The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Police

  • Bayelsa police confirm loss of two personnel

    Bayelsa police confirm loss of two personnel

    The Bayelsa State Police Command on Thursday confirmed the loss of two of its men to suspected bandits in the Agbura suburb of Yenagoa.

    The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Fidelis Odunna, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the assailants operating in a black jeep killed the officers at the Agbura roundabout on Wednesday night.

    He said those killed were a corporal and a sergeant, adding that a manhunt had begun

    A source in the Agbura suburb told NAN that the incident occurred at about 8.00pm when the policemen on routine duty at the roundabout were taken unawares by the bandits.

    The source said the assailants slowed down and opened fire on the policemen, who died on the spot.

     

  • Police rescue monarch, cleric, others from kidnappers in Imo

    The Imo State Police Command yesterday smashed a four-man suspected kidnap syndicate.

    It rescued three victims, including a traditional ruler-elect, a cleric and a 72-year-old man from the suspected kidnappers.

    Parading the suspects in Owerri, the state capital, Police Commissioner Baba Adisa Bolanta said they allegedly abducted the monarch-elect of Owerre Nkworji in Nkwere Local Government Area, Igwe Nelson Orisakwe, and his 72-year-old cousin, Sir Godwin Orisakwe, on their way to a court in Owerri.

    The police chief explained that the abductors drove their victims around in their Mercedes Benz saloon car, after blindfolding them.

    He added that the assailants intercepted a Toyota RAV 4 Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) and kidnapped its driver, the cleric in charge of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Uloano, Isu Local Government Area, Fr. Faustinus Ibewuike.

    Bolanta said the kidnap victims were allegedly dumped in the underground room of an uncompleted filling station.

    Following a tip-off, he said, armed policemen stormed the suspects’ hideout.

    According to him, the suspects engaged the police in a gun battle.

    Bolanta said: “When we sighted where the vehicle used in the kidnapping was parked, we condoned off the area. We observed that there was an uncompleted building in the bush.

    “The moment they saw our patrol vehicle, they opened fire. But our men responded with superior gunfire. The victims, who were blind-folded and dumped in an underground cell, were rescued unhurt and the victims’ cars were also recovered.”

    The command has also smashed a gang of armed robbers which specialised in trailing people leaving the banks and opening their cars with master keys.

    Bolanta said the trans-border robbery gang was apprehended when one of its suspected members, Chibuzor Oguzie, was hiding near a bank in Owerri.

    He allegedly had a motorcycle, for a get-away.

    The police chief said the suspect was arrested when he attempted to flee on sighting the police.

    He said the suspect’s confession led to the arrest of another member of the gang, Kingsley Ikechukwu, and the recovery of three exotic cars, three motorcycles and household items.

    Bolanta attributed the success of the police to the synergy between the command and other security agencies as well as the public.

    He called for a stronger cooperation between the residents and the police to reduce crime.

     

  • Police plan crime-free Sallah in Kano

    The Kano State Police Command, in collaboration with other security agencies and stakeholders, has promised to ensure a hitch-free Eid-el-Kabir celebration.

    Police Commissioner Ibrahim Idris has held a strategic meeting with security agencies, traditional and religious leaders, as well as vigilance groups.

    They laid out measures for a crime-free festival.

    The police chief presided over the meeting in which the stakeholders focused on how to improve security during and after the Muslim festivity.

    Idris urged the stakeholders to be committed to ridding the city and other parts of the state of criminals.

    The police chief appealed to religious and traditional leaders to monitor their domains during the Sallah period and fish out the “bad boys”.

    Idris said the police and other security agencies would restore peace through improved security in the city.

    According to him, the stakeholders need to support security agencies with useful information about the activities of criminals.

    The police commissioner said security agencies are not magicians, adding that they require information to serve the people well.

    He said: “At least, everybody can feel the level of security improvement in Kano, with commercial activities picking up and most of the fleeing residents now back in the city. Therefore, all hands should be on deck to sustain the relative peace we have been enjoying for some time now.”

