69 Ex-SOLDIERS, POLICEMEN ARRESTED FOR ARMED ROBBERY, KIDNAPPING, OTHER CRIMES

No fewer than 169 security operatives were arrested for alleged involvement in various crimes in different parts of the country between 2019 and August this year, an investigation by Daily Trust reveals.

The suspects comprised of serving, retired, dismissed and deserter officers and men of the Nigerian Army, the Police and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

Findings revealed that while some of the ex-security personnel engaged in criminal activities out of greed, others became deviant because of frustration or unfair treatment by their superiors that forced them out of service.

An analysis of newspaper reports carried out shows that the security operatives were arrested for alleged involvement in armed robbery, arms deal, aiding of kidnappers and car theft. Other alleged crimes for which they were arrested are drug smuggling, extortion, rape and manslaughter.

They were arrested for the alleged crimes in 19 states, including the Federal Capital Territory. The states include Abia, Adamawa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Imo and Kaduna. Others are Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, and Yobe.

In October 2019, Newspapers were awash with reports of how the military and a renowned hunter, Ali Kwara (now late) arrested about 26 officials of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and six military officers for allegedly selling arms and ammunitions to kidnappers and bandits in Katsina and Zamfara states.

The late Ali Kwara had hinted that the breakthrough was made possible through a joint operation with the military that was set up by President Muhammadu Buhari to track bandits and kidnappers causing havoc around Katsina and Zamfara states, adding that the operation was a huge success.

He reportedly said that the deal between NSCDC and military officers involved in the selling of the arms and ammunition were exposed through a repentant armed robber who cried to him that he had seen some group of officers who were more heartless than himself.

“I then asked him if he can link me with the officers involved and he willingly agreed to link me up with one Fulani man who went into negotiations with the military and civil defence officers where we purchased N300, 000 ammunitions from the ring leader.

“The next day (morning), we purchased another N400, 000 worth of ammunitions and within the same week, we purchased another arms and ammunition worth N1.5m from him.

“On the fourth encounter, in collaboration with the military, we jointly arrested the gang leader who now exposed five civil defence officials and we arrested another 24 civil defence officers and six military officers outrightly,” Kwara was quoted as saying.

The Nigerian army had sacked three soldiers in September 2019 for alleged kidnapping in Borno State.

Olusegun Adeniyi, the then Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, who made this known while handing over the dismissed soldiers to the police in Maiduguri, said the soldiers were arrested with 22 other suspects by a joint patrol team at a building on the outskirts of Maiduguri.

Adeniyi said the soldiers had initially attempted to escape. “The three soldiers were caught among the evil group; there was further resistance and attempt to escape, so we tied them up with ropes because handcuffs were not available,” he said.

Earlier in February last year, operatives of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Imo State Police Command reportedly arrested a dismissed soldier, Sampson David, for alleged involvement in kidnapping and armed robbery.

The state Commissioner of Police, Dasuki Galadanchi, while parading the suspect alongside others, said that one English pump-action gun and two pairs of military uniform were recovered as exhibits from David.

The CP reportedly said: “On December 5, 2018, SARS operatives arrested one Amarachi Ihejirika of Umugama, Owu-Amakohia in the Ikeduru Local Government Area, Imo State, in connection with unlawful possession of firearm and impersonation.

“She confessed that the gun and military uniform belonged to her fiancée, who claimed to be a soldier. The said Sampson David, who has been terrorizing Owerri and its environs through kidnapping and armed robbery, was arrested by our gallant officers.”

Galadanchi said upon interrogation, the dismissed soldier confessed that he stole the gun from the Nigerian Legion’s office in Abia State, adding that the command would arraign the suspect in court after investigation.

In March this year, the Adamawa State Police Command announced the arrest of 71 suspected kidnappers, armed robbers and rapists, among them a serving police officer.

The state Police Commissioner, Audu Madaki, had named the suspect as Non-Commissioned Police Officer Abdulrazaq Dahiru, a sergeant, whom he said had conspired and kidnapped people in parts of the state and collected N3.8m as ransom.

The CP further said the alleged police officer had supplied on three different occasions, nine live ammunition that facilitated their criminal activities, adding that the NCO was undergoing interrogations.

In another case recorded in May this year, a soldier and other suspects had confessed to killing a 22-year-old undergraduate, Micah Isaiah, after collecting N800, 000 in his account. The victim was a student of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri.

