The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Police

  • ‘Save us from police harassment’

    ‘Save us from police harassment’

    A Lagos lawyer, Mr. Bamidele  Ogundele, has asked the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase to call to order some of his officers, who harass and terrorise some community leaders in the Lekki Area of Lagos State over land disputes.

    Ogundele, in a Save Our Soul (SOS) letter written on behalf of the community leaders, alleged that a certain Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Mr. Oyinlola Adeoye of the X Squad, Force Criminal Investigation Department, Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos, always allow himself to be used in terrorising some principal members of the Dada Bakare Family of Abijo Town, Ibeju Lekki Local Government Area of Lagos State.

    The petition, which was jointly signed by the counsels to the family, Ogundele and Raimi Oluwaseyi Nojeen alleged that the DCP Adeoye has been using his officers  to terrorise the community. They warned that his actions, if not checked, “are capable of causing a breach of the peace, lawlessness or outright anarchy”.

    The Dada Bakare family of Abijo claimed to be  the traditional owners of a large parcel of land totalling 75,000 hectares  at Abijo Village, which was officially Gazetted by the Lagos State Government with No. 55 Volume 40 of 2007 and which is the  subject matter in suit number LD/2308/2011 before a Lagos High Court.

    The family said it was surprised when a certain Alhaji Akeeb A. Adams, a native of Lamgbasa Village in the same Ibeju Lekki, allegedly invaded their property with some land grabbers to take over their land without the consent or authority of the family.

    They alleged further that the said Alhaji Akeeb “engaged” the services of the DCP Adeoye, who they claimed has been giving security backing to the illegal and unconstitutional actions of the hoodlums hired by Alhaji Adams.

    “DCP Adeoye personally led a police patrol team to take over the Dada Bakare family land at Abijo Town without a Court Order or Execution of Court Order despite the suit pending in court by the Dada Bakare family in LD/2308/2011 against Alhaji Akeeb Alarape Adams & Ors for the illegal trespass.

    “Several members of the Dada Bakare Family including Mr. Raimi Oluwaseyi Nojeem, Mrs. Sikiratu Aduni Lawal, Chief Sadiku Noah, Mr. Kamoru Suleiman, Mr. Waheed Aluko and Mr. Sheriff Sulaimon were intimidated, harassed and arrested by the OC X Squad team without any justification.

    “Coupled with this, the rights of the Dada Bakare Family members to human dignity, liberty and freedom of movement as guaranteed by Section 34, 35 and 41(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) as well as Article 4, 5, 6 and 12 of the African Charter of Human and People’s Right Law of the Federation 2004, were curtailed and violated on several occasions.

    “We forward a petition to the office of the Inspector-General of Police and our matter was assigned to the P.R.O Department of Force CID, Area 10, Abuja and the case file of X Squad, Force CID, Alagbon, Ikoyi, Zone 2, Onikan and Area J. Ajiwe Police Headquarters were all retrieved for discreet and God-fearing investigation,” the petition stated.

    The family alleged that despite the intervention of the Inspector General of Police and transfer of the case file, DCP Adeoye still continues to harass and intimidate them at the alleged instigation of Alhaji Akeeb Alarape Adams.

     

     

     

  • Police recover 82 cattle

    •Three suspects nabbed

    The Sokoto State Police Command has said it has recovered 82 cattle from rustlers.

    It confirmed the arrest of two suspects, Alhaji Musa Isah and Alhaji Muhammad Mamman, for allegedly conspiring to commit the crime.

    Police spokesman Sabo Kurawa, who addressed reporters yesterday in Sokoto, said Lawali Gidan-Igwai on September 18 reported at Tureta Police Division that on September 17, while rearing his cattle in the forest of Birisawa village in Tureta Local Government, Lawalli Umaru “criminally conspired” with two others and stole his cattle.

    According to the police spokesman, Gidan-Igwai reported that Umaru  conspired with Babuga and Alhaji Hassan, attacked him with a gun and stole 46 cows.

    Kurawa said: “The police in conjunction with the vigilance group swung into action and arrested two suspects, Alhaji Musa Isa and Alhaji Mohammed Mamman, all of no fixed addresses.

    “The police cordoned off the forest and recovered 34 of the 46 cows.”

    While investigations were on, Kurawa said two of the three suspects were in the custody at the state CID and the other one at the Tureta Police Division.

