As 2012 has become history, the year would be remembered as a season of upsurge in violent crimes, massive arrests and recovery of sophisticated weapons, which all portrayed the rising cases of insecurity in the country and the daunting challenge the police experienced in nipping crime in the bud in the year. Crimes and insecurity in 2012 were numerous. Some of such crimes drew public interest and provoked outrage. Below are some of them:
There was the horrific murder on October 7 of four second year undergraduates of the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State – Biringa Lordson of Theatre Arts Department; Ugonna Obuzor of the Geology Department; Mike Toku of the Civil Engineering Department; and Tekema Erikena. They were lynched and burnt to death by a mob in Umuokiri community, Aluu, in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, for allegedly stealing a laptop computer and a BlackBerry phone. The four students had gone to collect a debt owned them when the debtor raised a false alarm calling them thieves. The four students were rounded up by members of the community. They were then stripped naked and paraded round the village before they were burnt to death amid cheers and jeers from the crowd. Public outrage followed the posting of the horrific video of the gruesome murder on YouTube. Thirteen persons were arrested in connection with the crime. The students’ killing, to many, exposed the illegal mob justice pervasive among communities and the failure of the police to adequately secure lives in the country.
Another crime in 2012, which provoked rage and anguish, was the murder of 24-year-old Cynthia Osukogu, the daughter of a retired Army General, on July 22. Osukogu, a postgraduate student of the Nassarawa State University, was lured on Facebook by two men to Lagos State. On her arrival, her Facebook friends drugged and raped her in her hotel room at FESTAC Town. Osukogu was suffocated to death and her killers videotaped the gruesome murder and fled. Following her death, police officers attached to the Area E Police Command in Lagos State, led by the Area Commander, ACP Damien Okoro, swung into action and arrested six suspects. It named the two prime suspects as Okwumo Nwabufo and Ezike Olisaeloka. Two pharmacists were among the suspects charged at the Yaba Magistrate Court for conspiracy and murder. The police officers received several national awards and accolades for their commitment and zeal in arresting the suspects in the shortest possible time.
Another horrific murder was recorded in Lagos State when a 44-year-old Lagos prince, Wale Oyekan, alongside one Lateef Balogun, 20, allegedly conspired and killed a business woman, Alhaja Sikirat, on October 16 in her house at Omole Phase II Estate. The suspects allegedly suffocated Alhaja Sikirat and threw her corpse into a 1,000 feet well, after which they looted her property and made away with valuable documents. The suspects were arrested and they confessed to the crime.
Residents of Lagos State will not forget the daylight armed robbery of September 9, also known as the Black Sunday robbery, in which armed men, numbering about 12 and driving in four utility vehicles, raided various areas of the state with sophisticated weapons, including rocket launchers. The armed men attacked Bureau De Change operators at Ikeja, Itire, Gbagada, Ilasamaja, Agege, Anthony and Ojodu. The armed robbers threw the state into confusion and rendered the police ineffective as they killed three policemen, a commercial bus driver and shot innocent residents before driving off with their loot. The “Black Sunday” armed robbery instilled fear in many and residents expressed their anger while charging the police to fish out the daring robbers. Luck came the way of the police one month later when policemen attached to the Special Anti-robbery Squad, Ikeja arrested two persons in connection with the robbery. Shortly after, 10 other suspects were arrested and several rounds of live ammunition, including Rocket Launchers, were recovered. The confession of the robbers led to more arrests in November and 14 other robbery suspects, with two gang leaders and a major arms supplier also arrested in connection with the Black Sunday robbery incident. Following the arrest, the police recovered several assorted and sophisticated weapons, including 39 AK 47 rifles, three GPMGs, three rocket launchers, 12 dynamites, 403 AK 47 rifle magazines and over 2,000 rounds of AK 47 ammunition. The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, while parading the armed robbers, stated that the suspects belonged to several armed robbery gangs responsible for the robberies in various areas, including a petrol station in Lagos State. The gang also attacked banks in Ogun and Ekiti States. The gang members confessed to killing more than 12 policemen.
In another incident, armed robbers numbering about six attacked Automated Teller Machines at Ejigbo as well as a robbed a bank in FESTAC Town where they destroyed the ATM machine with chisels and two gas cylinders before carting away N3.5 million.
In the outgoing year, six staff of Guarantee Trust Bank were arrested in May for allegedly conniving with others to rob the bank of millions of naira. The staff were exposed on the day of the planned robbery by one of the gang members who had reported the incident to the police.
As the police continued to beef up security in the state, hell was let loose when suspected armed robbers at the Badagry area of the state attacked a van conveying a huge amount belonging to a commercial bank and carted away all the money said to be about N58 million. They killed a policeman attached to the van.
Also, armed robbers in August, at Ajao Estate in Lagos State, killed a police Inspector when they attacked a team escorting cash to a bank. The money was said to belong to a plastic manufacturing company.
Mob action in Lagos State claimed the lives of five suspected armed robbers in Mushin in 2012. The suspected armed robbers were burnt alive over undisclosed robbery.
The police alleged killing of a groom, 36-year-old Ugochukwu Ozuah, on September 20 at the Gbagada area of the state five days after his wedding, was one incident that provoked public outcry over extra-judicial killing.
Also a policeman attached to the Alapere Police Division allegedly killed a bus conductor at Ketu area of the state on November 7 over allegation that the bus conductor stepped on his feet and refused to apologise.
Another police killing was recorded at Meiran area of the state when the chairman of the three wheelers association, Meiran Branch, Dele Oloja, was killed by policeman over his alleged refusal to obey police directives when he was ordered to stop.
Also gang war over control of petty businesses was experienced in Lagos State at Ebute-Metta,Bariga and Ilaje in Ajah. Members of the gangs killed and destroyed property worth millions of naira.
Manko, during a security meeting in the state, revealed the herculean and painstaking efforts officers made in the arrest of over 140 armed robbery suspects in the year. Manko also stated that 32 policemen died in active service in the outgoing year.
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