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Policemen caught drinking on duty, abandon work in Ajah

Published

2 years ago

January 2, 2023

Policemen attached to the Ajiwe Police Division, Ajah, Lagos State, regularly abuse alcohol which may be responsible for the increasing rate of extra-judicial killings by cops from the station.

Investigations by PUNCH Metro showed that residents and business owners also observed the trend.

According to them, the policemen are always under the influence of alcohol while on duty and on patrol.

They said this might be responsible for the recent killing of a pregnant lawyer, Bolanle Raheem, by an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Drambi Vandi, who was attached to the station.

Two weeks earlier, an inspector, Imeh Johnson, attached to the same division, also shot dead another resident, Gafaru Buraimoh, who was on his way to buy fuel.

When our correspondent visited the police station on Tuesday around 10am, some of the officers were seen clustered in pairs outside the premises.

A closer observation revealed some of them consuming alcohol in sachets, while heavily armed.

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One of the two officers, who sat close to a barbing salon attached to a building beside the station, was seen with a glass cup of beer, which he sipped at intervals.

A policeman among another set of officers who took cover under a shed adjacent to the station was seen drinking a canned alcohol drink with a pistol strapped to his waist.

While some vendors found around the police station made some of the alcoholic drinks available within the officer’s reach, other officers stayed away from prying eyes by walking a distance to patronise other traders.

After observing this for close to one hour, a fair-looking officer, who was earlier seen pacing around the corridor of the station, beckoned on our correspondent.

Close contact with him showed that he was drunk, as his body reeked of alcohol.

While this reporter thought he was about to be questioned about his presence around the police post, the policeman, who sounded incoherent, requested a sum of N200.

Out of curiosity, the reporter gave him N1,000 in expectation of his balance.

The officer immediately took him to a vendor, bought a sachet of alcoholic drink and gulped it on the spot, while the vendor provided the balance.

PUNCH Metro also learnt that the police officers paid regular visits to some alcoholic vendors behind a motor park under the Ajah Bridge, where Raheem was shot dead.

Our correspondent, who visited the spot and mingled with some of the street urchins, observed as they hailed some of the policemen, who came to patronise a female customer spotted at a corner under the bridge.

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A resident, Soliu Adekanmbi, said the officers were known for their open abuse of alcohol.

He said, “The officers do things the way they like and nobody is checking them. It looks like nobody can confront them. Most of them are always with alcoholic packs while on duty. They drink them here under the bridge while in uniform. It is what everybody knows, but no one can say anything since the police authorities have done nothing about it.”

Our correspondent also gathered that most of the policemen had spent a long time in the area and had refused to be transferred.

A community development association chairman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said this had contributed to their excesses in the community.

He said, “Most of the police officers have turned this community into their permanent place. Most of them rise through the ranks to retire here. That is why they have become uncontrollable. Some have spent between 15 and 20 years in the station. Anytime a transfer comes, they manipulate it. They know who to settle. Even in Langbasa Police Station, there is one Supol Sunday and one Inspector Yomi and up to 10 of them who have spent up to those number of years. They do not want to leave the station because of pecuniary gains. When the first incident happened, they changed the DPO. But the one that happened on Sunday shows it is not about changing DPO but the policemen.”

The Executive Director of the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, Okechukwu Nwanguma, said drinking on duty contravened the Police Act of 2020.

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He said, “The Police Act 2020 is very clear on the use of alcohol among police officers. It prohibits police officers from drinking alcohol while on duty. It also provides penalties for persons offering or selling alcohol to police officers on duty. Drug use and abuse among security agencies, including the police in Nigeria is very high. Police officers in uniform enter beer parlours with arms, sit and drink alcohol. This is prohibited under the law, but it has become a usual spectacle.

“There is no other way to explain what has happened to the woman (Raheem) order than that the officer acted under the influence of alcohol, because how do you explain that a police officer would simply pull a trigger on a woman who was not armed?

“One of the issues that came up after #EndSARS was the need to do a psychological evaluation of police officers, especially those who handle arms to be sure that they are mentally stable. But this did not happen. Even the recruitment procedures have been compromised. People who are unfit find their way into the police because the guideline for recruitment is circumvented. There is the need for a genuine commitment to implement reforms that address these problems, as well as competent leadership both at the level of the police and at the political level.”

According to the state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, it is an offence to drink on duty.

He said, “If a police officer is drunk while on duty, it is a disciplinary offence and there are laid down procedures dealing with such a person. It is the duty of the DPO or any officer that discovers the same to bring him for disciplinary action.”

metro

Alleged fraud: Court remands Yahaya Bello, others in EFCC custody

Published

44 minutes ago

November 27, 2024

Trends Admin

Yahaya Bello

Alleged fraud: Court remands Yahaya Bello, others in EFCC custody

The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting at Maitama on Wednesday remanded the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, in custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC).

Trial Justice Maryann Anenih ordered that he should remain with the anti-graft agency till December 10, when the court will rule on his application for bail.

Equally remanded in custody were Bello’s two co-defendants, Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu.

The defendants had pleaded not guilty to a 16-count charge the EFCC preferred against them.

