By Awaal Gata
When the 22nd commissioner of police of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Wilson Inalegwu, assumed office a few months ago, he assured residents of the territory of his preparedness to clear the city of all criminal elements.
About a fortnight after he took office, while briefing newsmen, Inalegwu said: “In the last two weeks, the command demonstrated capacity and capability in handling serious public order incidents as exemplified in our prompt response to disturbances in Dei-Dei commercial cyclists (Okada riders) and timber marketers and the Jabi forest scavengers/mechanics crises.
“Also, our capacity to engender public support, through timely response to critical incidents, is demonstrated in the number of successes recorded within this short period.
“We are sustaining the raid of hideouts in the FCT so that residents of the territory can go about with their lawful activities without any fear of being molested by hoodlums. These efforts will be sustained and we want residents to be security-conscious and report all suspicious movements to the police authorities. The police force in the FCT is prepared to partner all law abiding citizens.”
However, on December 30, 2014, in what could be described as his score card since he assumed office, the commissioner said: “When I came on board, I assured the residents of the FCT of our preparedness to get the city clear of all forms of criminal elements.
“So far, our renewed efforts have yielded tremendous result as shown in most of our recent achievements.
“As the saying goes, ‘Reward for hard work is more work,’ the achievements we have recorded so far have ignited the personnel of the FCT Police Command into more work, which results we are here to showcase.”
Some of the remarkable achievements included the arrest of six armed robbery suspects (‘One Chance’ robbers), eight car/motorcycle snatchers; recovery of three firearms and 17 vehicles within December, of which 14 vehicles have been released to their rightful owners; and the arrest of 24 suspects on other offences.
On the fight against cattle rustlers, Inalegwu said that the command has intercepted and recovered over 203 heads of cattle from rustlers who operate from neighbouring states like Nasarawa, Niger and Kogi, and there is an ongoing collaboration with traditional chiefs, village heads and neighbouring states to ensure “we put the menace of cattle rustling to an end. Our patrol teams have been very active as they have foiled most of their operations.”
He further explained that: “On December 29, 2014, Iddo Police Division, Abuja, arrested an armed robbery suspect, Omika Abdullahi, of Gwagwa village, Abuja, who, among other armed robbers at large, robbed Giwa Henry of Kangiwa Zazzau Street, Jedo Estate, Airport Road, Abuja, of his valuables on the December 24.
“The suspect confessed to the crime and investigation is ongoing to track down his gang. Exhibits recovered are one locally made pistol with one round of live ammunition and one iron cutter.
“On December 28, at about 6pm, acting on a tip-off, one David Richard Lar, an armed robber who escaped from Port Harcourt Prison in Rivers State, was hibernating at Jikwoyi, Abuja.
“Detectives from the division swung into action and arrested the said David. He confessed that he and five others were on their way to Abuja with a stolen Toyota Tundra, but got involved in an accident at Abaji on December 26.
“On December 21, one Chibozor Umezoroike of Yimi village, Zuba, was arrested at Niger boundary by Zuba Division patrol team in possession of a double-barrel pistol, one live cartridge and one Samsung Galaxy phone.
“The other suspect, his partner in crime, escaped in the course of intercepting them. The hoodlums are strongly suspected of preparing for a robbery attack.
“On December 23, Musa Babaji and Salisu Mustapha were arrested for robbing a passerby along a lonely road at Dagwana village, Jikwoyi. A motorcycle allegedly stolen from a passerby was recovered from them.”
In addition, on December 24, 2014, at about 1730hrs, one Peter Blessing of Sahama Plaza, Phase IV, Kubwa, Abuja, reported at Kubwa Police Division that, on the same date, at about 1700hrs, while in her mother’s shop at the above mentioned address, one Victor Chibuike of Pipeline entered the shop on the pretence that he wanted to buy some items from the shop, having discussed with the girl for a while, he forcefully pushed her down on the floor and pointed a toy gun at her head and ordered her to surrender all the money realised from the day’s sale.
It was in the process that the complainant raised the alarm and he was arrested at the scene. Exhibits recovered included one plastic toy gun and wallet containing two ATM cards.
Also, on December 26, at about 0530hrs, Clement Marcus, Dan Abu Mohammed, Tijani Musa, Shagari Ibrahim, Usama Umaru, Umar Abubakar, Usman Mohammed, Abdullahi Haruna and Sadiq Idris were arrested by SARS patrol team at Mabushi flyover while they were under the bridge to attack innocent passersby or whoever parks his car due to mechanical fault. The robbers confessed in writing that they always snatched phones, handbags and money from passersby.
