‘My Ordeal At The Hands Of Robbers In Police Uniform’ - Tribune Contractor

Doyin Adebusuyi - 22.03.2008

It is no more news that dare-devil men on a daily basis attack and dispossess hapless Nigerians of their valuables, either at home or on the highways. While some are lucky to tell their stories after losing their money and other valuables to the hoodlums, others are not, as they are either killed or maimed in such attacks.

What is worrisome, however, is the increasing number of armed robbers arrested in either police or army uniforms, giving the impression that they are law enforcement agents. How such uniforms get to the hoodlums still remains a mystery to every Nigerian, including the police authorities themselves.

A distribution contractor with the African Newspapers of Nigeria, publishers of Tribune titles (name withheld), who had an encounter with such hoodlums on March 17 at Ijagunmodi junction via Ilesha in Osun State, narrated how he mistook a seven-man gang of armed robbers for policemen.

On the fateful day, around 1am, the unsuspecting driver was on his way to some South-West states to distribute the newspaper when he ran into a ‘check point’ manned by seven hefty men, five of them in police uniforms. As a law-abiding citizen, the contractor applied the brake of his vehicle as soon as he was flagged down by the men, thinking that they were policemen on legal duty.

No sooner was he stopped that he realised that he was in the midst of men of the underworld. According him, five of the men were decked in full police uniform with life vest and other dangerous weapons. Within a few minutes, the contractor and other occupants of the vehicle had been led into the bush by two of the men, leaving their five other ‘police officers’ to keep surveillance.

He said he was dispossessed of his two mobile handsets and N32,000 cash. The hoodlums also hijacked his van and drove it to an unknown destination with hundreds of copies of the newspaper.
Earlier, the hoodlums were said to have ransacked two other vehicles and dispossessed their occupants of their valuables. The contractor immediately headed for the Ilesha Area Command of the Nigeria Police and reported the incident to the man in charge, one ACP John Rotimi.

The contractor added: “He (Rotimi) proved to be a gallant police officer. He used his personal resources in order to see to the immediate recovery of the vehicle and possibly the arrest of the hoodlums, but to no avail.”

However, luck ran out on the suspected robbers. “But in radio communication by the police officer with other commands, it was learnt that the vehicle had been found in Ondo. As the robbers were escaping with the vehicle, they had an accident at a sharp bend entering Ondo town. We learnt the accident was as a result of high speed,” said the contractor.

The contractor, who regretted that the hoodlums escaped, called on the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, to investigate the use of police uniforms by armed robbers, especially at night.