6 Policemen Nabbed for Robbery, Attempted Murder and Extortion

…as 30 civilians are arrested for acts of jungle justice

In a classic case of law enforcement turning law breakers, no fewer than 6 policemen have been arrested in Lagos for offences which ranged from extortion to outright armed robbery, defilement and in one instance, attempted murder.

This was revealed to the public in Ikeja by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni.

On July 24, Sergeant Sylvanus Emoche allegedly tried to shoot a woman identified as Mrs Oluchi Okafor at Ajao Estate and fired wildly, damaging the woman’s SUV in the act. Mrs Okafor had resisted an attempt by Sergeant Emoche to remove another SUV belonging to her husband from their compound.

Mr Owoseni said Sergeant Emoche had been demobilised from the Police Mobile Force 20 and transferred to Kogi State Police Command. It is unclear however if his transfer is supposed to serve as punishment.

In another case, Sergeants Benjamin Onoh, Onyenedu Kennedy and Monday Ehijator were arrested for extortion. The rogue Sergeants allegedly went in plain cloths to Ikeja in a Toyata Camry car where they harassed one Adeshina Quwam Adekunle, accusing him of being a yahoo Boy.

“They collected N65,000 from the victim. They also used his ATM card to collect an additional N40,000 from an ATM machine,” Mr Owoseni said.

Three days later, the terrible trio were on rampage again, this time accosting one Ghenoba Godspower and accusing him of being a fraudster, which appears to be their modus-operandus.

“He (Godspower) was also searched, during which N30,000 was collected from him,” Mr Owoseni said.

The three Sergeants were given an orderly room trial and recommended for dismissal.

On the other end, 30 civilians who allegedly took part in the act of jungle justice along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, last week, were also paraded.

“We want to use this opportunity to warn that the police and other security agencies will not fold their arms and watch people carry out jungle justice on people who may be innocent,” Mr Owoseni said.

When some of the suspects were asked about their involvemment, they denied being part of any such act. Is this another instance of random arrests by the police or are the suspects just denying their involvement as most are wont to? Your guess is always as good as any.