     

     

     

  • ‘N300m stolen daily at Police Pension office’

    ‘N300m stolen daily at Police Pension office’

    • Recovered N36bn remitted to Federation Account

    About N300million is looted daily from the Police Pension funds, the Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Force, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, has said .

    The task force has already remitted N36billion of the recovered funds to the Federation Account.

    Maina while on a courtesy visit to the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Mr. Ekpo Nta, said 120 properties acquired with money stolen from the funds have also been seized.

    The commission’s Head of Media, Mr. Folu Olamiti, in a statement, said: “The Reform Task Team said it had covered some grounds in the fight against Pension Funds thieves. It disclosed that it was able to uncover a fraud to the tune of N36 billion within the Police Pension Funds Office, alone.

    “It said it had remitted the whole sum to the purse of the federation, while seizing about 120 properties allegedly acquired with stolen pension funds by the cabals.

    Maina said investigations by members of his team had revealed that the cabals in the Police Pension Office were in the habit of stealing up to N300 million on a daily basis through fictitious cheques prepared in the names of fake pensioners.

    “He said investigations into the Police Pension Office were still ongoing, disclosing that his team had covered 40 percent of investigations into the pension funds scam.

    “A member of the Pension Task Team, who is also a former member of the House of Representatives, Ngozika Ihuoma, told ICPC about similar fraud with Local Government Pension Funds, disclosing that from 1976 till date, a total of N3.3 trillion had been deducted from the funds without proper accountability.”

    The breakthrough recorded by the Pension Task Team on recovery of stolen pension funds is said to have started attracting the attention of the Presidency following a formal invitation extended to the Chairman by the Economic Management Team for special briefing.

    Mr.Olamiti said: “According to Maina, President Jonathan had personally invited the Pension Task Team to brief the Economic Management Team on its achievements so far, most especially the e-pension model the Team had developed to reduce stealing of pension funds across the country.

    “Maina thanked President Goodluck Jonathan and the ICPC for the support both have been throwing behind the Task Team, just as he appealed for further support from the government of Nigeria on how to rid the pension departments in Nigeria of fraudulent cabals.

    “He disclosed that he has continued to receive death threats from those he suspected as Pension funds cabals, recalling the recent mail sent to him, threatening to bomb the office of the Pension Reform Task Team.”

    The ICPC chairman, Nta, said the consistent pilfering of pension funds by officials of government could cause a major national disaster.

    According to the statement, Nta said “since pensioners were in every home in the country, the idea of denying them their rights and entitlements through stealing of their pension could put pressure on the national economy.

    “He observed that the stealing of pension funds easily attracted irreversible curses on perpetrators.

    “He assured the Pension Task Team of preparedness by ICPC to support the fight against stealing of pension funds in Nigeria, promising to partner with the National Television Authority (NTA) and the Africa Independent Television (AIT) in a Special Forum on Pension Funds.”

  • Akeredolu urges police, army to prosecute arrested state officials

    Akeredolu urges police, army to prosecute arrested state officials

    The flag bearer of the Action Congress of Nigeria in the Ondo State governorship election, Rotimi Akeredolu, has warned security agencies against destroying evidence in relation to the arrest of some senior government officials arrested with guns on Saturday.

    Akeredolu said he was in possession of information that a serving Commissioner of Special Duties, Niran Sule and Chairman, Caretaker Committee, Owo, Tunji Ojomo were arrested by soldiers at a check point in the Iloko area of Owo.

    Although no pictorial evidence exists, the news in the whole of Owo, Akure and other towns in the state is that Sule and Ojomo were arrested in the early hours of the day with guns.

    They were said to be on their way to the city from Fingerprints Hotel where they slept.

    Akeredolu spoke with journalists after casting his vote in Ward 5, Unit 6 Owo around 1pm on Saturday.

