The Inspector General of Police, IGP Solomon Arase has ordered the posting of new Commissioners of Police to Lagos, Ogun, Rivers and other formations in the Force headquarters.
In a statement issued by the Deputy Force PRO, Abayomi Shogunle, the new posting is expected to reduce the crime rate in the affected states.
The statement read: “It is expected that the new postings will reverse the crime wave in the affected states and also strengthen the administration in the Force headquarters formations”.
The commissioners affected by the posting and the states they are posted to are; “CP Ajani Fatai Owoseni; Lagos State, CP Chris Ezike; Rivers State, CP Abdulmajid Ali; Ogun State.
Other CPs posted to formations in the Force headquarters are: “Dan Bature; Intelligence FCIID Abuja, CP Valentine Ntomchukwu, CP Admin department of Logistics and Supply, Abuja, Hyelasinda Kimo Musa; CP Fed. Special Anti Robbery Squad, Abuja, CP Kayode Aderanti; CP Admin, department of Operations Abuja, CP Ibine; CP Port Authority Eastern Command; CP Ogbusua Aja Oleh, CP Provost,
Raggae star, Victor Essiet of the famed Mandator, was yesterday arraigned before an Ikeja Chief Magistrate Court for alleged fraud of $86,376.
The Police arraigned Essiet alongside one Patricia Enobong before the court, presided by Chief Magistrate Y. E. Aje Afunnwa.
They were alleged to have obtained the sum by false pretence from one Etim Maurice.
They are facing a three -count charge bordering on conspiracy, felony, stealing and fraudulent obtaining, made against them by the police.
The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges when read to them in the court.
The prosecutor, Superintendent of Police, Samson Ekikere said the defendants committed the alleged offences in October 2009 at Adeniran Ogunsanya, Surulere Lagos.
He posited that the defendants obtained the said sum from Maurice through Standard Chartered Bank under the false pretence of buying and delivering five Mack trucks made to carry his goods which they failed to deliver.
According to Ekikere, the offence is contrary to section 312 (1)(a)(b) and punishable under section 312(3) of the criminal Laws of Lagos State of Nigeira 2011.
Chief Magistrate Afunwa granted them bail in the sum of N5 million with two sureties who must be blood related, gainfully employed and must have verifiable addresses.
She further ordered that the defendants should not travel outside Lagos without the approval of the Court.
She also said that the defendants should deposit their international passports with the Court.
The Magistrate adjourned the matter to October 28, 2015 for trial.
POLICE chief Solomon Arase has said the removal of military checkpoints will restore the mandate of internal security to the police.
Following concerns by people after the withdrawal order, the police chief gave assurance that the spaces vacated would be safe, adding that there was no need for fear.
The police boss added that the police management had concluded arrangements on the dress code for the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) unit of the police.
He said: “The withdrawal of the military should not create any fear in the minds of Nigerians. We have done it before and we are going to do it again. We have about 555 vehicles on the highway nationwide. Each state has about 15 vehicles to man the safer highway. Besides that, prior to this time, most of the states had about 20 vehicles each. They are not sufficient, but what we have now should do to ensure that we are able to secure the highway space.
“Other security agents have the constitutional responsibility to also complement the efforts of the NPF. Asking us to take over the responsibility of the roadblocks, which originally was supposed to be our turf, will not create any vacuum,” he assured.
“Nigerians, I believe, will not want to listen to excuses from us and we have opportunity now to take over our mandate of securing the internal security space.”
On SARS and their means of identification, the IG said: “We have discussed it extensively in management and we have agreed that there should be a dress code for all our SARS so that they would be identified with it. We are trying to get some designs which the DIG in charge of logistics is trying to bring up to management for approval. Once that is done, we will unveil it and everybody will know the dress code for the SARS operatives nationwide.”
One after another, police dragnet is pulling in suspected criminals as long-suffering residents applaud, reports YUSUFU AMINU IDEGU
Some now in police custody are thought to be armed robbers, some rapists, murderers, and there are more.
