The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Snatching

  • Police to prosecute 18 for ballot box snatching, violence in Oyo

    THE Oyo State Police Command said yesterday that over 18 suspects have been arrested for various electoral offences during the Saturday’s governorship/state House of Assembly elections.

    It said the 18 suspects would face criminal prosecution after conclusion of investigation.

    Their offences ranged from ballot box snatching, violence and other related electoral fraud committed in different parts of the state during the Saturday’s polls.

    Commissioner of Police Mr. Shina Olukolu, who spoke through the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Olugbenga Fadeyi, a Superintendent of Police (SP), explained that the suspects, who were being held at the

    State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), were arrested at various polling units during the polls.

    Read also: Dad remanded for alleged sexual abuse of daughter

    He said the names of suspects were still being withheld by the police in order not to tamper with the ongoing investigation.

    According to the police chief, seven guns, 30 live cartridges and some other miscellaneous items were recovered from the suspects.

    He added that the suspects, who are being held at the SCIID, would soon be transferred to Abuja for further investigation in line with the directives from the Inspector General of Police (IG) before prosecution.

  • Police parade 40 for car snatching, robbery

    The FCT Police Command yesterday paraded 40 suspects for alleged involvement in car-snatching, robbery, phone-snatching and other crimes.

    Items recovered from them include 38 pump actions, 13 dane guns, one fabricated revolver pump action, 25 fabricated modified pump actions, one double barrel and 222 cartridges.

    Others are 11 vehicles, three cutlasses, eight fabricated locally-made pistols, nine ammunition, nine TV sets, one desktop computer, three knives and one toy gun.

    One of the suspects, Mohammed Tchado, who works at Apo Mechanic Village in Abuja as a car washer, was arrested for selling one of the cars he was supposed to wash.

    The police said he sold his customer’s car for N450,000 and used the money to marry in Niger State.

    Speaking yesterday in Abuja at a news briefing, the FCT Commissioner of Police, Sadiq Bello, said: “Mohammed Tchado was arrested at Bafarawa village in Niger State where he was hiding after he sold a Toyota Camry 2000 model given to him for washing.

    “He escaped with it, sold it for N400,000 and used the money to marry a wife. The stolen car has been recovered.”

    Tchado, 29, blamed the devil for his action.

    He said: “I live in Niger State and I used to be a driver, but I later became a car washer. I was managing at a car wash spot in Apo Resettlement.

    “One day, I carried the car they gave me to wash away and sold it because I was preparing for my wedding. I sold it for N420, 000 and I used the money to marry.

    “I have never stolen in my life. This is my first time and it is the devil’s work.

    “They did not force me to marry my wife and they did not put me under pressure, but I know it is the devil that caused it. It was the money I made from the sale of the car that I used to marry.

    “My wife is in the village with my sisters. We married about a year ago and I spent over N300,000 for the wedding.”

    Other suspects paraded are Munir Abdullahi, Hayatu Ya’u, Muhammed Isah, Abba Bashir and Salisu Muhammed.

    Briefing reporters on their operation, the CP said they specialised in breaking into houses.

    He said: “The command also arrested members of a housebreaking syndicate that broke into Redeemed Christian Church of God at Mabushi on February 28. They stole five plasma TV sets, two cameras and wall fans.

    “Investigation led to the arrest of the three suspects and one receiver. Exhibits recovered from the receivers are nine flat screen TV sets and one desktop computer.”

    On his involvement in the alleged crime, Munir Abdullahi said: “On February 28, my friends and I went somewhere. While we were around a church, one of my friends told us to steal from the church.

    “We stole five plasma TV sets, two cameras and computers. We sold the items for N150,000.”

    The police said 78 guns and 222 cartridges have been recovered by the task force as part of efforts to mop up illegal firearms.

    The CP said the firearms were voluntarily surrendered to the command after robust media campaign and meetings with stakeholders.

    He said the command would begin a raid to mop up other illegal firearms still held by unauthorised persons.

    Bello said: “In view of the expiration of the period approved by the IGP for voluntary submission of the prohibited firearms, the command will start the mop up, which will include raids, cordon and search of premises, or buildings, or hideouts where these illegal arms are suspected to be kept.

