By- Aruna Rashed Toma Bangura
The unlawful killing of the Regional Coordinator of the Operational Support Division for the North-East region, Makeni, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mathew Moiwah Gbanya has raised serious security threat and call for concern by both local and international human rights groups and civil society organizations.
In a bid for speedy investigation into the killing of ASP Mathew Moiwah Gbanya by an unidentified gunman, a consortium for Christian Lawyers known as Christian Lawyers Centre aka Legal Link has called for public inquiry on authority concern to do justice in speedily investigating the killing of ASP Gbanya and bring the perpetrators to book.
The Executive Director of Christian Lawyers Centre referred to as Legal Link, Rashid Dumbuya Esq. has stated that premature and baseless assumptions will succeed in widening the gap and mistrust between the law enforcement apparatus and citizens, adding that they at Legal Link believe that a Public inquiry will best serve the purpose to reveal the root cause and bring the offenders to face the law.
According to initial investigation by Christian Lawyers Centre, it has been revealed that ASP Mathew Moiwa Gbanya was shot at from a very far distance, adding that the consortium of Christian Lawyers demands that speed be shown in the retrieval of the bullet in order to ascertain the kind of gun that pulled the trigger on him.
The Christian Lawyers Centre continued that such attacks on the country’s security forces might undermine the outcome of a free, fair and peaceful three-tier election just one month ahead of the June 24 elections. The release furthered that Legal Link applauded the effort and initial steps of the Sierra Leone Police to probe the cold blooded killing of the former police Boss while urging for investigation to be done in a professional standard and responsibility. And refrain from arresting innocent citizens in Makeni without prove of evidence.
The Legal Link being an organization that upholds the rule of law, accountability, respect for human rights and good governance sternly believe that the right to life is a meta right and every citizen irrespective of political background, colour or creed must enjoy this indispensable right.
However, the consortium of Christian Lawyers has kindly appealed to the public to desist from making hasty utterances over the cold blooded killing and allow evidence to unearth the actual perpetrators of this heinous act.