metro

Police College: Court frees 24 men charged with forging documents for admission

Published

4 months ago

January 22, 2024

Police College: Court frees 24 men charged with forging documents for admission

A Federal High Court in Abuja has discharged and acquitted 24 men, accused of falsifying documents and their identifies to gain admission into the Nigeria Police College, Maiduguri, Borno State.

Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a ruling held that the prosecution failed to lead credible evidence to establish its case against the defendants.

Justice Ekwo further held that, not only was investigation poorly conducted in the case, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) did a shoddy job and the prosecution failed present vital oral and documentary evidence.

The ruling, delivered on January 16, a copy of which was seen on Sunday, was on the no-case submissions made by the defendants in a charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/206/2020 filed in the name of the Inspector General of Police (IGP).

The 24 defendants were arrested and charged following a petition, dated May 22, 2020 from the Secretary to the Government of Kano State, signed by a Permanent Secretary, Yahaya Bichi.

The petitioner claimed that Kano State was unjustly treated by the Nigeria Police College, Maiduguri in its 2018/2019 recruitment and training exercise, during which the state’s indigenes were replaced by indigenes of other states, who upon graduation, were posted to Kano State.

READ ALSO:

The defendants were, in the 106-count charge on which they were tried, accused of submitting forged documents, impersonating other person’s and giving false information about their identities to obtain admission into the collage.

At the trial, the prosecution called 10 witnesses, including the IPO, who testified as the 10th prosecution witness (PW10), following which the defendants made no-case submissions.

In the ruling, Justice Ekwo found that the evidence led by the prosecution revealed that it was actually some officials of the police college who manipulated the recruitment process and replaced qualified Kano indigenes with the defendants.

The judge noted: “Investigation over the matter was carried out and it was discovered that some serving members of the Nigeria Police Force ,serving in Police College, Maiduguri assisted the suspects (defendants) to gain admission into the Nigeria Police and they passed through the recruitment and were issued with complete Police uniform and were posted as Police officers during the exercise.

“During the investigation, the 24 suspects (defendants) were in possession of police properties which include, complete kits which were returned and registered as exhibits against the suspects.”

The judge also noted that investigation revealed that the successful candidates from Kano, who were supposed to be among the trainees, were replaced by one of the admin officer and recruitment officer, DSP. Illya Kwarji.

Justice Ekwo also found that the admin/recruitment officer, on realising that the the 27 successful Kano candidates were absent during the screening exercise, replaced them with the defendants, without using thew real names.

READ ALSO:

Justice Ekwo added: “The evidence of PW10 is simple to understand. It is the admin officer, who was also the recruitment officer, that replaced people with his own interested candidates, who are these defendants before this court by replacing the names of those successful candidates from Kano without using their real names.

“This is the person who changed the names of candidates. The defendants did not, on their own, falsely personate any person. It was the said admin officer, who was also the recruitment officer that did everything,” he said.

The judge observed that the effect of cross examination on the evidence adduced in the case by the prosecution, “revealed that there is no eye witness account in this matter,” a development he said, was fatal to the prosecution’s case.

“On the whole, I have weighed the evidence of the prosecution on the statutory parameters on the point of no-case submission as follow: Whether there is no evidence to prove an essential element of the alleged offence? Whether the evidence has been so discredited as result of cross examination? Whether the evidence is manifestly unreliable that no reasonable tribunal or court can safely convict on it?”

The judge said after considering all the evidence led by the prosecution, he found that there was no evidence to prove the essential elements of the alleged offences.

He then proceeded to discharge and acquitted the defendants

The freed defendants are Satmak Tapji Jonathan, Peter Philibus, Pwasagi Charles Power, Nadare Garba, Bamaiyi Ishaya, Geoffrey Markus Moses, Muhammad Musa Birma, Jamilu Muhammad and Mamman Dauda.

Also freed are Alpheus Jacob, Bulusi Inuwa, Umaru Hyeimoda Micheal, Callus James, Dahiru Mohammed, Yusuf James, Wapada Yusuf, Usman Adamu and Umar Ali.

Others are Jacob Sebastine, Usman Abubakar, Mohammed Modu, Ibrahim Yakubu, Kwada A. kijah and Philip John.

Police College: Court frees 24 men charged with forging documents for admission

Related Topics:forging documents Police College

Up Next

Nabeeha’s sisters freed from kidnappers’ den recount ordeal

Don't Miss

Lagos govt shuts Katangua, Oke-Afa markets

metro

Rainstorms kill seven, many others injured

Published

12 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Trends Admin

Rainstorms kill seven, many others injured

No fewer than seven people have been confirmed dead as rainstorms affect Houston, Texas, authorities announced Friday.