    The police command said it acted on information that some cattle were wandering in the forest of Zugu and moved to the forest with the vigilance group where they saw cows without a herdsman.

    “The cattle may have been stolen and later abandoned by rustlers. Forty-six cows were recovered in the bush,” Kurawa said.

  • Rescue our brother, family begs Police

    Rescue our brother, family begs Police

    The family of an industrialist, Sir James Uduji, at the weekend, expressed worry that more than 20 days after, he is still being held by kidnappers.

    The family urged the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase and the Lagos Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, to facilitate his freedom.

    Udujim, the Group Executive Officer (CEO) of Cometstar Manufacturing Company in Lagos was kidnapped on his way home on September 7. Chief Uduji’s car was blocked at his 7th avenue residence in Festac Town.

    His driver and another occupant were shot while the gang whisked him away to an unknown destination.

    Family members reported the kidnap at the Area Command in Festac.

    Residents of Festac Town are being terrorised by kidnappers. A week ago, a business man escaped after four his car tyres were riddled with bullets.

  • If Arase won’t do something about the police…

    If Arase won’t do something about the police…

    Nigeria is daily inundated with stories of police malfeasance, of so-called accidental discharge, extrajudicial murder, trigger-happy shootings and attendant cover-ups, torture, human rights abuse, and on top of these, ineffective policing. The police, it is clear, are a poorly equipped and poorly incentivised federal establishment. Indeed if states, which exercise little or no control over the security organisation, were not subsidising the operations of the police, it would in all likelihood have collapsed. But poor funding does not justify a large part of police malfeasance. Within the constraints of their operations, it is still possible to run a fairly humanised and fairly responsive police. They may not respond promptly to crime emergencies such as kidnapping and armed robbery because of infrastructural shortcomings, but they can at least control what happens at their stations where distressed citizens present their challenges.

    There are three ways to handle the declining efficiency and poor image of the police. First, the federal government must declare an emergency in policing to stem the infrastructural decay and operational and attitudinal rot in the Police Force. The government cannot pretend not to appreciate the abysmal level to which the police have sunk. The police need to be restructured, adequately funded and properly equipped —  just as efforts are being made to retrain and equip the military — and a firm and organised system of accountability must be instituted. It is not enough for offending policemen to shoot and kill indiscriminately, sometimes for as little as N100, and be dismissed and prosecuted. What of the dead, and the many who may yet die if the malady is not checked? Have dismissal and prosecution of errant policemen deterred other officers from committing casual murder in the name of the state? Clearly the problem is more fundamental than the pirouette of malfeasance, dismissal and prosecution. Senior police officers must be made accountable for the behaviour of their men.

    Second, the police leadership must find innovative ways of running the law enforcement organisation and enforcing discipline, including reliving officers of their jobs if they cannot control their men, to prevent the kind of appalling behaviour and impunity now rampant in the Force. The federal government may be reluctant to impose innovation on the police. That is why the police have an Inspector-General. Mr Solomon Arase should sit down with his men and other brilliant and knowledgeable experts to fashion out a way of funding, reorienting and rebuilding the police. The present system is absolutely untenable. Mr Arase must of course understand that if the continuous bad press the police are receiving does not change, it makes his leadership equally untenable. But he must not resign himself to the present situation. Where others have failed, let him prove he can be a success. Despite the handicaps, let him be determined to leave a great and enduring legacy commensurate with his high educational attainments.

    Third, the most practical option — and sooner rather than later, the country will come round to this — is to decentralise the police away from federal to state control, and also rejig the revenue allocation formula to reflect the new reality until such a time that economic federalism will be instituted. The fact is that in the past few decades, both the police leadership and the federal government have appeared to lack the will and ingenuity to run the police. It is perhaps time the Buhari administration summoned the courage to join hands with the National Assembly to recast the police as a state institution. The federal government can no longer fund the institution, and obviously cannot even think for it. It is time others attempted a more imaginative approach. The country is already witnessing paralysis in the police. But paralysis is simply not feasible in the present circumstances of deteriorating security situation and police impunity.

  • Umuahia family blames police for son’s death

    Police: we didn’t do it

    The family of slain student, Ikechukwu Vincent Uwagbaokwu, has petitioned the Abia State Commissioner of Police, Joshak Habila, on the killing of their son by armed men suspected to be policemen from the state command.