The suspects have no fixed place of abode. Recovered from one of them was a Samsung Galaxy, suspected to be stolen.
On the gains made in the arrest of car snatchers, Inalegwu said that on December 20, at about 2100hrs, two men, Ejeh Peter and Ndifereke Udoh, who snatched a Toyota Camry from one Daniel Okolo of Area 11, Garki, Abuja, on September 5, 2014 along Nyanya/Keffi road were arrested at New Karu, Nasarawa State.
The arrest of the suspects was facilitated when they demanded that the owner of the stolen car should pay N30,000 into an account belonging to the second suspect, Peter. Having paid the money, the address of the suspect in his account profile was used to track and arrest him and the first suspect. Efforts are still on to recover the car.
On December 27, the Operations Patrol arrested one Sunday Johnson of Dei-Dei, along FCT/Niger State boundary, for stealing a Blue Toyota Camry car from Kubwa and recovered the vehicle with reg. no. ABJ 333 NE , property of one Adewale Adenikpekun of 5, Pipeline Road, Bazango, Kubwa, Abuja. The suspect will soon be arraigned in court accordingly.
Explaining the matter of a culpable homicide, the commissioner said on December 25, 2014, at about 1930hrs, one Emmanuel Omale of Liberty Junction, Byazhin, reported at Kubwa Police Division that on the same day, at about 1900hrs, Ameh Joseph, Patrick Abutu and John Ameh, while celebrating Christmas in a bar at Gado Nasko road, got into an argument with John Akor of the Federal Fire Service Abuja, aged 50 years old, and Akorgwu Noah of the National Hospital Abuja, aged 51 years.
In the course of the argument, Noah used a broken bottle to stab Akor in the neck region, the victim was immediately rushed to General Hospital, Kubwa, where he was confirmed dead. The suspect will soon be arraigned in court for culpable homicide.
The cases of One Chance robbery suspects were not left out and Inalegwu noted that on December 29, at about 1340hrs, Garki police patrol team arrested one Ernest Emele and Sunday Victor by Sahad Stores, along Ahmadu Bello Way, after they had picked up a female passenger in their vehicle and in the process of robbing her, she shouted for help, attracting the attention of the policemen who pursued and arrested the suspects. They confessed to the crime and will be arraigned in court soon.
The command under the leadership of Inalegwu also recovered stolen vehicles and over 2,000 fabricated car master keys
On December 26, 2014, at about 1400hrs, anti-car theft operatives, acting on a petition, arrested Ocheoga Adai, Nathan Hope, Isa Garba, Afam Ezechi, and Chibuzor Adubusin at Gwagwalada, Gwarimpa, Apo and Garki, respectively, for conspiracy, aiding, fabrication of keys and car theft. The following exhibits were recovered: Toyota Highlander; four key cutting machines; some stolen law books; key monitor, and fabricated keys. The suspects have since been arraigned in court and remanded in Keffi Prison.
Furthermore, on December 17, at about 1400hrs, one Stella Chimeze, Abdulazeez Abdulrasheed, Okafor Okwudili, Moses Joseph and Peter Akoo were arrested at Wuse for conspiring to steal four Techno phones and seven phone screens valued N500,000, property of Techno Nigeria Limited.
The female suspect, Stella Chimeze is a dismissed staff of the Techno Nigeria Limited. They will be arraigned in court as soon as investigation is completed.
During the period, other suspects were arrested for housebreaking. On December 22, at about 1900hrs, the police from Asokoro Division arrested Ahmadu Haruna, Michina Torhide Solomon, Aramoseye Kolawole, Odoh Chukwu Emeka and Okeke Emeka Tochukwu for breaking into an office, forcing open the safe and stealing cash of N4,789,647. Ahmadu Haruna and Michina Torhide Solomon were security men attached to the company.
The FCT Police Command made another breakthrough on the eve of Christmas, following the arrest of one Bola Adesina, 31, at a motor park in Utako, Abuja, for kidnapping a five-year-old boy from Sagamu, Ogun State, en-route to Kaduna for delivery to a waiting customer, possibly for ritual purposes.
The suspect will be arraigned in court as soon as the courts resume sitting. Meanwhile, the child has been re-united with his parents.
The police commissioner, while urging the residents to eschew violence before, during and after the forthcoming elections, however, advised them to remain vigilant, continue to have faith in the police, and vehicle owners should avoid parking at isolated places when making calls as they might be followed by criminal elements; any time they park in a public place either to shop or do other business, at intervals, they should come out to check on their vehicles.
He also said that necessary measures would be put in place for violence-free elections in the territory.
