By Yetunde Arebi

I am a sucker for crime and investigation stories. I love it served in any form, whether as TV drama, documentary, re-enactments or simple investigative stories. And so, I am always surfing the TV channels for where to get my ‘fix’. My close pals know that every day, I must roam from Crime and Investigation, to Investigation Discovery, Zone Reality and sometimes, BBC Lifestyle and History Channels, depending on the programme being aired.

Same with Newspapers, crime stories are of more interest to me than Politics and Business. Friends often ask why I spend so much time on these stories. Some suffer it out with me like members of my family have come to, and a few have become converts too. I am always quick to tell them that my attraction is not in the crime but the reasoning behind the crime.

The motives of the individuals, the circumstances that the crimes were perpetuated, the profiles of the victims and culprits and how they were eventually tracked down and arrested. All these information and knowledge do come in handy in my personal dealings with people and they have helped tremendously.

This is why I am often sympathetic with the Nigerian Police Force and the bizarre circumstances under which they carry out their duties. I am happy and do celebrate every major breakthrough by these men knowing that they often have to apply native intelligence and intuition in carrying out most of their investigations, rather than the sophistication of crime investigation technology which they lack but which are available to their counterparts in many other climes.

Even Ethiopia is way ahead of us in her quest for curbing crime rate and security. The coming of the GSM and its many advantages have been of great help to the Nigerian Police which I believe they are utilising to max their investigations. However, for as long as we do not invest in the use of modern crime investigation technology and equipment, such as a data bank for finger prints, profiling and DNA analysis, the Police still have a long way to achieving their goals.

Even the CCTV Cameras which were installed in major areas of Abuja have since become obsolete. It took the Yanyan bombing by Boko Haram to reveal this. There is a saying that an empty mouth does not make noise. Policing is a huge investment operation and I doubt if the Nigerian government is prepared to expend resources in this area.

But how do you explain the escape of an arrested suspect during court trial in broad daylight? A national Newspaper published this story in June with a catchy and damning headline, “How Police, EFCC and Prison officials aided my escape”-   suspect.   Just what I thought too! According to the story, Princewell Eze, described as a notorious armed robber who had raked in billions of Naira from his exploits while posing as an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

In fact, at his last raid which placed him on the most wanted list of the Nigerian Police, he had stolen the sum of N600 million from a Bureau de Change operator in Lagos. It took the special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) to fish him out. But no sooner as his arrest was effect, officials of the Nigerian Prisons stepped out to demand that Eze be handed over to them as he was also on their wanted list. The prisons authority claimed that Eze escaped from their custody when he was taken for one of his court trials at the Igbosere High Court, Lagos on February 20, 2014.

They insisted that he has a list of pending criminal cases charged against him, and it was during one of these outings that he escaped. Now the catch here for me is not about the arrest and which organisation finally arrested him but the facts surrounding his escape while in prison custody. Princewell himself did not deny any of the allegations levelled against him but pointed accusing fingers at the Police, EFCC and Prison officials whom he claimed aided him in his escape.

He posed a crucial question to his interrogators, “is it possible for me to just walk out of a well guarded court unnoticed? Eze is insisting that all the parties involved in his arrest and prosecution were part of the deal that resulted in his escape. According to him, “the truth is that we all had an understanding that I can walk away. In fact, my friend, Emeka, who is based in Holland arranged the deal with them (EFCC and Prison officials).

I have no doubt in my mind about the veracity of Eze’s story. In my opinion, more individuals should be arrested for their complicity in this case. Who freed his hand cuffs. Depending on how dangerous or serious the crimes were, (armed robbery involves the use of guns and the guy was already implicated in several cases.   Eze ought to also be in ankle cuffs. At what point do prosecutors hand alleged criminals back to prison officials? How come prison official were looking for him without the knowledge and assistance of the Police? If there is no crack in the wall, it is difficult for a lizard to crawl in. All the officers involved can easily be identified, investigated according to Eze’s claims and brought to book for their disloyalty to their uniforms and the Nigerian people whom they exposed to more danger by freeing a notorious armed bandit into the society.

Eze would not be the first criminal to mention security agents as accomplices in their criminal activities. Remember the notorious Lawrence Anini and his grouse with the Nigerian Police? There have also been several stories of alleged negligence, bribery, concessions and preferential treatment of inmates and detainees levelled against officials of the Nigerian Prisons. All these bother on corruption.