One of the suspects, Ifeanyi Nwaiwu of the Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering, Makurdi, Benue State, reportedly confessed that he ordered Isaiah’s killing after he received N200, 000 as his share of the money collected from the victim.

Another member of the gang and a military deserter, Godson Chimezie, 28, reportedly said they ran into Isaiah while he was inflating his vehicle tyre.

He said, “We saw him while he was pumping his tyre in Owerri and we sensed that a small boy like him driving that kind of vehicle must be a Yahoo boy. We quickly accosted him and I took his phone, went through it, and discovered that he was an internet fraudster. We immediately kidnapped him on the pretext of arrest.

“We took him to our hideout and the young man agreed to pay N800, 000. We collected the money, but Corporal Ifeanyi Nwaiwu of the Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering, Makurdi, insisted that we must kill him. According to him, the man would dent his image if he walked away alive.”

In another case, two armed robbery suspects – Kehinde Elijah and Ezeh Frank Joseph, in August this year, reportedly admitted to the police that they formed a robbery gang in Lagos after running away from the Nigerian army.

Elijah and Joseph said they fled the army because the authorities posted them to Maiduguri, Borno State, to join other soldiers to wage war against the Boko Haram insurgents.

“We ran away from our units in Maiduguri for fear of being killed. We were in the army and posted to Maiduguri from Lagos. We didn’t know each other in Maiduguri. We met at an Indian hemp smoking joint at the Ojo Cantonment area in Lagos.

“We formed our gang when we discovered we had the same problem,” the police quoted the suspects as saying in their confessional statements at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba, where they were detained.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, had told Daily Trust on the phone that while Elijah was arrested at Okokomaiko bus stop, Ojo, Joseph was picked up at his house at Imude Pako, Ajangbadi, and Ojo, both in the Lagos suburb.

Elkana said the two suspects had been on the police wanted list over the death of a policeman attached to Ilemba Hausa Division.

The Executive Director, CLEEN Foundation, Dr Benson Olugbuo, said it was unfortunate that former security officials trained with taxpayers’ money end up turning their training and intelligence against citizens of Nigeria.

“It is a result of poor professionalism, lack of effective vetting and failure of governance. Some of them unfortunately are victims of the system. There is an urgent need to review how we recruit our security personnel in Nigeria,” Olugbuo said.

Similarly, the Convener, Good Governance Team (GGT) Nigeria, Malam Tunde Salman, said it was unfortunate that an average of seven arrests were made per month.

According to him, with the concerns arising from the #EndSARS crisis, one can expect the numbers to rise.

“It is not good at all for the security when those that are paid to protect the people are the ones ending up as culprits for crimes. I think dismissed law enforcement personnel must be closely watched and profiled. The government must be careful,” he said.

Salihu Bakhari, a retired military officer, said some ex-servicemen take to crime after they were unfairly accused of committing a crime.

“There is a lack of diligent prosecution in our security architecture. You see the superiors dismissing those working under them using trumped-up charges.

“Again, some officers and men take to crime because they retire from service without anything to rely on. This boils down to the poor condition of service,” he said.

A serving deputy police commissioner who spoke in confidence said authorities must take a holistic review of security operatives. “While it is good to scrutinize the background and credentials of those to be recruited into the services, the government should take the issue of welfare seriously. They should also make sure that ex-servicemen have a rewarding life after they retire.

“Is it not a shame that some servicemen joined looters during the recent #EndSARS protest? I hope the much-touted reform of the security agencies would take care of this,” he said.

When contacted on the case of a serving non-commissioned police officer in Adamawa State over alleged kidnapping, the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, simply referred one of our correspondents to the spokesperson of Police in Adamawa State.

He said, “Honestly, I don’t know anything about it. Maybe you can contact the spokesperson in Adamawa State. I don’t know whether people know how big the Nigeria Police Force is. This is a force of over 300,000 people. That is why we have PROs in all the commands.”

Efforts to reach the Nigerian Army proved abortive as several calls and text messages sent to the coordinator, Defence Media Operations, Maj. Gen. John Enenche were not answered by press time.

Similarly, efforts to reach the spokesperson, Nigerian Army, Col. Sagir Musa, were unsuccessful as various calls to his mobile phone were not responded to. Daily Trust.