The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Policeman

  • Policeman gets life sentence for killing UNIBEN student

    Policeman gets life sentence for killing UNIBEN student

    A police Corporal, Amadin Idahosa, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for killing a 22-year-old student of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Ibrahim Momodu.

    The late Momodu was shot dead in 2013 while returning home.

    The police allegedly paraded him as a commercial bus driver terrorising residents of Textile Mill Road and its environs.

    Another police statement to the family said the late Momodu was caught on a robbery scene and killed in a shootout, while a third version said he snatched a bag and ran into some policemen on patrol, who shot him.

    After series of protests by civil society organisations, his body was exhumed and a post-mortem revealed that Momodu was shot on the back.

    The police Corporal was arraigned on one count of murder; he pleaded not guilty to the charge.

    The State Prosecutor from the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP), M. O. Omozeghian, told the court that the offence was punishable under Section 319 of the Criminal Code Cap. 48, Vol. II, Laws of the defunct Bendel State of Nigeria, as applicable in Edo State.

    Justice R. Irele-Ifijeh sentenced the accused to life imprisonment after dismissing the allegation of murder due to the inability of the prosecution to prove its case.

    But Counsel to Idahosa, Mr. Olayiwola Afolabi, said his client would appeal the judgment because he was a first offender who did not deserve to bear the full weight of the law.

  • Tragic death of policeman hours to promotion

    Tragic death of policeman hours to promotion

    His family was eagerly waiting to usher in the New Year because of the good tiding it will bring for its breadwinner. His promotion to inspector was to take effect January 1. But three hours to the New Year, Sergeant sunday Clement, 41, was knocked down by a commercial motorcyclist and he died, BISI OLADELE reports.

    All had been set for the New Year celebration. Members of Sergeant Sunday Clement’s family were in high spirits for the double joy which January 1, had in stock for them. It was to be the witness of a New Year and the day the promotion of his bread winner to inspector would have taken effect. But it was not to be.

    The late Clement, 41, was a Sergeant with the Highway Patrol in Akinyele Police Division, Ibadan the Oyo State capital. He was one of the drivers in the unit.

    His team went on duty on Ijaye/Iseyin Road on the eve of the New Year to wrap up the year when a commercial motorcyclist allegedly knocked him down while he was crossing the road. Within one-and-a-half hours of the accident, Sunday died, terminating the double joy awaiting him and his household last January 1.

    His widow, Bola, in an emotional recall of how her heartthrob died on New Year’s eve, said she was at the middle of a church service to usher in the New Year when her phone rang repeatedly. The repeated calls forced her to excuse herself from the church to return the call to her husband’s telephone line that had been calling.

    But she was greeted by a strange voice that declared: “This is not your husband. I am his boss. Your husband had an accident a while ago and we have rushed him to a private hospital in Akinyele. Please come over here.”

    She continued: “After receiving the call, I didn’t know what to do. I invited one of my friends in the church to accompany me to the hospital. On getting to the hospital, the doctor told me that he had internal bleeding; having fallen on his occiput. The injury on the occiput was deep but the doctor plastered it after applying treatment. He advised us to take him to the University College Hospital (UCH).

    “When we got to UCH, they admitted him immediately. The doctors told me that he needed oxygen. Hence, they asked me to go and look for a large amount of money. Then, I came home reluctantly, thinking of the sad incident and where to get such huge amount of money.

    “I arrived at home at 1:00 a.m. When I called again, they told me he was responding to treatment.”

    But at noon of January 1, Mrs Sunday said her pastor, accompanied by some others, visited her to break the sad news that her husband was dead. They revealed that he actually died before the break of the New Year.

    According to her, his colleagues explained to her that her husband initially declined to join them for the duty that evening but later changed his mind to perform the last duty in 2015.

    On arriving at the spot where the team operated, they recalled that Mr Sunday led the prayer for the entire team and their operation that night.

    “A few minutes later, he crossed the road to the other side to urinate when an oncoming commercial motorcyclist (popularly called okada), knocked him down. It was between 8:00 and 8:00 p.m.” she said.

    She revealed that the motorcyclist was a 17-year-old who could not offer anything. He has since been detained.

