Benin City during the October 2020 jailbreaks.
The judge, Ohimai Ovbiagele, found all the accused persons guilty on an eight-count charge, which included conspiracy to steal and murder.
From the court proceedings, the slain Mr Obodeh, 26, a Benin-based car dealer, was listed as a member of a criminal gang who allegedly stole a Peugeot car in Lagos.
He was said to have been arrested at his home in Benin City on 21 May 2015 and tortured to death the same day by the five police officers.