    He expressed satisfaction with the process in his polling unit, but said he could not say the same for the entire Owo city, the entire state and what must have happened before and after he voted at his polling unit.

    Akeredolu condemned the reported disenfranchisement of voters at Idanre, who were allegedly chased away from about 69 polling units by hoodlums.

    He urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to take steps and allow voters to cast their votes.

    He urged the police, particularly the commander in the area to ensure that state officials arrested were not allowed to go unpunished.

    The ACN candidate appealed his supporters to go about the voting process peacefully.

    He told them not to being intimidated by the presence of security personnel.

    His wife, Betty Anyawu-Akeredolu expressed delight over the high turnout of voters.

    She said the development showed the people were yearning for a change.

     

  • Aluu killings: Rep restates call for state police

    •’Their deaths could have been avoided’

    The Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Mr. Dakuku Peterside, has condemned the killing of four students of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) in Aluu, Rivers State.

    Dakuku, in a statement, said the killing showed that the country cannot continue to run away from state police.

    He said: “Whatever the reason, the truth is that the Uniport 4 represented hope and the future, not just for their respective families and communities, but for the entire country. So for whatever reason, these are needless deaths that could have been avoided and this sordid act should be condemned by all men of goodwill.

    “I understand Aluu and some neighbouring communities had been under siege for some time. In fact, the state of insecurity in the area had deteriorated so badly that the people had resorted to self-help. “Consequently, they formed vigilance groups with absolute powers and the death of these boys is a direct consequence of that ill-advised move. Therefore, to all intent and purposes, Aluu was actually a disaster waiting to happen. But should this brand of jungle justice be visited on the Uniport 4 in the first instance?

    “Again, are we such a depraved people? Where are the good men of Aluu? This is definitely not what I know of Aluu, a once peaceful neighbourhood. Did they just watch while evil was perpetrated or were they simply intimidated?

    “Security is at the centre of this latest national calamity and we must not pretend about it. The Aluu incident is clearly a failure of the state security apparatus to arrest a deteriorating security situation that prevailed in the town for several months, leading to frustration of the people, who resorted to self- help.

    “The police failed to rise up to the occasion, even though the crime under consideration lasted about two hours. This failure drew substantially from the police’s obsolete communication gadgets and their slow response.

    These are issues we had raised severally, but no one listened.

    “Quite expectedly, most of the eyewitness accounts alleged that while the murderous game was going on in Aluu, two police patrol vehicles were sighted around the scene, yet their presence did not make any difference. A source I do not doubt even claimed that the police pulled over and left without any attempt to save the embarrassing situation.

    “If what happened in Aluu could happen in Rivers, a model state in terms of security, then there is cause for alarm. This is a warning sign we cannot afford to ignore.

    “Those opposed to state police for some reasons are beginning to see the need for further dialogue. The Aluu killings would not have happened, if there was state police.

    “The arguments against state police usually dissolve in the face of logic. Police cannot be a platform for national integration and this must be emphasised. And around the world, there are not too many examples of successful policing in federal states.

    “Antagonists of state police are also quick to cite the concentration of power in one single man (the governor), discriminatory tendencies, interstate rivalry and even jungle justice like the macabre dance in Aluu as its disadvantages.

    “Strangely, the advantages of state police outweigh its disadvantages. The truth is that the federal police as constituted today lacks capacity and resources and is too bureaucratic. These explain why they are easily overwhelmed.

    “I think some Nigerians are beginning to appreciate the fact that state police would be well-funded. There is also the advantage of capacity-building. There will be enough manpower and this will engender healthy rivalry.

    “Adequate knowledge of the territory would prompt quick responses to distress calls because policemen would be indigenes of the state. I know that despite these advantages, abuse could still occur. That is why a mechanism of control should be instituted at the centre to subordinate to some extent, the activities of the state police.

    “If we achieve the clamour for state police, a measure of frustration will leave our governors, who will then truly act as chief security officers.”