    “Any individual or group of persons found in possession of any prohibited firearms henceforth will be arrested and prosecuted.”

  • Police arrest man, 64, two others for ‘car snatching’

    The Anambra State Police Command has arrested three suspected car snatchers, including a 64-year-old man.

    The command also recovered one suspected stolen Toyota Tacoma jeep, 25 bunches of keys, one master key, one Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) jacket, FRSC banner and two number plates.

    Parading the suspects yesterday at the police headquarters Amawbia, near Awka, police spokesperson Princess Nkeiruka Nwode gave the names of the suspects as: Monday Uche (64), Sunday Ofoekwe (42) and Joseph Chikezie (60).

    Nwode said the suspects conspired with Samuel Okowa and Johnson Okowa, who are on the run, and removed one Toyota Tacoma with registration number KGS 737 KS from where it was parked at St Michael’s Catholic Church at Amakioha in Owerri, the Imo State capital.

    The spokesperson said the police tracked down the suspects and arrested them at Nnobi town in Idemili South Local Government Area.

    She said the suspects, who have allegedly confessed to the crime, were assisting the police in their investigation.

    Nwode said the suspects would be handed over to the Imo State police command for prosecution.

    She added: “Finally, I want to call on the good people of Anambra State be security-conscious at all times and report any strange observation or suspicious movements to security agencies.”

     

  • Man arraigned for snatching N1.5m

    A 30-year-old man, Adedoyin Tadese, has appeared before a Magistrate’s Court in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, for allegedly snatching N1.5 million from Akeeb Abiodun.

    The suspect allegedly committed the offence in front of the Osogbo branch of Sterling Bank.

    According to the police prosecutor, Oladoye Joshua, the suspect allegedly snatched the money on July 5, 2013 but was later apprehended and handed over to the police.

    The prosecutor added that Tadese was asked to return the money but could only return N100,000.

    However, the suspect pleaded not guilty to the one count charge of stealing.

    Abiodun, who was also in court yesterday, begged the magistrate to assist him retrieve his money from the suspect instead of remanding him in prison. Magistrate Olusola Aluko assured Akeeb that the court would assist him to get his money.

    The judge later asked Tadese to state when and how he would repay the money.

    In response, he promised to pay N200,000 on April 8 as first installment and pay the balance gradually.

    The judge, therefore, adjourned the case till April 8 for further hearing.

  • Two held for ‘car snatching’

    Two held for ‘car snatching’

    Two persons have been arrested by operatives of the Special Anti -Robbery Squad (SARS), Lagos Police Command, for alleged car theft.

    They were arrested at Ojuelegba, Lagos Mainland, on August 18, following a tip-off.

    The suspects – Musbao Ayinde (25) and Isiaka Afolabi (28) – are from Offa in Kwara State.

    Ayinde, a technician resides at 2, Oko Oba Street, Ebute Meta, Lagos Mainland; Isiaka Afolabi (28), washes cars at Costain.

    Police sources said the suspects operated around Ifo in Ogun State for about three years, but were caught when they attempted to operate in Lagos.

    Two locally made guns were recovered from them.

    A source said penultimate Thursday, the suspects hit a victim with gun butt before snatching his car.

    “The man passed out and was dumped at a nearby bush where he was found and taken to hospital by passersby. It was at the hospital that he was revived”, the source said.

    The victim was said to have taken his case to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police when there was no swift response to his distress call by police in the area.

    The Decoy One led by the Officer in Charge of SARS, Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police (SP) swung into action and arrested the suspects with their guns.

    Ayinde told The Nation: “We are car snatchers. We used gun to intimidate our victims. We never intended to shoot them. We prefer to run away than to fire a victim.

    “I have only operated around Ifo in Ogun State twice. It was the operation on the Third Mainland Bridge that put us in this trouble. It was greed that made us come to Lagos State to rob and snatch vehicles despite the high risk involved.”

    “I was asked to come and collect money by the buyer of one of the cars we snatched not knowing that he was with the police. When I got there, I was arrested after collecting N150,000 from the buyer,” he said.

    Afolabi said: “I became a car snatcher because of my mother’s death and the bad poverty ravaging my family. My father is alive, but he could not solve the family’s financial problem.

