Former finance minister Nenadi Usman's daughter killed by police in Abuja after returning from the UK

FORMER finance minister Nenadi Usman has written to the inspector-general of police Ibrahim Idris over the murder of her 31-year-old daughter Anita Akapson who was shot dead by a police officer at Katampe District in Abuja.

In a petition sent to the police by the family’s lawyer Kayode Ajulo, the family alleging that Anita was trailed, targeted and intercepted. They claim her vehicle brushed, blocked and shot at close range by a police officer at Katampe District in Abuja.

It is believed that Ms Akapson, who recently returned to Nigeria after her university education in the UK, was shot dead by a superintendent of police on around 11 pm on Saturday. She was driving out of her house at Katampe Extension by Gwarimpa Estate in a Honda Accord car when she was killed.

Policemen were said to have surrounded the Akapson’s building and were lying in wait for a fleeing armed robbery suspect when the woman drove out of the compound. According to the family, Mrs Akapson was shot in the stomach after the police blocked her car and punctured its tyres with bullets.

In the petition, Mr Ajulo demanded a thorough investigation into the killing, stating that Mrs Akapson’s murderers were being shielded by the police authorities. He hinted that Mrs Usman believed that the killing may have been political on account of her position as a member of the leading opposition party in the country.

“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," the petition read.

Mrs Usman, a leading member of the Peoples Democratic Party, served as finance minister under former president Olusegun Obasanjo and also as a senator, representing Kaduna South. Her husband Shamsudeen Usman, also served as finance minister, having been appointed to the position by President Umaru Yar'Adua while he was the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.