    On what the Oyo State Police Command was doing on the matter, Mrs Sunday said the command had been taking all necessary steps to give him a befitting burial and process his benefits for dying in the course of discharging his duties.

    Mrs Sunday described her husband of 13 years as a father to her, their children and his siblings.

    “I can’t forget him. He took our welfare (our children and I) very seriously. He was a father, mother-everything to me. I will miss his immense understanding, patience and care. He showed understanding very well,” she said.

    Also recalling his brother’s death, Sunday’s younger brother, Mr Godwin Namba-Clement, said it still seems like a dream.

    According to him, a friend called him on telephone from Ibadan on January 1 to inform him of his elder brother’s death which he dismissed because it sounded impossible for death to come so suddenly that way. Godwin lives with their parents in their home town, Kachia, Kaduna State.

    He said: “On New Year day, after returning from church, a friend called me from Ibadan and told me Sunday was dead. I thought it was a joke. Then, I called my brother’s wife and she confirmed it. I had to travel to Ibadan immediately. His colleagues took me to the scene of the incident. It is still unbelievable.”

    Sunday completed his promotion course in September, last year after which he was elevated to the higher rank of Police Inspector. The promotion took effect on January 1, 2016.

    Sunday is survived by wife and three children.

  • Policeman, robber killed in Bayelsa gun battle

    An unidentified policeman attached to the Department of Operations of the Bayelsa State Police Command has been shot dead by suspected robbers at Agudama, Yenagoa Local Government Area.

    Also, a member of the gang and a resident of Agudama, Victor Abule, died in the robbery.

    It was learnt that the incident happened at 11 pm on Saturday when a five-man robbery gang stormed the home of Evelyn Patrick at Agudama.

    The bandits were said to have shot dead Abule, who was Patrick’s neighbour, for allegedly spying on them.

    The deceased police officer was said to have confronted the robbers when they were escaping with their loot.

    This reportedly led to an exchange of gunfire between the hoodlums and the policeman.

    While the policeman shot dead one of the suspected robbers, he had a bullet wound that later caused his death at an undisclosed hospital.

    It was gathered that the bodies of the victims had been deposited at the morgue of the Federal Medical Centre in Yenagoa, the state capital.

    Police spokesman Asinim Butswat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), confirmed the robbery incident and the three casualties.

    Butswat said: “On January 1, at 2200 hour (10 pm), a five-man robbery gang, robbed Evelyn Patrick at Agudama in Yenagoa and shot dead Victor Abule, 23.

    “Consequently, as they were escaping, a police officer confronted the armed men and shot dead one of them. The officer sustained gunshots injuries. He was rushed to the hospital where he eventually died.”

    The spokesman said the command had begun a manhunt for the fleeing suspects while investigation had begun into the incident.

    Also, a 27-year-old man in Yenagoa, Nwani Nnamdi, has died in a boat mishap.

    Nnamdi reportedly died after the canoe conveying him and another person capsized at the Down Yenagoa Creek.

    The passenger died before he could get help.

    The condition of another passenger travelling alongside Nnmadi could not be verified last night.

    The canoe was said to have sunk after it was hit by the waves from a passenger speedboat which drove past as it was crossing to another side of the creek.

    Butswat, who confirmed the incident, said the deceased, whose body had been deposited at the morgue of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Yenagoa, hailed from Ebonyi State and was 27.

  • Policeman dies inside car

    Policeman dies inside car

    A Corporal Agi Elias, was yesterday morning found dead inside his car at the Police College in Ikeja, Lagos.

    The body of the Corporal, who completed a two-month promotion course on Monday, was found around 7:30am.

    His Volkswagen Passat car marked 489AY, was said to have been parked at the Highway Barracks gate.

    The command spokesman, Joseph Offor, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said the case had been referred to the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) at Panti, Yaba.

    Offor said tablets and some poisonous substances were found beside the body.

    The Corporal, he said, was attached to the Safer Highways Patrol before he went for his promotion course.

    “Until his death, he was attached to Safer Highway Patrol Lagos but on Corporal to Sergeant promotion course in Police Training School (PTS), Ikeja.

    “The aforesaid course came to an end on November 9. Preliminary investigations carried out so far revealed that tablets and some poisonous substances littered around his corpse while still inside his car.