    “It was Ayinde who asked me to follow him to go and collect money for a vehicle sold to one of our buyers. Whe we got there, policemen arrested us. I have operated only three times. In the first operation I got N35,000; the second, I got nothing and from the third,  I got N30,000. It was Ayinde’s arrest that led to mine.”

    Assistant Police Public Relations Officer, Lelma Kolle, an Assistant Superintendent (ASP), said the suspects were being interrogated as efforts were ongoing to arrest other armed robbery gangs connected to them. He said they would soon be charged to court.

  • Council rerun: Ballot box snatching, shooting mar poll

    Council rerun: Ballot box snatching, shooting mar poll

    The inconclusive councillorship election in Ighuoro Ward 9, Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo was marred by shooting and snatching of ballot boxes.

    Reporters were also beaten by suspected Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) thugs at Okonwo.

    The supporters of the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC) clashed and this scared voters away from the polling units.

    The Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) crew, Edo Broadcasting Service reporters and Ehis Igbaugba of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) were not so lucky, as the suspected PDP thugs attacked them, leaving two of the reporters injured.

    Security men were seen at the polling units visited at Abumere, Okonwo and Iguhoro, but there were no electoral officials, party agents and voters.

    The electorate, who reported earlier for accreditation, were chased away by suspected PDP thugs, who snatched electoral materials and took them to an unknown destination.

    An APC member, Mrs. Comfort Abudu, who spoke with reporters, alleged that PDP supporters were responsible for the shooting and snatching of electoral materials.

    However, PDP youths, led by Richard Okonufua, barricaded Ekiadolor/Okowo Road, protesting an alleged confiscation of electoral materials by the APC.

    The youth alleged that they barricaded the road to prevent APC members from coming out with the electoral materials after they must have thumb-printed them.

    Okonofua said: “You can see that it is almost 1pm and we are yet to see any of the electoral officials. The APC members have taken them with the electoral materials to a place where they will carry out their fraudulent practice.”

    The Commissioner for Oil and Gas, Mr. Orobosa Omo-Ojo, said it was regrettable that the PDP supporters were yet to key into the one-man-one vote philosophy of Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

    The representative of Ovia North East Constituency 1 in the House of Assembly, Mr. Sunday Osazemwinde, praised the efforts of security agencies during the poll.

    He said despite the plan to disrupt the election by the opposition party, it was successfully conducted.

  • How robber killed police officer for ‘snatching’ his wife

    Facts have emerged on how an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Mr. John Orubabe, formerly attached to the anti-robbery section at Area ‘F’, Ikeja, Lagos, was killed by an armed robbery suspect for allegedly snatching his wife.

    Orubabe was killed in December 2012 with his daughter, who was a serving National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member.

    The slain police officer’s second wife, whom he allegedly snatched from the suspected robber, was said to have told the police, how the incident occurred.

    Police are now on a manhunt for the suspect and his gang.

    It was gathered that trouble started for the slain officer after he and his team arrested a suspected robber who was allegedly terrorising residents.

    Sources said the Area Commander at Area ‘F’, ordered him to charge the suspect to court, but he refused.

    While the suspect was in the cell, his wife was bringing food to him. At that time, the suspect and the late Orubabe had begun negotiating his bail.

    It was learnt that the late officer fell in love with the suspect’s wife and started making love advances to her. And when she told her husband, who was desperate for freedom, the latter told his wife to welcome the policeman’s advances.

    The late Orubabe, it was learnt, eventually married her and got an apartment for her. He was said to have released the suspect after taking N1.5million from him.

    A police source said: “On the fateful day he was killed, he went to his second wife’s place. In the middle of the night, he woke up and went to his first wife’s place. They were sleeping at night when their generating set went off. They were all surprised because the generator was filled with fuel before they went to bed. He had three children from his first wife.

    “The first child was a girl, who had graduated and was even then serving. It was the girl who went down to check on the generator. Immediately she reached there, she noticed three guns and attempted to run back into the house, shouting “armed robbers … armed robbers!” They shot her in the back.

    “The shout had already attracted ASP Orubabe, who rushed out with his service pistol. He shot into the darkness and watched, but there was nobody. There was silence. He didn’t know that the robbers were hiding. As soon as he stepped further out, they shot him repeatedly and left. The daughter died on the way to the hospital.”

