Gunmen Wearing Police Vests Rob Abuja Household
On Thursday, July 20, the family of Jimoh Ahmadrufai Itopa was forced to experience a traumatic incident of brigandage by armed men claiming to be Police officers.
The incident happened at about 7 am at their residence located at Plot 143, Bako Extension Layout, Bako Kwali Area Council in Abuja.
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Itopa told THE WHISTLER that the supposed officers who were five in number forcibly entered their house with arms, subjecting them to a terrifying ordeal.
The armed men seized two mobile phones, N320,000, a point of sale (POS) machine, and other valuable items, leaving them devastated.
Narrating what happened to THE WHISTLER, Itopa said “The incident happened around 7 am yesterday(Thursday), some armed men claiming to be police officers came to the house and couldn’t identify themselves or show any warrant, but came into the house and started harassing and beating everybody and claiming they wanted to make an arrest.
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“We asked what is our offence and which Division they came from because they can’t come and arrest anybody for no reason. They came with a Siena vehicle without any plate number, they came in mufti carrying guns but had NPF jackets on.”
He explained that the community members that gathered demanded answers from the armed men who refused to identify themselves.
“People that gathered started questioning them about where they came from, people started saying maybe they were kidnappers. They became scared and ran away while shooting in the air. They made away with some of our items, and that was after they harassed and beat us,” he recounted.
According to Itopa, the assailants left with a list of seventeen items from the house, including, “a Pos machine (Momo), 1 Pcs Iphone (11 Pro), 1 Android phone, cash N320.000, a handbag, a Big JBL speaker, a Toyota Camry (Le) key, Toyota Rav4 key, bathing soap, perfume, wristwatch, power bank, bunch Of Keys, 4 Atm cards,
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“National I.D cards, Prada cross bag containing (Passport Photograph & Msc. Admission letter,) and Driver’s license,” adding that “They collected all these at gunpoint, and my mom sustained injuries on her hand.”
He noted that “This is the 5th time they would come to harass us. The last time it happened we went to the nearest police station to complain and they said the people were not from the area command, and that even if they were not from there, they were supposed to make an entry before coming to arrest, but they didn’t do any of that.
“Then they gave us a complaint letter to paste in front of our house. So, when they came this time, we said that since you are claiming that you are from area command, this is the letter we got from them, but they saw it and tore it from the wall.”
Meanwhile, the family has petitioned the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, on the incident.
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In the petition, they identified two police officers involved in the attack as Inspector Samuel Prince and Inspector Attah A. Momoh.
In the wake of the traumatic experience, the family has appealed for protection and swift action from the Nigeria Police to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
“Right now, we took the matter to Force headquarters. We were able to make a video of the incident, and we were able to identify two people, their names, ranks, and division.
“We came to the Force PRO’s office at Force headquarters today, and we have written a petition. So we are waiting on them to hear the next course of action. They said they are going to invite them to come and explain what happened.
“We reported yesterday at the Gwagwalada Area Command and they asked us to go to force headquarters,” Itopa stated.
When contacted, the FCT police command spokesperson, Josephine Adeh said she was not aware of the incident.
“I can tell you that no officer can behave like that, they may disguise to be police officers. But let me ask the DPO if there’s any case like that reported within our division area command. Once I confirm I will call you back.”
Adeh failed to call back as promised and subsequently ignored calls from our correspondent.
