MEET FRANK OSHANUGOR
By Frank Oshanugor
A crack team of detectives from the Nigeria Police Force, Zone Two Command Headquarters, Onikan ,Lagos, has arrested eight suspects in connection with the recent attack on All Progressives Congress ( APC), presidential candidate, Alhaji Ahmed Tinubu.
Also in the police net are seven members of an armed robbery syndicate who operated at the Alaba International Market in the Ojo area of the state and carted away optic fibre cables valued at N80 million from a company in Yaba. The cables have been recovered by the police.
The Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 2, comprising Lagos and Ogun states, Mr. Bode Adeleke , who paraded the suspects, said, it would be recalled that recently, the convoy of Alhaji Tinubu, was attacked by some hoodlums where some members of his press crew were injured. Some of the suspects have been arrested”.
The AIG said some of the suspects have confessed to be members of various cult groups and have named the principal suspect who sponsored the attack.
According to him, the principal suspect would soon be arrested as the Force has stepped up effort in tracking him down.
The AIG, who was represented by Zonal Public Relations Officer, SP Hauwa Idris-Adamu,said, “the are suspected cultists, who attacked the press crew of the APC Presidential Candidate entourage, on the day they were to visit the Oba of Lagos. You would recall that the incident occured at noon on June 19, 2022. The press convoy was attacked and this was sponsored by someone who we wouldn’t mention his name until he is in the police custody.
“Following investigations, the suspects were arrested and they all confessed to have committed the crime. They mentioned the mastermind and the sponsor’s name. They also belong to various cult fraternities. Investigations are still ongoing and we would get back to the press as soon as we have the principal suspect in our net”.
The PPRO who also paraded nine other suspects in connection with theft of optic fiber cables worth about N80 million, said they were arrested by the Zone’s monitoring unit, led by CSP Uba Adams, after he received intelligence on June 20.
” We bursted the chain of the suspected armed robbery syndicate at the Alaba International Market in the Ojo area of the state and recovered the entire cables stolen from a company in Yaba, valued at N80 million. The robbers stormed Jus Partners Cosmopolitan Limited, a telecommunications consultancy, at Yaba,on June 20, 2022, tied the security guards on duty and made away with 16 drums of 96 Core Starlite Optic cables, estimated at N80 million.
“Given this criminal act, the company’s management petitioned the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), Bode Adeleke, who consequently detailed CSP Uba Adams -led Zonal Monitoring Unit (ZMU), to uncover the cabals.
The Unit, immediately swung into action, and deployed its technical and Intelligence-based investigation.
“A team of covert detectives accompanied the complainant into the market and directed the company’s representative to pretentiously walk into the heart of the business community on market survey of the particular cables.
“This idea turned out fruitful as the first person the company’s representative met, though in the business of buying and selling of such items, later gave the investigating team a leeway into nabbing the culprits.
“Photographs of the exact cable were shown, and to show commitment, the company was directed to make a down payment of N500,000 before the company’s representative could be taken to the warehouse, a deal that was struck and money remitted into the account of one Felix Onyema, who turned out to be the principal suspect.
Eventually, the cables were recovered from Felix Onyema’s residence at Sibiri, who has since then gone into hiding.
Afterwards, all the seven suspects,neck deep in the criminal act, were nabbed by the operatives and taken to the Zone 2 Police Command”.
The Zone 2 PPRO gave the identities of the culprits as Sunday Alagbogu, 47; Celestine Nnailo, 40; Obinna Jonathan; Onyedika Vincent, 22; Sylvester Nwajagu, 47; Obinna Onu, 39 and 32-year-old Blessing, wife of the principal suspect, Felix Onyema, who is currently at large.