     

  • Police arrest suspected gang members in Lagos

    Police arrest suspected gang members in Lagos

    The police in Lagos said on Tuesday that 407 suspected members of the “One-Million-Boys” gang, allegedly terrorising Ajegunle area of the metropolis, have been arrested in the last two weeks.

    The Area Commander in-charge of “Area B”, Apapa, ACP Mohammed Ali, made the disclosure in a chat with the News Agency of Nigeria.

    Ali explained that the suspects were arrested during police raid on their hideouts.

    He said that 130 members of the gang were arrested on October 7, 160 others apprehended on October 11, while 26 and 91 members were arrested on October 13 and October 15, respectively.

    “Some of the suspects have since been charged to court and some were screened and sent to Alausa for rehabilitation, while others are yet to be charged to court,” Ali noted.

    The Area Commander said the police had not received any complaints of violent crimes from the area since the raids were carried out

    NAN reports that members of the public from Ajegunle area had complained of violent crimes, including rape and armed robbery, against the “One-Million-Boys” gang.

    Meanwhile, Chief Rafiu Akanni, the traditional ruler of Layeni community, Ajegunle, has commended the effort of the police over the arrest.

    Akanni said the arrest has brought peace to the area.

     

  • ACN youths call for police, SSS bosses’ removal

    A week to the October 20 Governorship election in Ondo State, the Forum of Youths Leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria has called for the removal of the state Police Commissioner and the Director of State Security Service.

    Rising from a two -day meeting of the forum during the weekend in Osogbo, its National Co-coordinator, Mr. Okonkwo Oliver, who read the communiqué issued at the end of the meeting at the state secretariat of the party in Osogbo, said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) could not conduct or hold a free and fair poll in the state with the two officers around.

    He, therefore, called on the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, to transfer the Police and the SSS bosses out of the state and should not be allowed to supervise the forthcoming election.

     

     

     

  • Police arrest eight suspected gunmen in Kano

    Police arrest eight suspected gunmen in Kano

    The Kano State police command had arrested eight suspected gunmen in connection with the killing of the two policemen on Tuesday,

    The State Police Commissioner, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, confirmed the arrest of the suspects to journalists in Kano, saying that they were in an uncompleted building at Kofar Dawanau quarters in Dala local government area of the state.

    “The area was condoned off by the security operatives and we succeeded in arresting eight suspects.

    ‘’Three AK 47 rifles were recovered from the uncompleted building where the suspects were arrested,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the police commissioner as saying during the briefing.

    Ibrahim said that two of the three AK 47 rifles recovered from the suspects belonged to the two policemen who were killed while the other one was suspected to have been used by gunmen in attacking the policemen.

    He assured that the innocent ones among those arrested would be released immediately after the investigations.

    The commissioner, however, appealed to the people to always cooperate with the security operatives in the state to enable them discharge their constitutional duties effectively.

     

  • Police arrest seven kidnappers in Enugu

    Police arrest seven kidnappers in Enugu

    The Enugu State Police Command has arrested seven suspected kidnappers for allegedly kidnapping a woman, Roseline Nwokolo, at Oji River last month.

    The victim was allegedly abducted and taken into a forest for a ransom.

    Police spokesman Ebere Amaraizu said when security agents from the command were alerted, they found out the suspects’ hideout.

    He said the police arrested one of the suspects, James Afamuefuna Agu, at Madoti Estate in Lagos State, following a tip-off.

    Following Agwu’s alleged confession, the woman was rescued unhurt and Uchenna Nze (aka Akwaeke Junior), Olisa Nze (aka Mistake), Benjamin Mmuodebelu (aka Jack), Igwe Obinna, Kingsley Eze and Ekene Ani (aka Dada) were arrested over the matter.

    Amaraizu said the suspects are assisting the police in their investigation.

    Police Commissioner Musa Daura hailed his men for their doggedness.

    He praised other security agencies and the public for giving the police credible information on crime prevention and detection.

    The suspects, according to Amaraizu, promised to turn a new leaf, if they are released.