How did Plateau State, once loved for its serenity, scenic beauty and temperate weather, end up a haven for felons? It is a question residents often ask without getting any answers.
In broad daylight as well as night, car owners are conscious that their vehicles could be snatched by gun-toting thieves, and their fears often come true. At home, power generators are also stolen. That is not all. Rapists, murders and a variety of other rogues are also about, making residents jumpy most of the time.
There is also the ubiquitous presence of military personnel, not really for these crimes, but for such more alarming cases as terrorism and communal clashes. Yet, the other lesser criminals find enough room to strike.
The good news is that security agencies seem to have figured out how to keep the felons out of business. A good number of the suspects have been arrested and are being questioned by police. When they were paraded, and what a large hurl, the people expressed their joy and relief by applauding the law enforcement agents.
The state police commissioner, Nasiru Oki was celebrated for the catch, even though nothing is certain yet regarding the guilt of the accused, as they have not been charged to court.
•He is accused of concealing a machete
The criminals paraded by the police commissioner at the command headquarters at Joseph Gomwalk Way Jos, were up to 30. But the interesting aspect of the event was not the number of the suspects but the nature of the crime they were thought to have committed.
One of the suspects was a 75-year-old grandfather who reportedly raped his own granddaughters and their friends. The old man was said to be having an affair with his two granddaughters, a development that was said to have lasted without other members of the family knowing about it. He accused was also said to have deflowered the two girls.
The police gave the name of the old man as Mr Umoru Choji who lived in Zawan village in Jos South Local Government Area of the state. He was discovered when the some teenagers from the other families reported the affair to the girls’ parents. The parents in turn reported it to ‘B’ Division Police Station in Bukuru and he was promptly picked up by the police.
The man reportedly owned up to the crime. One of the two granddaughters he allegedly deflowered is 11 years old, the other 14.
Another man, Monday Pam, also paraded by the police, was alleged to have killed another man over a girlfriend. The girlfriend, Magdalene Fidelis, a widow, was dating the two men at the same time. Pam rented an apartment for her where she lived with her three children. But another she loved was also coming to spend some time with her in the apartment.
Pam said, “The woman is my girlfriend, but I know another man was also dating [her], so I warned the man several times but [he] ignored my warnings. So the last time we met in the house of my girlfriend, I challenged him and it resulted in a fight; the man wanted to kill me, so I pulled out my knife and stabbed him.”
The widow at the centre of the conflict, said, “I am a widow with three children; this man Monday Pam is my boyfriend, he even rented the house for me, so when he came across this man in my house, they started fighting and I drove them [out of] my house, so they went to the road and fought that night. I did not know that my boyfriend killed the other man until the police came and arrest me.”
Pam, who is in police custody alongside the widow, has a wife and children. The police gave the name of the dead lover as Christopher Vincent. Both Monday Pam and his girlfriend Magdalene Fidelis will be charged to court for conspiracy and culpable homicide, the police said.
In a similar case, three young men in Josho Daho village of Bokkos Local Government, Plateau state, went to a night party. One of them, Mr. Anjum Morem noticed his wife Asabe Anjum in a passionate romance with another man. Mr. Moren quickly elected his other two friends of the situation and three of them engage the man romancing his wifeliness a fit-scuff. In the fight that ensued, the man said to be romancing Mr. Morgen’ wife, Yakubu Patrick was stabbed to death right there. Mr. More claimed he had several times warned the deceased Yakubu
Patric to steer clear of his wife. The three young men are already in police net for the crime and they are about to be charged to court for conspiracy and culpable homicide.
Another interesting aspect of the criminals on parade is the case of a young man who ride on commercial motorcycle in Jos metropolise with a machete stripped to his back. The purpose of the machete was to attack any security agency that tried to arrest them knowing fully well that commercial motorcycle has been outlawn in a Jos city since 2012.