    It was learnt that the police carried the corpse of the slain officer to his village, but his kinsmen took the corpse and insisted on burying him according to tradition, which demanded the participation of his two wives. Weeks after the burial, his second wife had a psychotic breakdown and soon started singing like a canary. She confessed it was her husband, the robber, who killed the late officer.

    She reportedly insisted that she was never happy with Orubabe, adding that the two children he had for him, were biological children of her robber husband.

    According to sources, she said that the plan was to kill the police officer at her apartment, but she suggested the home of the first wife to avoid suspicion.

  • Snatching hope  from the jaws of defeat

    Snatching hope  from the jaws of defeat

    The reelection of US President Barak Obama was the climax of a close fight between him and the defeated presidential candidate Mitt Romney of the opposing Republican Party. To  say that Obama  fought furiously for his political life in this battle he won will be an understatement.  To add that in terms of suspense and uncertainty, the election compares favorably with epoch, close,  contemporary electoral battles  in US history,  like that of Kennedy/Nixon in 1960 or that of Bush /Al Gore in 2000  will be stating the obvious.

    However,  it is in Obama’s acceptance speech that he reached to the stars to excel in matchless oratory to lift the spirit of his nation and country men and women at his moment of victory. In that speech Barack Obama atoned for a poor economic performance record, showed sincere gratitude to an electorate that had amply rewarded such performance with his reelection, and gave America a new vision of shared destiny, based as he said so eloquently, on love, duty and patriotism. Barak Obama in his reelection virtually snatched victory from the jaws of defeat after a disastrous first debate that gave grit and confidence to an hesitant  and fearful opponent who had come to battle initially with feet of clay. But the such is the stuff of history and  grand political drama.

    At  the end,  both the challenger and the victor at the re election of the 44th US president,  strengthened the concept of  popular democracy   as the ascendant democracy of our time and elections as the engine room of that ideology. Of  course I am talking of free and fair election and that was what the US president was referring to in his  inspiring speech when he said that in some climes,  people and nations still struggle over elections that Americans have come to take for granted. Mitt Romney on his part  conceded defeat graciously and thanked his wife who he said would have made an excellent   first lady.

    He lamented his lack of opportunity to lead as Americans have elected a different leader. Obama too was magnanimous in defeat and thanked his wife Michelle, his Vice President and  millions of his volunteer campaign workers, noting they made his victory happen. I  confess to being carried away by Obama’s acceptance speech,   especially his redefinition of hope in the light of his reelection,  as that stubborn human trait that makes you never to give up in the face of adversity  and daunting odds. At  that moment he paid homage to the twin virtues   of empathy and sharing, the very ‘secret‘ weapons that have ensured his reelection in a nation that has never rewarded poor economic  record by any president with success at  elections.

    In practical terms too Obama  ‘reset‘ his relations with the American people domestically over the stubborn economy and its travails for them even though ‘reset ‘and  ‘engagement‘ are terms he had used to map out the direction of the US foreign policy at his first coming in 2008.

    In  diplomacy and international relations the world can heave a sigh of relief . Britain and Russia were the first to react. British PM David Cameron said he looked forward to continuing his talk on global trade with his friend Barak Obama,  while Russian strong man and President Vladmir Putin  expressed his happiness at Obama’s reelection. Obviously Mitt Romney had jagged a few powerful nerves globally on his utterances on  Israel, Iran, China and other world issues. Initially,  I  had thought that a diplomatic challenge  or  foreign matter – like Israel attacking Iran and forcing the US to support Israel – will be the undoing of Obama’s reelection effort. Fortunately,  that did not happen but a more dangerous natural disaster Super  Storm Sandy threw spanner in the works at  the home front in New York and New  Jersey.

    Ironically however the wild  Hurricane   Sandy did a lot to bring out the best  in the incumbent US   president, to the joy and happiness of his party supporters  and to the chagrin and vexation of Romney and his team,  who could only wring their hands helplessly as the US president acted like the real angel of mercy elected by the American people to look after them in any crises, natural  and man made. Brilliant and bipartisan management of Hurricane Sandy reminded Americans that they have a compassionate and committed leader that can salvage them in any crises – including the  much advertised economic one, hence their reelection of Barak Obama on November 6.