    “His body has been recovered and deposited at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) mortuary, while the investigation of the case has been taking over by the homicide section of SCID Yaba with a view to ascertaining the cause of death.”

     

  • Tension as policeman kills motorist in Lagos

    Tension as policeman kills motorist in Lagos

    There was pandemonium around Second Rainbow, Oshodi-Apapa Expressway on Friday after a trigger happy policeman gunned a commercial driver.

    The incident which occurred at about 8am was said to have been caused by the refusal of the bus driver to give the policeman “their usual bribe.”

    This is happening barely one month after a police Corporal shot at a tricyclist and killed his wife at Ijegun for refusing to part with N100 bribe.

    It was gathered that the unidentified policeman, attached to Orile Police Station, had wanted to shoot the tyre of the bus but unfortunately, killed the driver

    An eyewitness who refused to be named told The Nation that the bullet hit the driver on his chest, killing him instantly.

    He stated that the policemen came out from the police station opposite an eatery, by Second Rainbow and were demanding money from the commercial bus drivers.

    “It happened before 8am. The policemen came from the station opposite Tank and Tommy and were demanding their usual bribe.

    “The bus drivers were refusing to give them and they were threatening the drivers. I was in another bus but before we knew what was happening, one of the policemen fired his gun.

    “I think he wanted to shoot the driver’s tyre but the bullet hit the man on his chest and his blood covered the entire road.

    “This made the bus drivers angry and their colleagues from Oshodi were told. The whole place became crowded with protesting bus drivers, while the policemen that did it ran into the station.

    “Later, I saw policemen from other stations, I don’t know where they came from but I think they were called as reinforcement.

    “They started shooting guns anyhow and that was how I ran from the place to avoid being a victim of stray bullet,” he said.

    Other commuters who witnessed the sporadic gunshots took to social media to warn potential road users to keep off the route.

    As at the time of filing this report, calm has been restored in the area, with the motorists going about their usual routine.

  • Policeman defiles 3yr-old girl

    A police corporal, Samuel Okere serving at Ugbodo Division in Ebonyi local government area of Ebonyi State has been arrested by the state Juvenile Welfare Centre (JWC) for allegedly defiling a three-year-old girl.

    Okere was said to have committed the act in Ugbodo at the victim’s father’s house when she returned from school.

    The victim’s parents had gone for their teaching jobs when the police officer allegedly committed the act.

    When the parents returned from work, the little girl started complaining of pains in her private part as she could not walk properly.

    When the father, Emmanuel Iyiekuna asked the girl what happened to her, she told him that the policeman inserted something inside her.

    Iyiekuna subsequently went to Okere’s house and he(Okere) allegedly admitted committing the crime but said he only used finger on the girl and did not insert his manhood.

    He appealed to Iyiekuna not to disclose the matter to anyone and reportedly offered N50, 000 to take care of the victim which was rejected.

    Iyiekuna later took his child to a nearby clinic where after examining the girl, a nurse told him that the girl’s hymen has been broken.

    The case of defilement was reported to the state family law centre, a special court in charge of treating such cases and other issues.

    At the court, the suspect denied having carnal knowledge of the girl.

    The Chairman of the court, Mrs. Elizabeth Nwali petitioned the state Commissioner of Police, CP Peace Ibekwe over the matter, calling for her intervention and investigation.

  • Policeman dies as robbers steal millions in Akwa Ibom bank raid

    A police Sergeant died yesterday when 18 gunmen suspected to be robbers raided a branch of a major old generation bank on the Ibekwe Road, Ikot Abasi Urban in Akwa Ibom State.

    A police rescue vehicle somersaulted on the way, killing the policeman in the process.

    Other policemen were injured.

    The robbers were said to have stormed the bank at 11:45am and stole an undisclosed amount of money.

    Eyewitnesses said the robbers wore military camouflage and shot sporadically into the air to scare passersby and customers.

    The operation reportedly lasted an hour with the robbers said to be undisturbed.

    The robbers were said to have loaded money into a waiting vehicle outside the bank premises and sped off.

    An Indian expatriate working with the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP), Mr. Zubayer, and two other bank workers were reportedly abducted.

    But the police said they rescued them.

