The family of a former finance minister, Nenadi Usman, has written the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, over what it termed the cold murder of 31-year-old Anita Akapson, the daughter of the former minister.
In a petition signed by the lawyer to the family, Kayode Ajulo, the Usmans alleged that the Akapson “was trailed, targeted, intercepted, her vehicle brushed, blocked and shot at close range by a police officer at Katampe District, Abuja.”
It had been reported that the woman, who recently returned to the country after her university education in the United Kingdom, was driving out of her house at Katampe Extension by Gwarimpa Estate in a Honda Accord car when she was shot dead by a Superintendent of Police around 11 pm on Saturday.
The SP, whose name was not given by the police was said to have mistaken her for a suspected car thief.
The force spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, said in a statement in Abuja on Monday, that the IG had ordered that the policemen be detained and also asked the Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, to carry out a thorough investigation into the incident.
Our correspondent gathered that the police team had earlier arrested two suspects who were attempting to steal a car around the victim’s neighbourhood.
The thieves were said to have demobilised the car and were about driving away when policemen arrested them, but one of them reportedly scaled the fence into Akapson’s compound.
The policemen were said to have surrounded the building and were lying in wait for the fleeing suspect when the woman drove out of the compound.
“The SP fired at the car thinking it was the suspect that was driving out and the woman was hit by bullets. She was rushed to Gwarimpa General Hospital where she died,” a senior police officer said.
But the family said Akapson was shot in the stomach after the police blocked her car and punctured the tyres with several bullets.
The lawyer to the family, Ajulo, in the petition demanded a thorough investigation into the killing, stating that Akapson’s murderers were being shielded by the police authorities.
Ajulo hinted that Usman was apprehensive that the murder might have political undertones on account of her position as a member of the leading opposition party in the country.
The petition read in part, “The circumstances of the trailing, tracking and gruesome murder of the deceased who had a strong affinity with Senator Nenadi Usman, a member of the leading opposition political party in Nigeria, and who is presently facing continuous prosecutions from the state, calls for thorough and comprehensive investigation.”
“Given the level of intimidation of opposition by the instrumentalities of the state, our clients are worried as to the intent or possible calculated assassination of the deceased to further cause anguish to the family.”