Grapevine had a story some years back about a political detainee who sired a child while in custody and even attended the naming ceremony of the child. How rich criminals buy the conscience and favours of officials to live large while in custody, and some are even waited upon hands and foot by official in public view.

Sometime in 2009 a banker was duped to the tune of about   N14 million by one Ikechukwu Ogbu whose alias, Prince Eze seems to strike a chord with the escaped prisoner, Princewell Eze. Maybe an investigation should also be conducted to find out if the two names belong to one person.

The EFCC began investigation into the scam in 2010 when the banker reported the case officially to them. I had arrived at the Vanguard premises one day, only to be informed that the EFCC had visited the office asking for me, and that I was to see the editor, Mr. Mideno Bayagbon. At his office, he told me that the EFCC had invited me to report at their Ikoyi office in connection with an advert placement published on the Lovezone column.

The owner of the mobile numbers listed in the advert had duped one of the female respondents of the sum of N14 million and they wanted to verify if I had any link with the culprit. Since I had an agent that tracks all requests posted, I wasted no time in logging on to search for these numbers and any information I could lay my hands on. I had no cause to worry about my innocence since I had no idea who all the players in the case were.

My search produced nothing, neither from the publication nor my log. So, I went back to the editor to inform him that since my search yielded nothing, he should ask my colleague who does a replica of the search dateline on Saturdays, called Lovelinks.

At the EFCC, report had it that a lady, working with the National Assembly responded to Ikechukwu’s request for a wife and was subsequently duped of N14 million! How was this possible?   Unknown to the lady, Ikechukwu at the time was a convicted prisoner serving a 15 year jail term. After responding to his request, they started chatting and finally she agreed to visit him in Lagos. On landing at the airport, she was informed that he had a minor problem which involved the EFCC and he had been arrested and taken to Kirikiri prison.

If she   does not mind, he would appreciate her visit. Perhaps, since marriage was being dangled as the bait, the lady got a taxi and drove to meet potential Mr. Right at the prisons. Here, Ikechukwu set in the motion of systematic brainwashing, feeding on her desperation for a husband and most likely a rich one. He told her that he was a very rich drug baron who had been snitched on and arrested a few days back by the EFCC.

As he was already in love with her and planned to marry her, he felt comfortable and convinced that he could share his trouble with her and together, they could work at getting him out. According to him, one of his deals had come through and he was to be paid the sum of $25 million by his contacts in the USA.

Since his accounts had been frozen by the EFCC, and he did not want the money traced to anyone close to him, he wanted her to take control of the business. She would source for the account in which the money would be paid. Believing that she had struck gold, the lady rushed back to Abuja to gist her older sister, who in turn, broke the ‘good’ news to her husband, a banker.

The carrot seemed too juicy to be ignored, so he enlisted his services and subsequently, they returned to Lagos to seal the deal with Ikechukwu. The banker would harvest the dollars. However, there was another hurdle, his contact in the USA had discovered that he was in custody and are refusing to continue the deal if he was not freed.

To secure his freedom, he was already talking to the EFCC officials as well as the Prison officials about what it would cost to let him off the hook. That he had such contacts was not in doubt as the lady and her family were always given the red carpet treatment whenever they visited Ikechukwu.

Besides, he was a famous ‘big man’ and lived large within the prison walls. So, the brother-in-law decided to finance his soon-to-be in-law’s release, so that together, they can access the $25 million! It was not until N14 million had gone down the drain before they realised that they were being scammed and reported to the EFCC.   Vanguard was   subsequently cleared as no evidence could link us to the money.

There is no doubt that corruption has eaten deeply into almost every sphere of the Nigerian system and society. While we point fingers at politician and those in positions of authority, we are not free of same practices in our little corners. From top management personnel down to the guards at the gates, everyone wants to cut corners and make ‘ends meet’.

When it comes to making money, religion and values are relegated to the back burners. Some churches don’t even dabble into business matters involving members so as not to implicate themselves too. It is a big travesty of justice when those whose duty is to prosecute criminals, enforce the laws and court decisions and protect citizens are found culpable of breaking same. Do have a wonderful weekend!