    Men of the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Jubilee in Ikot Abasi were said to have engaged the robbers in a gun battle.

    But the hoodlums escaped through the Okopedi waterways.

    Police spokesperson Cordelia Nwawe, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), confirmed the incident to our correspondent.

    She said no arrest had been made, but a heavy police artillery had been deployed in the town to tackle the robbers.

    She said: “No arrest has been made. We lost a sergeant. He wasn’t shot. There was an accident with our police vehicle on the way to do the rescue operation. Three persons, who were kidnapped by the robbers, have been rescued by the police. One white man and two workers of the bank have been rescue by the police.

    “We lost the police sergeant because our vehicle somersaulted. Other injured police officers are in the hospital. Heavy artillery has been deployed in Ikot Abasi and the police are still combing the area to find the robbers.”

  • Policeman, two others killed in Port Harcourt robbery

    •Police: only one died

    A policeman and two others died yesterday in a robbery on the Olu Obasanjo Road in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

    The identity of the policeman could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report last night.

    But he was said to be a mobile policeman on a private escort.

    Eyewitnesses said the way the robbers operated indicated that they targeted the policeman “because they shot him dead before killing the driver and their principal”.

    They said the victims left a new generation bank on the traffic-prone Olu Obasanjo Road, unaware that they were being trailed by four robbers.

    The victims reportedly rode in a Toyota Tundra car and the robbers in a Toyota Camry car, taking advantage of the busy traffic.

    The hoodlums were said to have parked a few metres away from the Rivers Transport Company (RTC) and trekked towards their targets.

    It was learnt that the policemen nearby abandoned their duty posts and fled, after witnessing the way the occupants of the Tundra jeep were shot.

    A resident, who spoke in confidence, said: “They (robbers) parked at the back because of traffic. They trekked to where the Tundra car was parked and attacked its occupants. They killed the main man, the policeman and the driver instantly. Then, they took away an undisclosed amount of money the people withdrew from the car and drove away immediately, because the traffic had cleared.”

    It was learnt that after the incident, the police took away their dead colleague and the body of the car owner.

    They were said to have returned later to remove the dead driver from the road.

    Police spokesman Ahmad Muhammad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said he was aware that only one policeman, Sergeant William Relomer, was killed in the incident, not with two other persons.

     

  • Robbers kill policeman, LG official, driver in Rivers

    A riot policeman on escort duty, Sergeant William Relomer, an official of Oyigbo Local Government Council of Rivers State; and a driver were on Tuesday afternoon gunned down by armed robbers in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
    The bandits also escaped with a huge sum of money belonging to Oyigbo LG council, earlier withdrawn from a new generation bank , along ever-busy Olu-Obasanjo Road, Port Harcourt and the policeman’s rifle.
    The robbery took place around 12 noon along the Olu-Obasanjo Road, which divides the highbrow new Government Reservation Area (GRA) and D-Line, with many commercial banks, corporate organisations, hotels and other business outfits.
    Witnesses revealed that the four bandits trailed the three occupants of a Toyota Thundra car, after withdrawing the money from the new generation bank and they had not gone far, when the armed robbers opened fire, killing all of them on the spot.
    It was also disclosed that the armed robbers drove in a Toyota Camry car, but in view of the heavy traffic on Olu Obasanjo Road, they parked close to the Rivers Transport Company (RTC) loading point near Waterlines Bus Stop, off Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway and trekked towards the victims’ car, not far from the bank, where the transaction took place.
    It was learnt that the bandits targeted the fully-armed riot policeman, who they felt might want to repel the attack, but he was caught unawares, as bullets were first rained on him.
    It was also gathered that with Olu Obasanjo Road adjoining roads and streets deserted, the armed robbers quickly escaped, while still shooting sporadically, since the spot is not far from the Olu Obasanjo Divisional Police Headquarters, along the same road, where the bandits operated unchallenged.
    With the escape of the bandits, policemen later came and picked the three bodies.
    It was learnt that the bodies of the policeman and the local government official were first moved away, while the security personnel later returned to the horrific scene and picked the body of the driver, that was fully soaked with blood.
    Rivers police Spokesman, Muhammad Ahmad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), who confirmed the robbery, said: “I am aware of the incident, but only Sergeant William Relomer, who happened to be in an escort vehicle, lost his life.”