    It  is in the light  of Obama’s redefinition of hope that I  look at events this week in Mali  and  Nigeria. In  Mali  the Islamist group Ansar Dine  that has destroyed Islamic Shrines in Timbuctoo and which is in control of Northern Mali  has agreed to allow aid agencies to bring relief materials and to negotiate as ECOWAS mass  a 3000 man strong military contingent to drive out  the invaders. In  Nigeria there is some relief as the party of General Buhari deny that he knew of any plan to make him a negotiator nominated by Boko Haram, the terrorist group bombing churches on a weekly  basis in Nigeria. In Nigeria too the Anglican Communion held a conference called Divinity Commonwealth Conference  -DIVCOOMM-in Abuja in which it asked its members to confront the dangers facing it from within and without especially the bombing of Churches in the Northern part of the nation.

    In  Mali, Burkina Fasso‘s President Blaise Compraore is the ECOWAS leader in charge of the regional negotiation  with the northern invaders. Compraore has experience in such matters having helped ECOWAS in nipping in the  bud an earlier military coup in Guinea Conakry by seizing the coup leader on his way home after medical treatment in Morocco  and marooning him in Ouagadougou the capital of Burkina  Fasso  while elections were being held in Guinea Conakry. The Ansar Dine have taken over northern Mali from the Tuaregs who defeated the Malian army sent to contain them, leading to a military coup on the ground that the civilian regime in Mali then, had not given sufficient ammunition to the army to contain the rebellion. ECOWAS leaders however put down their feet that the era of coups was over in the region and since Mali was landlocked, starved the military of fuel whereby they agreed to  form a diarchy  of sorts while ECOWAS gave a Coordinator’s role to the Nigerian Head of State President Goodluck Jonathan to get a force to rescue Mali from the Ansar Dine occupying the north.

    The fact that Ansar Dine is ready to negotiate gives sign that the crisis may not be protracted as it is known that some militant groups have promised to launch a jihad from the Sahel on ECOWAS nations once the Islamists in Mali are attacked or dislodged from that nation  by the ECOWAS force. This  is to be taken seriously in the light of information gathered that Boko Haram  group has connection and  are being trained  by the invaders of Mali.

    Similarly  the Anglican Church seem to have taken a stand on defending it devotees who have been subjected to the terror of Boko Haram which says it does not recognize western education and wants Christians to leave the north. At  a welcome address to Anglican faithful attending the second Divcom  Conference in Abuja  the Anglican Primate  Nicholas  Okoh  lamented the bombing of Churches as wicked. The theme  of the conference is ‘Contending for the faith‘ and according to the Primate  – ‘Contending for the faith handed   over to us is not a tea party. It takes sacrifice, denial, focus, even at the risk of taking one’s life‘. To me the Primate’s admonition is one of self- defence at a time when it has become fashionable for Boko Haram to bomb churches even during Holy Communion. The call   should also create  a sort of  adeterrence for Boko Haram to redress or abandon  its impunity of killing Christians at will without any punishment from any quarters. It reminds me of the principles of mutual deterrence or balance of terror during the Cold War when knowledge  of the arsenal of both the US  and then USSR ensured mutual peace and respect   and strengthened global peace. The theme of this year’s Divcomm is a step in the right direction for peace in the north from Boko Haram terrorism.

    Similarly the fact that General Muhammadu Buhari has been absolved by his party  the Congress  For Progressive Change -CPC – of collusion with the   Boko Haram,  inherent in his purported  nomination as a mediator  with the Federal Government  by Boko Haram  showed  that hope is not lost in containing terrorism in Nigeria especially in the North. The CPC  was up in arms in righteous indignation at the suggestion and put the blame and mischief  at the door step of the ruling PDP as being ever  ready to embarrass the CPC leader.  Reportedly,  the President of the nation,   Goodluck Jonathan  called the Boko Haram  a  barbaric organization for bombing churches and it is difficult to see the same government negotiating with a barbaric organisation. It  is my belief that to dine with the devil one must have a long spoon and in killing innocent people Boko Haram should be dealt with summarily in the interest of peace in Nigeria, and before so called global  Human Rights group,   who value the rights of terrorists more than the lives of their victims, turn Nigeria into another Somalia, right before our eyes.