    In the petition through their counsel, Dr. Godwin Chionye, to the Commissioner of Police, the family accused the police of the gruesome murder of the twenty-one year-old student of Imo State Polytechnic.

    The petition reads in parts: “On the 10th of September, 2015, Mr Ikechukwu Vincent Uwagbaokwu, a Marketing Student of Imo Polytechnic went to bed at about 9:00 p.m. but at about 10:50 p.m. there were persistent banging on the door of the family house of the Uwagbaokwus.

    “When Mr Anthony Uwagbaokwe [brother of deceased] came out to see who was banging on their door, he saw about ten fierce men in police uniform who had taken strategic positions in all the surrounding of the house.

    “One of the men in uniform who came with Hilux pick up van and black Camry Saloon Car, hit the door of one of the occupants [names withheld] and forced it open, and when the occupant came out, the men in police uniform, who refused to identify themselves, said that he was not the person that they were looking for.

    “The police went to the direction pointed to by the man they first met who allegedly directed them to the place they were looking for, and the armed policemen forced the wooden door open and on sighting Ikechukwu Vincent Uagbaokwu, one of the policemen shot him and he died immediately.

    “Our clients raised the alarm but nobody came to their rescue. The matter was reported to Ehimiri Police Station in whose jurisdiction this area falls, but the police could not give any useful assistance as they deny sending policemen out on that day to effect any arrest.”

    The family’s lawyer said that after the incident, his client reported the matter to the Ehimiri Police Station where the Divisional Police Officer [DPO] gave them an order to deposit the deceased at Madonna Mortuary in Umuahia.

    In his reaction, father of the deceased, Mr. Emmanuel Uwagbaokwu

    said: “I am not suspecting, but those who killed my son were policemen from Ehimiri Police Station, Umuahia.”

    The 54 year-old house builder who was crying said: “Immediately I reported the matter to Ehimiri Police Station and the DPO there denied sending his men to duty to that area that night, however (he) ordered some police team to follow us to the scene of the incident. On the way, the team dodged us and they did not reach our house.”

    He called on the Inspector General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, to order for full investigation in order to unravel the killers of his son. “My son Ugochkwu who was sleeping at the corridor allegedly heard when one our neighbours [names withheld] showed them Ikechukwu’s room.”

    Reacting to the allegation in a chat over the telephone, the State Police Public Relations Officer [PPRO] Ezekiel Onyeke denied the involvement of the police in the killing of the student.

  • Cop kills self, two others in Yobe

    A police constable in Yobe State(name withheld) has allegedly shot two of his colleagues dead.

    The incident which took place at the Nangere Police Division in the state was reported to have occurred in the early hours of Friday.

    Eyewitness said the Police Constable shot two other Inspectors at close range following a disagreement on a homicide case that was brought to the station.

    “He shot himself after killing the two other inspectors at the station,” the eyewitness said.

    The Police commissioner in the state Zanna Ibrahim told our correspondent on phone that he was on his way to Nangere to get details of the incident.

    ” I am right now on my way to Nangere to get first hand information of what really happen. I will get back to you on my return to Damaturu.”

    Nangere is 118km from Damaturu, the state capital.

  • Eid prayer: Eight arrested over attack on Saraki, others

    Eid prayer: Eight arrested over attack on Saraki, others

    The Kwara state police command has arrested eight people in connection with the attack on Senate President Bukola Saraki and other personalities at the Ilorin Yidi praying ground on Thursday.
    The command spokesperson, Ajayi Okasanmi disclosed this to reporters in Ilorin, adding that the people arrested were miscreants.
    Mr. Okasanmi said there was no record of any civil servant or government official among those arrested.
    Said he: “The state police command deployed no fewer than 2000 policemen in synergy with other security agencies to make sure that the eid- el – Kabir celebration is a huge success. It was free in the course of prayers and there was the insurgence of criminals which we put into consideration while planning our security strategy. We know they normally come to beg for money from well to do members of the public.
    “So they came as usual, but we noticed they were becoming unruly and we have to come out to prevent them from where the VIPs were seated. We then chased them away and we arrested about eight of them. They are in our custody and we have started investigation.
    “We learnt that one or two persons were injured; but there has not been any official reports as to if any was injured in the course of arresting. The motive of their unruly behavior is yet to be determined. As far as we are concerned the people arrested are miscreants.
    “From the stories we are hearing one or two vehicles have been damaged but we have not seen the vehicles. We also heard that one person was injured but we have not seen the person.
    “The prayers went as planned and the dignitaries that came back to their various destinations without any hitch. Among the people arrested there was no record of civil or government functionary; the eight arrested are miscreants.”