According to the police commissioner, “These boys knows they are committing crime against the state for ridding commercial motorcycle. So they armed to attack any any law enforcement officer that tried to arrested them. They have done that to several police men. But this one was not lucky, as he tried to pull the machete from his shirt as usual, he was over powered by the police and was arrested” the police boss said they are still looking out to arrest these gang of criminals and very soon, we will get some others if they continued to break the laws.
There is also a case of witchcraft, in this case, an elderly man called Yakubu Kwon Sanga, poured some quantity of Kerosine on one Nancy Dauda, an eight year old girl on the suspicion that the girl was a witch. He lured the girl into his room and tried to interrogate the little girl. But all of a sudden, the man poured kerosine on the girl, got a matches and set the girl on fire, or course, the girl was severely burnt and eventually died. The suspect was eventually arrested by the police.
The regular crime in the state is that of armed robbery. In Old Legislative Quaters in Jos city, one Stephen Musa went with a gun to rub at the residence of one Tokumbo Adewoye in the middle of the night. The suspect forced himself into the apartment and demanded for money at gun point. But the owner of the house was bold enough to grab the suspect while pretending to handover to the robber some money, Mr Adewoye overpowered the robber and alerted his neighbors. The suspect was immediately handed over to the police patrol team.
In Quan Pan local government of the state, two suspected armed robbers attacked Mr. Wilfred Mankut in his house while he was sleeping, he was robbed of his cash and other valuable items. The robbers esced with their lots, but the police continued to trail him through diligent investigation and eventually apprehended him.
It was a miracle for another woman who was attacked by armed robber at her residence along Bukuru express in Jos city. The suspects robber who is now in police net came to the house in a broad day light and told the woman that her husband directed him to come and carry out some electrical work on the house. But the woman suspected the electrician and refused the electrician to carry out any work in the house. The fake electrician then requested for a water to drink. As the woman headed towards the kitchen to bring the water, the fake electrician followed the woman up and pulled out a gun, he immediately ordered the woman to surrender all her money, handsets and other valuables. But instead of responding to the demands made on her at gunpoint, the woman pounced on the robber and eventually dispossessed the robber of the gun, she screamed heavily and neighbors came to her help to apprehend the robber and handed her over to the police.
The Managing Director of Arik Air, Chris Ndulue, has pledged to work with the new Commissioner of Police, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos to improve security in its operations.
Ndulue made this known last week when the Airport Police Command Commissioner, Mr. Taiwo Lakanu, paid a courtesy visit to the airline’s headquarters in Lagos.
He urged the police to sustain and improve security at the airport to prevent unwanted persons at the restricted areas and those who sneak into the airport and enter the wheel-well of aircraft as stowaways.
Ndulue also noted that police should have access to every part of the airport and should not be prevented from working at the restricted areas, remarking that in other parts of the world, police have unfettered access to all parts of the airport in order to effectively maintain peace and ensure the protection of passengers and other airport users.
He said that Arik Air has well-trained aviation security personnel which would always collaborate with the Nigeria police for maximum protection and prevention of any kind of crises.
•100 suspects arrested in one week •Guns, vehicles, kitchen wares recovered
The Rivers State Police Command has killed three suspected hoodlums in one week.
It said over 100 suspected criminals, including kidnappers and robbers were also arrested within the period.
In a statement yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, police spokesman Ahmed Mohammed, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), said the operation took place at Abuloma and Borikiri, both in Port Harcourt Local Government Area; Rumuekini in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area and Akpajo, in Eleme Local Government Area between June 19 and 25.
Mohammed listed the items recovered from them as: AK-47 rifle and magazine, live ammunitions, vehicles and cooking utensils, suspects to have been stolen, among others.
The spokesman attributed the command’s success at busting crimes to cooperation from the public.
He said the command was committed to ridding the state of hoodlums and their nefarious activities as long as the public continued to provide useful information.
