Murder allegation: ‘My Story’

BY KINGSLEY OMONOBI

As the 2015 elections draw near, stakeholders, including INEC and security agencies, have been dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s to ensure the elections are credible and violence-free. In this interview, Enugu State Commissioner of Police and one time Vice President of INTERPOL Worldwide, Abubakar Adamu, speaks on the police preparation and other issues.

The 2015 elections are around the corner. How is Enugu State preparing?

We are prepared for the elections because we realised that for us to be ready, we (the police) must know what to do before reaching out to other stakeholders like politicians and INEC officials. On our own part, we are engaged in training, both physical and mental. On the physical aspect, we are giving our officers training on the use of batons, arms and crowd control measures based on the electoral laws. As I am taking to you, the training is ongoing at the Mobile Squadron barracks. We   have also had a workshop with all the senior officers that will supervise the junior ones.

Abubakar Adamu, CP Enugu

W e brought in facilitators and lawyers. Even the Attorney General of Enugu State was there and gave a presentation. Some public relations officers also came and spoke to us on expectations on security and the police performance during elections. We even invited our AIG in charge of the Zone. We are having another stakeholders meeting to which we have invited all the security agencies, INEC and the leaders of all the political parties to rub minds and address all the challenges. At the meeting, we will discuss what we want from politicians and hear what they want from us. INEC will be there to brief politicians and security agencies. So we are ready for the elections. It will be unfortunate for anybody or group to try to cause problems during the elections because we are adequately prepared and, when I say we are prepared, I mean we are prepared.

How have you been able to tackle the security challenges in Enugu State since assumption of office?

When I assumed office in Enugu in May 2013, I met some security challenges in the state. There were issues of kidnapping, armed robbery, child trafficking and other heinous crimes but, with the support of the state governor, we were able to get the resources we needed, in order to fight crime like vehicles. We were able to use the resources to block all the entry points in and out of Enugu State. With the co operation of the Neighbourhood Watch, we have been relating with and traditional rulers who were able to identify where these criminals are; where they come from and we came out with strategies to address kidnapping, armed robbery, murder and other heinous crimes.

Enugu is currently the safest state in the country. Crime level is almost near zero as you can see. During Christmas and New Year festivities, there was influx of people from all over the country and even beyond and there wasn’t a single armed robbery or a heinous crime. People were moving freely and some of them called us to express gratitude that the state was quiet and they enjoyed their stay. The strategy we used is the collaboration with stakeholders and the Neighbourhood Watch. We developed a culture of working with informants; if anything happens, the informants are able to give us accurate information.

There has always been this dearth of useful information from members of the public. How have Enugu people cooperated with you to tackle the challenge?

The use of phones by members of the public to provide information for the police has been very successful. When I came, I spoke to journalists and other stakeholders and we gave out our telephone numbers. So people call to give us information on what is happening and, because of the strategy of deploying our vehicles to strategic areas within the state, if information is given in a particular area; if a crime is committed or about to be committed, we just ask the patrol team that is within that area to get to that scene.

In order to bring more sanity to the environment and also in the hinterland where the communities have problems with the Fulani herdsmen, we were also able to call all the chairmen of the local governments in the state together with their traditional rulers, the leaders of the Fulani in the communities plus the heads of the Neighbourhood Watch. They all sat down in our conference room and we discussed where problems are coming from and proffered solutions. We have representatives of the ‘Igwes’ and union officials in our security committee; every week they sit down and discuss security situation in each local government and they give me feed back from their deliberations.

Recently, there was the story making the rounds that you and your men were behind the murder of someone in Enugu State. What happened?

There were two communities engaged in land dispute. A report was made by a leader of one of the communities that a group of people came with guns to attack his community, shot their vehicles and they managed to escape. The three vehicles were found to be destroyed by this group of people. So they now went to the police station at Nwani and reported. But by the time the police went to the scene, they discovered that nobody was there except a corpse.. The DPO picked the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary.

In the process, he saw a telephone on the body and he used the phone to call some numbers to identify the body. According to the DPO, the people he called who picked, he told them that if they knew the owner of the telephone, they should come to the police station as there was an issue with the person. No one came. In essence, a body was found on the side of the people who attacked this other community but they didn’t go to the police to report that one of them was either killed or missing.

Rather, the other group that was attacked with guns went to the police and reported. So the police was looking for the other community. Instead of them to go and report to the police that one of their members was dead, they now ran out of the state. They were nowhere to be found in the state; only for us to hear that they went to Abuja to address a press conference accusing the CP of conniving with the people they wanted to kill; that the CP murdered their person.

On that day I left Enugu because we had the IG conference to attend while in Abuja. I heard that these people went to address a press conference. It was when I came back that I asked the DPO to get the parties. I asked each party to narrate their story which they did and the question we asked the party where the corpse was from is why didn’t they report the case to the police when they found out that one of their people was killed?

There was no answer. I told them that justice will be done; that proper investigation will be conducted to know exactly what happened, that whoever was responsible will be punished and charged. So I referred the case to the state Criminal Investigation Department. The case has been investigated. I told them we were going to do medical examination to determine the cause of death and, before the autopsy by a police pathologist, we will allow each party to bring its own pathologist to witness that there was no foul play. At the end of the autopsy, we discovered the guy died a natural death; he died of heart attack.

Their lawyer, the person accusing us, Sunday Ayanwu, listened to the interview we had with all the parties and, at the end of the day, he apologised to me, that he didn’t get the facts initially like the way he got it there. I told him ‘you can’t go to the press and malign me and now come and apologise to me; you have to address the press where you make the complaint earlier and state the real facts’.

Up till now, he hasn’t done so. They claimed that I have confiscated their land but you know land is not a moveable property, you can’t carry land from one place to the other, and, if there is a piece of land, you can’t claim it unless you have proof of ownership. I told them that they should take me out of it; I haven’t bought land from anybody. During the interview with the two parties where their lawyer was present, one ofthem said he sold the land and the buyer said he bought the land. Mr. Ayanwu read it and apologised. So the false accusation against me of murder is just to tarnish my reputation.