  • Residents accuse police of harassment, extortion

    Residents accuse police of harassment, extortion

    SOME residents of Mushin, Lagos, have accused the police of harassing, persecuting and extorting them for defending themselves from hoodlums.

    They said their trouble started after they caught and beat up a thief on September 9.

    Since then, they said men of Olosan Police Station have been arresting anyone they found on Hanson Lane off Olateju Street, demanding between N10,000 and N30,000 before releasing them.

    They recalled that a suspected thief, Damilola Tambolo, who scaled a perimeter fence around 2am and burgled the apartment of a resident, who raised the alarm, was caught and beaten up.

    He was saved by some people, who took him to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

    Soon after, the residents claimed that the police embarked on indiscriminate arrest of people for allegedly executing “jungle justice on an innocent man”.

    Among those arrested was the Landlords’ Association chairman, Latifu Asagunla, who allegedly paid N30,000 for his bail, and an undisclosed amount to offset part of the suspect’s hospital bill.

    A pepper seller, Mrs Wosilat Ajisegiri, 75, told The Nation that she was arrested last Wednesday during one of such raids.

    She said: “I was sitting in the front of my house when the police arrived in a van and started picking people indiscriminately. I pleaded with them that I was not feeling fine, but none of them was ready to listen to me. They took me away.”

    One Muraina Ajao, 65, who went to the station to secure her release was also allegedly detained.

    He was freed after his daughter allegedly paid N5,000 to an officer, simply identified as Owolabi.

    The policemen allegedly returned on Friday, shooting sporadically to scare some protesting youths, many of who were injured while scampering to safety.

    It was learnt that the security agents arrested four persons, including a civil servant, Adesola Adenaya and an auto mechanic, Muyideen Ajisegiri.

    They also vandalised the shop of a tailor identified as Shakiru, carting away his sewing machines.

    At the station yesterday, the residents were seen raising N20,000 for the bail of those arrested.

    A youth, who asked not to be named, said: “We have been having sleepless nights because of the activities of petty thieves. We reported to the police but they did not respond to our complaints.

    “In the past weeks, petty thieves had burgled apartments on my street to rob people of their personal effects, such as phones, laptops and food items.

    “The gang went away with a tricycle that was parked in care of a Hausa man that sells provisions by the road side. The following day, the owner came to arrest the Hausa man. The poor man is still paying for the tricycle.”

    Another resident, simply identified as Tunde said they were afraid to go about their daily routines because of the police raid.

    He said: “We are scared of coming out of our rooms because of the police raid. They have been harassing people, because we refused to pay for the hospital bill of the suspect.

    “Please, help us publish this story so that the police authorities can call their men in Olosan Police Station to order.”

    Another resident appealed to the Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, to investigate the activities of his men at Olosan Division, saying the residents are being hunted by robbers at night and policemen in the day.

    He said: “For some weeks now, a particular petty thief had burgled apartments on my street. I say ‘petty thief’ because if he breaks into a room and can not find phones or other little gadgets to steal, he goes to the fridge or kitchen and clears every food item he sees there and then he ‘shits’  before leaving.

    “This same guy has robbed different apartments on my street four times in the last five weeks and often attacked between 1am and 3am.

    “One time, he came with his gang and went away with a tricycle that was parked in care of a mallam that sells provisions by the road side. The following day, the owner came to arrest the mallam. The poor man is still paying for the tricycle till this day.

    “The thief came back on September 9 and he got caught. The guys that caught him beat him up so bad not only because he stole but because he stabbed an old man on the chest.

    “Then later, they called in policemen and that’s how the whole ‘wahala’ started.

    “When the police came, the first question they asked was why the suspect was beaten?

    “Then on September 12, 15 armed men from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) came to arrest innocent youths and aged men and women on Hanson Close on the basis that they beat up a thief.

    “How were they supposed to subdue him without beating him? This is a guy that is notorious for beating up his victims.