    In the last four months, Rivers state had been under siege of armed robbers, kidnappers, cultists, sea pirates and pipeline vandals, but Governor Nyesom Wike kept assuring residents of the security of their lives and property.

  • Concerns for baby whose dad was killed by policeman in Port Harcourt

    Concerns for baby whose dad was killed by policeman in Port Harcourt

    He was not born when his father was killed by a policeman in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, for allegedly not giving a N100 bribe. His mother was delivered of him two months after the sad incident. After his birth, he was named ThankGod David Legbara. His father was David Legbara. He was a commercial bus driver in Port Harcourt. He was murdered on August 7 by a policeman attached to Kala Station for refusing to give bribe.

    His father’s death automatically made him fatherless. Now there are concerns about what tomorrow holds for him. His mother, Gift Legbara, can barely afford to feed him well.

    Legbara’s death created a scene that almost truncated business activities in Port Harcourt. There were protests for three days protest by angry commercial drivers under the aegis Rivers State Association of Road Transport Workers. Some of the protesters went nude demanding compensation to the family of the deceased and scholarship for the then unborn baby.

    The then Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Chris Ezike, in a statement, confirmed that a police officer on stop-and-search duty shot the victim. He also assured the protesters that the police would ensure the safety of the widow and contribute to the welfare of the baby, who was born a fortnight ago.

    Mrs. Legbara and his baby are now at their home in Mgboushimini community in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area. She was lucky to have a safe delivery because the maternity where she delivered had no facility to handle emergency situation.

    When Niger Delta Report visited the family, it was evident they need help. Their living condition is nothing to write home about. The area they live is a swamp waterfront settlement; their house is made up of wood and red mud.

    Narrating what she went through as a pregnant woman when the sad news was broken to her, Mrs. Legbara said it would have been a double tragedy.

    “I almost gave up the ghost. I thought it was a dream, later it looked as if I was in a different world where nothing existed. But I thank God that I didn’t die with the pregnancy.  When my husband  died, I was in the market. I felt cold in my whole body, I felt like eating but I couldn’t, I was restless. I was feeling cold seriously. One of my customers came to the shop to patronise my goods, but because of the cold I could not attend to her. She asked if I was okay, I told her I didn’t know what was wrong with me. After that, someone called me and told me that they shot my husband. I told her to be serious that it was not a joking matter; she still repeated it that they shot my husband but refused to tell me where the shooting took place.”

    She continued: “That day I felt like dying. I said ‘God, where will I start from? I don’t have anybody. He was the only hope I had, he was the breadwinner of his family.  I told the people who informed me about my husband’s death to allow me go with them to see him but they refused due to my condition. The onlookers started blaming the woman who informed me of my husband’s death.  In spite of our poor condition, we were very happy as husband and wife. The police murdered my husband at the time that things were about to get better. As a commercial driver, he drove another man’s vehicle and rendered account daily. But later he got a vehicle to drive on hire purchase and he had completed the terms of agreement, meaning that the bus now belonged to him before he was killed.”

    Mrs. Lagbara wants the police to assist train her baby to the university level. She noted that her late husband planned to ensure that his children got good education.

    “The police officer who killed my husband did not allow him to have more children with me. This is my first issue after our marriage. To be frank, I need help from the government. I don’t have anybody who will help me. I want them to train the child from nursery school up to university level.”

    Mr. Gobari Deebom, a lawyer, said: “We have not relented since the day of the occurrence of this incident even till now, because our interest is how to sustain the interest of the family; especially the wife and the new born baby. Our plan is how to give him a befitting education from nursery to university and for the baby to be an independent person in life.

    “We have written to the Inspector General of Police. The time frame we gave to them has elapsed, not even a call from any of them, despite that we are not relenting. We have also written letters to the governor of Rivers State pleading with him to assuage the pain of the wife, the new born baby and the aged mother at home on sympathetic ground; we are hoping that our governor as a liberal man will assist the family. Though they have not called but we still hope in God that things will work out fine.”

    For now, all eyes are on the police to fulfil the promise of helping train the baby. Many are also waiting to see what will become of the killer cop. Justice, observers insist, must be done.