Mohammed said: “Our sustained onslaught against violent criminals and recovery of firearms in illegal hands …has continued to yield some significant triumphs. Our vow to dislodge criminals from their havens is not a bluff but a reality that has come to stay until their activities are brought to an end.
“On June 19, at noon at Abuloma in Port Harcourt, our joint teams of policemen raided a waterfront, which was suspected to be the hideout of a notorious and wanted suspected kidnapper/cultist. Items recovered from the enclave include two AK-47 rifles, five AK-47 magazines, 152 rounds of 7.62 live ammunitions and assorted household items suspected to have been stolen.
“On June 21, at 5:40am, men of the Anti-Cultism Unit stormed the Rumuekini Forest and arrested 69 suspected cultists/robbers; two of them were fatally wounded. Items recovered from them include two pump action guns, nine live cartridges, a Toyota Camry car and assorted household items suspected to have been stolen.
“On June 21, at 10:45am at Akpajo Special Check Point in Port Harcourt, a Mazda car with some occupants, who appeared suspicious, refused to stop for a check. The policemen chased the car. When the occupants of the car sensed that our men would catch up with them, they fled, abandoning the vehicle. Items recovered from the car include two AK-47 rifles and 20 rounds of 7.62 live ammunitions.”
The spokesman added: “On June 22, at 2pm at Borikiri Sand Fill, men of the Anti-Cultism Unit tracked down six suspects who specialised in car snatching. The gang, few days ago, snatched at gun point a Toyota Camry with registration number KFS657CN. The car, with three other suspected stolen vehicles of various models, were recovered from the gang’s hideout.
“On June 25, at 4:10pm at Ogale-Nchia, the Eleme Anti-Robbery Unit of Eleme Division, which responded to a distress call, engaged suspected robbers in a shootout. One of the two suspected robbers wearing military camouflage trousers, got fatally wounded. Items recovered from them include one pump action gun, one locally-made pistol, 15 live cartridges, one red mask and assorted charms.
“There are other successes recorded, besides the aforementioned ones. The continued support of the patriotic public, by divulging credible information to the police, is hereby appreciated. We look for more cooperation.”
The police in Edo State have arrested 30 suspected cultists in the last one month.
Those arrested have joined the list of the 227 suspected cultists who were remanded in prison custody in May.
The police said 20 suspected kidnappers were arrested for abducting prominent persons in the state.
Police Commissioner Samuel Adegbuyi, who addressed reporters in Benin, the state capital, on the security situation, said the suspects were intercepted by the command’s highway patrol teams.
Adegbuyi said 15 kidnap victims were rescued and 107 arms recovered from the suspects.
The police chief said some of the suspects were not Edo residents but used the state as their escape route.
He noted that local vigilantes used their knowledge of the terrain to aid the command in tracking down criminals, even at odd hours.
Adegbuyi said: “Apart from the 227 high profile cultists arraigned in court between May 2 and 9, this year, we have 20 other suspects who have confessed to have kidnapped prominent individuals in the state and even outside the state.
“Fifteen victims of kidnapping have been rescued. Nine AK-47 rifles were recovered. One Bareta pistol and about 60 locally made weapons as well as some paraphernalia of military outfits were recovered.”
The police chief said highway patrol vehicles had been deployed in Benin-Lagos Road, Benin-Agbor Road, Benin-Akure Road, Auchi-Okpella Road, Ibilo, Ehor and Benin bypass.
A six-year-old boy has run to the police to help him locate his father, Abel Daniel.
The Nation learnt that Daniel, 41, who works as a security official at Adeomo Abija, GRA Ikeja, Lagos left his Sango, Ogun State home on June 17 and has yet to return.
According to Michael Abel Daniel, all efforts to locate his father has failed.
The elder Daniel’s younger brother, Etim, alleged that his colleagues said they were unaware of his whereabouts.
He said: “I am the junior brother to Abel Daniel. We live together at 3, Owoyemi Street, Sango, Ogun State. We are three living together, myself, himself and his only son. He got the son when he was in school, out of wedlock. He has a fiancée based in Akwa Ibom State whom he is planning to marry.