    “Please, we are scared of coming out of our rooms because of men from SARS. Policemen have been to my area twice to arrest people because we refused to pay for the hospital bill of a robbery suspect!

    “The suspected thief in question has been admitted to LUTH and they (SARS officials) are still harassing us because we refused to contribute money for his treatment.

    “They also claimed they bought provisions for him and that we should pay for that too. Please, help us publish this story so that the right authorities can see this and help us restore peace to our area.

    “We are scared of thieves at night and afraid of SARS men in the day!”

    But, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), told The Nation that the suspect was not a robber because “no item, no weapon was found on him”.

    Although he could not say what the suspect was doing in the compound at 2am, the DPO insisted that he was a victim of jungle justice.

    “What did he steal? The policemen who rescued the suspect from the mob did not find any weapon or stolen items with him,” he said.

    When contacted, police spokesman Joe Offor, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), claimed the residents beat the man and turned him to vegetable before bringing him to the station, adding that no one has come forward to attest that the alleged robber was found in his house.

    Offor said: “I’ve called the DPO and he said they are raiding the area because the victim was brought to the station as a vegetable. The street leader was the one who brought the man to the station and since then no one has come to say it was in his house the alleged thief came.

    “He also said they did not collect any money from anyone and that anyone with evidence should come forward. Also anyone who claims the victim is a thief should also come forward with evidence.”

  • Police rescue 11-month-old

    The police in Anambra State has rescued an 11 month-old from kidnappers. Four suspects were arrested after a gun battle.

    It was gathered that Kamsi Okeke, daughter of Pastor Louis Okeke of the Foursquare Gospel Church, Awka, was kidnapped from her father’s house at Ngozika Estate in Awka last Wednesday.

    The kidnappers, led by Mr. Okeke’s mechanic, demanded N15 million but later reduced it to three million naira.

    The suspects collected the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards of Pastor Okeke and his wife Franca.

    Though the police did not confirm the incident, a senior police officer, who pleaded for anonymity, said one of the kidnappers, who was hurt in the gun battle, assisted with the arrest of three others.

    “It was not an easy battle with those hoodlums at Nteje in Oyi local government area, where they kept the small girl but nothing happened to our men.

    “The condition of one of the suspects is critical, but he is receiving treatment. Can you believe that the gang leader is the mechanic of the victim’s father?

    “Those suspects destroyed the man’s house with bullets and went away with their ATM cards,” he said.

    Pastor and Mrs. Louis Okeke praised the officers for rescuing their daughter without ransom. “We feel relieved, we feel alive again, we almost died but today, we can sleep and give thanks to God for keeping our daughter alive,” they said.

  • Shot tricyclist alive – Police

    The police in Lagos on Wednesday debunked rumours of the death of a tricyclist, Godwin Ekpo, who was shot by a trigger- happy Corporal at Isheri-Osun.

    Ekpo with his wife, Idongesit were shot last Wednesday at Obalagbe Bus Stop, Isheri –Osun, for refusing to give the Corporal N100 bribe.

    While his wife, a nursing mother, died instantly after the bullet struck her neck, Ekpo was rushed to the hospital for surgical operations on his jaw bones.

    He was however reported to have died in the hospital, after the police allegedly abandoned him.

    But the state’s Police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni, outrightly denied the tricyclist’ death, insisting that they were together on Tuesday.

    He also debunked insinuations that police abandoned the victim in the hospital, noting that the Force has ensured Ekpo receives the best treatment at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba.

    [ad id=”403656″]According to Owoseni, plans have been concluded to enroll the victim’s children into police school on scholarship, just as they were also working on rehabilitating him after his treatment.

    He said: “Ekpo, the husband of the Isheri-Osun victim is still alive, hale and hearty. I was with him yesterday (Tuesday). We walked round the hospital. He is fine. The Inspector General, Solomon Arase, also spoke with him on phone while I was there and we have been keeping track on him.

    “As at Sunday, his jaw bones that were affected by the bullets were successfully fixed, and the surgery was supervised by the Chief Medical Director of LUTH himself.

    “It is because of the degree of seriousness the police and the IGP attaches to the issue that we have ensured he enjoys the best treatment.

    “Also the police had initiated moves to fast track the registration of his children in police school. We have spoken with him on that and also working with on how best to rehabilitate him.”

    The Nation however gathered on Wednesday that Ekpo was moved to the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital after his surgery.