Officer rejects N1.5m bribe
By Mike Osunde (Benin) and Sunday Odita (Lagos)
EIGHT policemen were killed in Benin City on Monday night when six men suspected to be robbers opened fire on two police patrol teams in separate incidences at the Edo State capital.
Three policemen were killed in Ugbowo Area while the other five were killed in Ikpoba Hill, some five kilometres apart.
The Edo police command suspects the same gang of six carried out the attacks.
Command spokesman, Fatai Kinyomi, told reporters yesterday that they might be reprisal attacks for the successes made by police in the past five weeks against criminals, especially armed robbers.
About eight suspected robbers were displayed last week as having been shot in gun battles with policemen.
According to Kinyomi, the patrol team at Ugbowo was led by its District Police Officer (DPO) and former Police spokesman, Akan Ezima.
Ezima and his team had stopped to buy drugs at about 8.00 p.m at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) gate when they were reportedly attacked.
The DPO, he said, was yet to deploy his men when gun-shots rang out and by the time it was over, three members of the patrol team were dead while the fourth died later in the hospital.
One Corporal in the team was also wounded but is now recuperating in the hospital, Kinyomi said.
The attack at Ikpoba Hill was similar, Kinyomi said. The patrol team vehicle was just being parked when it was attacked.
According to Kinyomi, the expended cartridges used in both attacks suggest that the guns used were AK 47 assault rifles.
He denied that the robbers carted away police arms and ammunition after the attacks, saying that the Ugbowo policemen fought back, forcing the robbers to abandon the vehicle in which they carried out the attack.
Kinyomi gave the number of the abandoned vehicle as Edo AQ272 USL.
The police spokesman said the command was working hard to get back at the robbers because, according to him, "the vengeance is too much and unpalatable a sacrifice for the Edo Police command to make at this period in time."
Among those killed were Inspectors, Sergeants and Constables, Kinyomi added.
Meanwhile, a clue into how armed robbers get supply of arms and ammunition was got yesterday in Lagos following the confessions of armed robbers arrested by the police.
According to a police source, the robbery gang who made the confession was led by one Taofeek Adeyemi with three others, including a soldier attached to 174 Battallion of the Nigerian Army in Odongunyan, Ikorodu.
The suspects were intercepted by men of the anti-robbery squad attached to Ogudu Divisional Police Headquarters along Ketu-Ikorodu Road.
During interrogation of the suspects, the source told The Guardian that the kingpin, Adeyemi, identified the Army private known as Victor Friday as the supplier of the arms and ammunition used for their robbery activities.
The suspect was also alleged to have confessed to various robbery operations along Ketu-Ikorodu axis of Lagos.
Meanwhile, police in Ogudu are still investigating the incident.
In what seems to signal an era of increased integrity in the police, the Area Commander, Ile-Ife Area Command, Mr. Ade T. Shinaba, reportedly rejected a bribe of N1.5 million offered him by one Ifeanyi Okoye to induce him to stall a case of criminal conspiracy and armed robbery involving six suspects and about 1,482 cartons of peak milk suspected to have been stolen.
Following a tip-off on Monday, August 9, the area commander deployed a team of detectives to Ikire in Irewole Local Council Area of Osun State where some unknown persons were said to have stocked suspected stolen items worth over N7 million inside a private warehouse.
The suspected owner of the stolen goods, 42-year-old Henry Ogwunta and five of his accomplices were subsequently arrested after a sustained surveillance activity.
According to a statement by Deputy Commissioner and Police Spokesman, Mr. Chris Olakpe, during police interrogation, "the suspects confessed that the goods in question were actually stolen. But soon after their confession, the relatives of Henry, the principal suspect, offered the area commander a whopping N1.5 million bribe aimed at inducing him to release the suspects, the suspected stolen goods and truncate prosecution. The Area Commander, however, rejected the bribe and ordered the immediate arrest of Ifeanyi through whom the offer was made."
Commenting on the matter, the Inspector-General (IG), Mr. Tafa Balogun, reiterated "the Force's resolve to stamp out corruption both within and outside the Force", and assured Nigerians that the era of (business as usual) is over. He disclosed that the Force is prepared more than ever before to eradicate crime and corruption in its totality from the nation's body polity."
Balogun commended members of the "public for their support and enjoined them to continue to furnish the police with timely and useful information," pointing out that "the Force could do little or nothing without information from members of the public."
He described the action of the police in Osun as a clear sign that the current police anti-corruption crusade, which is part of his eight-point crime control strategies, has gained ground.
Meanwhile, the gallant police officer involved in the case has been given IG's commendation while all suspects will appear in court as soon as investigation is completed.`
