By Christopher Oji
There was pandemonium on the Airport Road, Abuja, on Tuesday, when heavily armed policemen waylaid detectives from the homicide section of the Lagos State Police Command to hijack a murder suspect, who was tracked to the Force Headquarters from Lagos.
The policemen, who hijacked the suspect from the homicide detectives, claimed that they were acting on the instructions of a commissioner from the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), at the police headquarters.
A mild drama ensued as the policemen struggled over which team would take possession of the suspect, but the policemen from the FCID overpowered the detectives from Lagos and seized the suspect who they took away.
Policemen from the Lagos State Police command had, on Tuesday, tracked the murder suspect, to Abuja to arrest him in connection with the killing of 49-year-old Alade Bello, at Igbolodo village, along Ketu Omu Road, in the Ikosi Ejinrin Local Council Development Area of Lagos, when the Abuja policemen blocked them and hijacked the suspect from them.
Meanwhile, relatives of the deceased Bello have raised the alarm over alleged threats to their lives by the killers of the deceased 49-year-old man.
They have, therefore, called on the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, to save them from the killers of their son and ensure that the deceased did not die in vain.
Four persons: Nofiu, Kazeem, Rasheed, and Adesanya, had earlier been arrested in connection with the murder and charged to court, while manhunt has been launched for Germany Ketu and others. One of the relatives of the deceased, Sikiru Lasisi, told newsmen that “there is an urgent need for the IGP to urgently investigate what happened in Abuja, on Tuesday. My brother was killed in April this year, and the police at the Lagos State CID Panti began investigation into the killing and arrested four people.
“They first arrested Nofiu, Kazeem, Wasiu and Rasheed, and charged them to court before arresting Adesanya, who was subsequently charged to court. Ketu continued to threaten our lives, bragging that nobody could arrest him, but when he discovered that one of his closest allies had been arrested, he went into hiding.
“Detectives from the homicide section in Panti tracked him to the Force headquarters in Abuja, where he has been hiding for some weeks. He was arrested but, surprisingly, while the policemen were on their way to the airport to bring him to Lagos, about 20 heavily armed policemen waylaid them on the road and hijacked Ketu from them.”
Another member of the family, Rafiu Adewale, stated that “the policemen, who came to hijack the suspect, claimed to be acting on the instruction of a commissioner of police at the force headquarters, Abuja.
“They told the policemen to come to Abuja if they have any question to ask the suspect, and they drove him away. With what happened on Tuesday in Abuja, our lives have been further threatened as Ketu and others freely walk in public. The IGP should also order a thorough investigation into the role of the police commissioner in the shameful rescue of a murder suspect from homicide detectives.”