Extra-Judicial Killing of Ogidi: This Was Not Policing — It Was Broad Daylight Murder

By Elempe Dele

The viral video of the killing of aspiring artist and musician, Mene Ogidi, has haunted me since I first saw it. While at the Effurun Main Park to collect a waybill package for a friend, it was discovered that the parcel contained a Beretta pistol. Ogidi immediately explained that he was only picking up the item on behalf of someone else and offered to lead the police to the actual owner.

Instead of conducting a proper investigation or arrest, what followed was cold-blooded execution in broad daylight.

Ogidi was shot dead by ASP Nuhu Usman (alias Ogbegbe) at the Ekpan Police Station — a station with a long, dark reputation for extrajudicial killings. In the video, a visibly exhausted and frightened young man could be seen pleading desperately for his life. His pleas were met with bullets.

ASP Nuhu’s police badge was never a license to play judge and executioner. No law in Nigeria empowers a police officer to impose the death penalty on the spot for the unlawful possession of firearms — or for any offence. That power resides exclusively with the courts after due process. What happened to Mene Ogidi was not policing. It was murder.

Nuhu Usman swore an oath to protect and serve the people of Nigeria, not to appoint himself as an illegal dispenser of death. By pulling the trigger on a suspect who was already in custody, tired, and begging for his life, he betrayed that oath and violated the fundamental principles of justice. The presumption of innocence — a cornerstone of our legal system — was brutally discarded.

Mene Ogidi died without formal charges, without access to counsel, and without a single day in court. He was executed based solely on the impulse and alleged “power” of an armed officer. This is not how a civilized society treats its citizens, even those suspected of wrongdoing.

Ekpan Police Station has reportedly earned a notorious reputation for such incidents over the years. If true, this latest killing is not an isolated act of indiscipline but part of a dangerous pattern that demands urgent intervention from higher authorities.

The Nigerian Constitution and the Criminal Code are clear: no citizen can be deprived of life arbitrarily. Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) guarantees the right to life, while Section 316 of the Criminal Code Act defines murder and prescribes severe punishment for it.

ASP Nuhu Usman and any officers who aided, abetted, or stood by during this incident must be investigated and charged accordingly with murder.
The police are funded by taxpayers — including hardworking young Nigerians like Mene — to maintain law and order, not to become a law unto themselves. When officers turn their weapons on citizens without justification, the social contract between the state and the people is severely damaged.

Mene Ogidi’s blood cries out for justice. His family deserves answers, not excuses or cover-ups. ASP Nuhu Usman must be investigated, and if found culpable, prosecuted in a court of competent jurisdiction. Anything less will only deepen public distrust in the police and encourage further impunity.

History will not remember ASP Nuhu as a brave officer. It will record him as a man who abused the power of the state to commit murder under the guise of duty. The badge he wore that day is now stained with innocent blood.

Nigeria is already bleeding from many wounds. We cannot allow rogue elements within the security forces to add to our national trauma through reckless and illegal use of lethal force.