EFCC had specifically urged the court to deny the former governor bail.

The agency, through its team of lawyers led by Mr. Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, told the court that Bello, who is the 1st defendant in the matter, repeatedly refused to make himself available for trial.

It told the court that several efforts to secure his presence before the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, where he is facing another charge, proved abortive.

Consequently, the Commission opposed a bail application that Bello filed through his legal team that was led by a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr. Joseph Daudu, SAN.

Daudu, SAN, had after the former governor and his two co-defendants—Umar Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu—pleaded not guilty to a 16-count charge the anti-graft agency preferred against them, drew the attention of the court to a bail application his client filed on November 22.

In the application he predicated on six grounds, the former governor argued that he enjoys the presumption of innocence under the law.

Insisting that he ought to be seen to be innocent of all the allegations the EFCC levelled against him until his guilt is established, Bello contended that granting him bail would enable him to effectively prepare his defence to the charge.

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His lawyer told the court that his client was only served with a copy of the charge against him around 11 p.m. on Tuesday, November 26.

He said the former governor’s presence in court was in obedience to the summons that was issued to him.

More so, Bello’s lawyer urged the court not to be swayed by EFCC’s claims with regards to a matter not related to the instant charge before it.

The prosecution counsel had informed the court that some of the witnesses billed to testify in the matter were available.

He, therefore, prayed the court to allow the EFCC to open its case immediately, an application that was opposed by the defence counsel.

Besides, EFCC argued that Bello’s bail application was incompetent since it was filed before the defendants were arraigned before the court.

“This court only assumed jurisdiction upon the arraignment of the defendants.

“It is only after arraignment that the bail application can arise and be heard.

“The application is premature, hasty, and contradicts the meaning of bail,” EFCC’s counsel, Pinheiro, SAN, submitted.

Ex-governor Bello and his co-defendants are facing trial over their alleged complicity in a N110 billion fraud.

The charge against the defendants, marked CR/7781, borders on conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, and possession of unlawfully obtained property.

Specifically, the EFCC alleged that the former governor misused state funds to acquire properties, including No. 35 Danube Street, Maitama District, Abuja (N950 million), No. 1160 Cadastral Zone C03, Gwarimpa II District, Abuja (N100 million), and No. 2 Justice Chukwudifu Oputa Street, Asokoro, Abuja (N920 million).

Other properties the defendants allegedly acquired with funds stolen from the Kogi state treasury included Block D Manzini Street, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja (N170 million), Hotel Apartment Community: Burj Khalifa, Dubai (Five Million, Six Hundred and Ninety-Eight Thousand, Eight Hundred and Eighty-Eight Dirhams), Block 18, Gwelo Street, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja (N60 million), and No. 9 Benghazi Street, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja (N310.4 million).

More so, the defendants were accused of transferring $570,330 and $556,265 to TD Bank, USA, and possessing unlawfully obtained property, including N677.8 million from Bespoque Business Solution Limited.

The defendants pleaded their innocence to the charge after it was read to them before trial Justice Maryann Anenih.

Alleged fraud: Court remands Yahaya Bello, others in EFCC custody

metro

Police rearrest popular singer, Speed Darlington

Published

2 hours ago

November 27, 2024

Trends Admin

Speed Darlington

Police rearrest popular singer, Speed Darlington

Police rearrest popular singer, Speed Darlington

metro

Hamdiyya Sidi makes U-turn, apologises to Sokoto gov over video on insecurity

Published

2 hours ago

November 27, 2024

Trends Admin

Governor Ahmed Aliyu and Hamdiyya Sidi

Hamdiyya Sidi makes U-turn, apologises to Sokoto gov over video on insecurity

In a significant development, a Sokoto-based rights activist, Hamdiyya Sidi, being prosecuted by Governor Ahmed Aliyu-led Sokoto government for allegedly making inciting statements, has made a U-turn and issued a public apology to the state government.

Sidi was reportedly arrested for “embarrassing” Governor Aliyu, on social media.

She was subsequently arraigned secretly without having access to a lawyer nor family members, a source had said.

The woman had in a video lamented the insecurity in the state and demanded an end to the incessant killings by bandits.

She had reportedly revealed how gunmen took over villages without any restraint and added that displaced women seeking refuge in the state capital were being sexually exploited due to abject poverty.

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But in a new video shared on social media, Sidi stated in Hausa, “My name is Hamdiyya Sidi Sheriff from Sokoto state, Wurno Local Government Area.

“I am the individual who recently created a video highlighting the pressing issues of insecurity and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sokoto State.

“I’m apologising as a woman and a Muslim from Sokoto because I used some words in the video when I made reference to the governor’s wife and his family.

“The words are too heavy considering my age. The words weren’t supposed to have come from me.

“And the other comment I made that the IDPs should move into government facilities and occupy them, I regret saying that too.

“Please for God’s sake, I’m sorry, nobody has the right to move into or occupy a government facility without due process and permission.

“For the government, governor and anyone that my comment has affected, I’m sorry, please forgive me.”

Sokoto is one of states in Northern Nigeria plagued by bandits who raid and loot villages, kill residents and burn houses to the ground.