The three new deaths occurred after Houston, the fourth-largest city in the United States, was slammed Thursday by severe rain and winds gusting up to 100 miles (160 kilometres) per hour, leaving downtown streets coated in glass from broken windows.

Residential areas were littered with downed trees and power wires, and the National Weather Service reported that a tornado had touched down in Cypress.

READ ALSO:

According to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, the new victims included an 85-year-old woman who died after her mobile home was struck by lightning and caught fire.

A 60-year-old man was found unresponsive and pronounced dead after going to his truck to try and power his oxygen tank after electricity was cut across wide swaths of the storm-hit area.

A 57-year-old man collapsed and died while trying to move a downed power pole. Houston Mayor John Whitmire said Thursday.

Rainstorms kill seven, many others injured

metro

Police inspector dismissed, three others demoted over N29.8m theft

Published

13 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Trends Admin

Force Public Relations Officer, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Olumuyiwa Adejobi

Police inspector dismissed, three others demoted over N29.8m theft

Adabo Mohammed, a police inspector has been dismissed over alleged involvement in robbery and kidnapping in the federal capital territory (FCT).

Announcing this on Friday, May 17, the Nigeria Police Force spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi said Mohammed and five others were members of an armed robbery gang allegedly responsible for the stealing of N29.8 million from a victim during a robbery operation in the Gwagwalada area of Abuja.

The dismissed officer was also part of a gang that kidnapped one Ikechukwu Emmanuel Okafor, in the Tunga Maje area of Abuja and collected N4.4 million in ransom. He further revealed that Mohammed has been charged to court.

READ ALSO:

Adejobi also disclosed that the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun has also approved the demotion of three inspectors to the rank of sergeant over alleged extortion.

The demoted officers as Osagie Efford, Semiu Agbekin, and Francis Ahuen, who were attached to the special tactical squad (STS) in the FCT. It was gathered that they intercepted an unregistered Mercedes Benz at the Gwarinpa area of the territory and “forced the occupants to part with the total sum of N29.4m”.

Adejobi added;

“While the monies have been returned to the complainants, the officers were subjected to orderly room trial in line with extant laws, and have been demoted.”

Police inspector dismissed, three others demoted over N29.8m theft

metro

Breaking: Women protest against return of armed Okuama youths (+ Photos)

Published

13 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Trends Admin

Breaking: Women protest against return of armed Okuama youths (+ Photos)

The women of Okoloba community in Bomadi local government area, weekend, protested against what they called the return of armed youths of Okuama in Ughelli South local government area, who they alleged were threatening the peace of the riverine area.

The placard carrying women, led by the chairlady of Okoloba community, Mrs Timipakebi Goodwin, and secretary, Mrs Mary Koibi, staged a peace protest on black attires along the coastal fringe of Okoloba community, chanting against violence and bloodbath, as well as sending an S.O.S. to the federal government to come to their aid.

Some inscriptions on the placards read: ‘We say No to violence’, ‘Enough of the killings on our land’, ‘Armed Okuama youths returning in a commando style’, ‘We say No to the return of armed youths of Okuama’, ‘Resettle Okuama people among their Ewu brothers in Ughelli South LGA’, ‘We mourn the killing of the 17 soldiers’ and among others.

The chairlady of Okoloba, Mrs Goodwin, speaking to newsmen with a written address that was made available to security apparatuses, which include the police, DSS, NSCDC, JTF as well as the acting chairman of Bomadi local government council, noted that the latest killing by the youths of Okuama showed that they could kill human beings at the slightest provocation.

READ ALSO:

The women’s presentations as well as the written address read in part: “First, we the women of Okoloba community sympathize with the killing of 17 soldiers and officers of the Nigerian army on a peace and rescue mission to Okuama, following the kidnap of our son. We sincerely mourn their untimely death and pray for the repose of their souls. We also pray for their families.

“However, less than 24 hours after the exit of the troops from Okuama, fresh crisis erupted with another neighbouring community, culminating in the killing of one person while three other persons were seriously injured. The person who was killed and those sustaining machete wounds were alleged to have gone there to loot.

“The latest killing showed that the people of Okuama can kill a human at the slightest provocation; the sanctity of human life means nothing to them. It also shows that neighbouring Ijaw communities like Okoloba are not safe.

“So, resetting the people of Okuama in their present location, which is in-between communities in Bomadi local government area, is an attempt to encourage further communal clashes and bloodbath.

“Just last week, youths of Okuama community came out of the Mein-toruabubor creek, which leads to Ewu, on three speedboats and all of them on camouflage. They shot sporadically in the air before proceeding to OKuama. They moved to and fro the creek three times, and at every time they shot their guns in the air at the entrance of the creek.

“We are calling on the federal government to come to our aid, and the panacea to these incessant clashes and killings is for the government to relocate Okuama to Ewu clan in Ughelli South Local Government Area, where they truly and rightly belong.