“She (the fiancée) called me on Thursday June 18 the day I wanted to go to Sango Police Station to report the incident. She said that she called him on Wednesday June 17, the day Daniel left house without telling anybody where he was going with his car. She said he told her that he would not go to work on that Wednesday and Thursday. On Thursday, the following day, she called him again and the phone was switched off. After several trials to get him on phone failed she then called me and asked of Abel, that his phone was switched off. I told her that Abel left house on Wednesday and had not come back and when I tried to get him on phone, his handset was switched off. Later that day, I went to Sango police station with one woman and reported the matter, on Thursday June 18.
According to him, Daniel is light in complexion; 6.1m tall, speaks Efik and English fluently.
“He left with his Nissan Prado with number-plate EY118SMK. He is always at home if he didn’t go to office because of son who is schooling in a private school at Sango. He finds it difficult to sleep outside because of his son. Now I have to be taking his son to school and bringing him back. I took excuse from work place and they allowed me to go and look for my missing brother.”
A policeman attached to Police Mobile Force (PMF 55), Osisioma Local Government Area of Abia State is currently battling for his life in an undisclosed hospital.
The policeman whose name could not be immediately ascertained as at the time this report was said to have been hospitalized after he was allegedly hit in the chest during a crossfire between the army and police patrol team that stormed Ngwa High School Forward Operation Base (FOB).
The incident which was said to have lasted more than 30minutes caused pandemonium in the area as students, teachers inside the army base, shop owners and passersby within the area scampered for safety.
An unconfirmed report has it that the police personnel died on the spot but a military source denied, saying that the policeman was rushed to a hospital where he is receiving medical attention.
According to an eyewitness account, “the policeman was shot on his left chest causing him to use his back to land on the main road. About two mobile policemen where also taken into the army base after the army officers disarmed and collected their rifles from them.
” The military personnel after disarming them (policemen) started shooting into the air in attempt to empty the policemen’s magazine”.
Abia State Commissioner of Police, Joshiak Habila couldn’t pick his call, but Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ezekiel Onyeke confirmed the incident.
Habila however couldn’t give much details about the incident as he told our correspondent that he was yet to be properly briefed.
But a military source who narrated the incident said “the policeman was wearing army camouflage and was passing in front of the base.”
” One of the soldiers at the gate accosted him and asked him why he was wearing the camouflage. He said he was a policeman and when he was asked to bring his ID card, he blatantly refused and in the heat of the argument, the policeman sprayed the hand teargas into the soldier’s eye which led to a physical combat.
“Some minutes after the issue was resolved, police patrol hilux loaded with mobile policemen from PMF55 was parked in front of the base and before you know what is happening, they started firing at the soldiers and the soldiers responded.
“The policeman only sustained injury and is receiving treatment in a hospital and the situation as we speak has been brought under control”.
The source who said both soldiers and policemen took it to the extreme said that they wouldn’t hesitate to institute investigation into the matter and would punish them accordingly.
The source also used the opportunity to reinstate their commitment to continue to work harmoniously with the police and other security agencies in Aba and the state at large.
The police from Ohuru Isimiri division in Abia State have killed four members of a kidnapping gang.
They also rescued Humphrey Nwachukwu, a worker with a beverage company who was kidnapped near Osisioma, on the outskirts of Aba.
It was gathered that the kidnappers were heading for an exit when they were gunned down.
Four members died as a result of the injuries sustained in the duel which lasted about 40 minutes while others escaped with series of gunshot wounds.
Commissioner of Police Joshiak Habila confirmed the incident. He said it happened at Abala Umuato Village, Obingwa council.
Habila said a Toyota Avensis with reg. ACH 181 AA and a double barrel shotgun was recovered from the gang, adding that the bodies have been deposited in an undisclosed morgue.
He said police had launched a manhunt on the gang and appealed to people with information on how to arrest the fleeing members to provide such for the police.
