By Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, South-South & Festus Ahon

POLICE open up: SINCE last Tuesday, when the most wanted kidnap/armed robbery kingpin in Delta State, Kelvin, dared the security agencies in the state by showing up at his country home, Kokori in Ethiope-East Local Government Area, which is supposedly under watch by security agents, and issued a 60-day ultimatum to the State and Federal Governments, Deltans and other concerned Nigerians have been waiting for the police to speak on the effrontery.

Commissioner of Police, DeltaState, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, who is in the thick of the battle to apprehend the suspect opened up exclusively to your soar-away Vanguard on the affair. First, he corrected the misleading information on the identity of the subject, who he identified as Kelvin Oniarah from Kokori in Ethiope East Local Government Area, and not Kelvin Obruvbe.

Delta CP, Ikechukwu Aduba

High level conspiracy: Not unexpectedly, he admitted that there was a high level of conspiracy in the criminal exploits of the gangster, a point that other top-level security officials had confided before now to Vanguard. Aduba, who got a phone call from Kelvin, in the first quarter of the year, pleading for amnesty, only for him (Kelvin) to renege, few days after the commissioner contacted the Inspector General of Police, IGP, on the request, disclosed that the people of Kokori were supporting the hoodlum.

••His days numbered: He, nevertheless, stated that Kelvin’s days were numbered, as there was a massive manhunt for him by the Army, Police and Department of State Service, DSS. His words, “There is total mobilization of security agencies, comprising the military, police and the SSS at Kokori and soon enough, the long arms of the law will eventually catch up with Kelvin as it has always happened against such notorious criminals.

“That he is being supported by highly placed individuals in Kokori is not in doubt and this point we have made severally. Kokori is only a segment of Agbon clan and a good number of Kokori people are behind him.”

 Dare-devil criminal: “Kelvin is a dare devil criminal and is not friendly with anybody – he is a drug addict, insane and cannot be relied upon by anybody. Kelvin and his gang even tried to kidnap his traditional ruler – the Ovie of Agbon clan and the Special Adviser to a civil Commissioner, who is from Kokori axis.”

Investigation: “As regard the Tuesday, September 17, 2013, publication of a purported press conference given wide coverage by a national newspaper; whatever may have happened; from evidence and surrounding circumstances at our disposal for now, there is high level of conspiracy for which we are currently investigating, bearing in mind that most people in Kokori have sympathy for the kingpin’s criminal exploits.

Criminal exploits

“The father and mother of Kelvin have gone underground and Kelvin himself is in exile and it is only the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the State Governor that can grant amnesty to a criminal. The conditions for such amnesty are well spelt out – surrender your weapons and disclose your collaborators, he said.

 Kelvin not a freedom fighter: On if Kelvin, who recently identified himself as the leader of the newly-formed Liberation Movement of the Urhobo People, LIMUP, is a freedom fighter, he said, “That will be the height of treachery as our country remains one and indivisible entity and the actions of a criminal fugitive should not becloud that fact. As far as we are concerned, Kelvin is still on the run and appearing and disappearing will not derogate from that fact. All the security agencies, including the Army, the Police and the SSS have been alerted.”

‘Criminal offence’ by the media: “The current situation is a challenge and we are working round the clock to ensure that this common criminal is brought to face justice. The publicity given to him is not helping the image of the country and is certainly not suppose to be a lead story in such a newspaper with a wide coverage. Assuming without conceding that such press conference was held and the security agencies around the town were not notified by the press men concerned, is that not a criminal offence?

“Nigeria is our only country and we must do everything possible to protect it from those who want to see it destroyed. Security agencies are not magicians and can only work with genuine information passed to us by public spirited individuals.”

Every day for the thief, one day for the owner: On the likely arrest of Kelvin, he said, “The wind-mill of justice grinds slowly, but surely, and we reiterate that soon enough, the issue of Kelvin Oniarah and his gang will be confined to the archives of history.”

Antio-crime strategies working: Commenting on the respite being enjoyed from kidnappers for some months now in the state, he said, “Our anti-crime strategies/mechanisms put in place in DeltaState is working effectively. Our proactive measures are grass root based as we enjoy the full co-operation of most communities, where we have functional vigilante outfits with well harmonized intelligence dissemination. “

Intelligence dissemination

He, however, added, “Security is not a one man business, but rather requires the tacit support of all and sundry to continuously grease our emplaced structures and the result of this collective impute is gradually being manifested.”

Petitions and litigations over demolished bases/cells: On the information that the Delta State Police Command had been inundated with petitions over the demolition of suspected cells/houses used by kidnappers and  how the action was  affecting the moral of  his men, Aduba said, “The truth is that, yes – series of petitions and litigations have been initiated by some aggrieved persons against the State Government and the Nigeria Police Force for which our legal teams have joined issues with the litigants at the courts, hence I beg not to comment further on it to avoid the actions being subjudice.”

Identified kidnappers’ dens‘ll still go down: Aduba declared, “However, we have made appropriate recommendations to the State Government on the recently promulgated Anti-Kidnapping law in a bid to fine-tune some grey areas that will further impact positively on our ongoing battle against kidnappers.

And as soon as our recommendation is looked into, we will come out in full swing. As to whether the morals of our men have been affected by the petitions and court litigations, I can whole heartedly say that the morals of our men is not affected by the petitions and court litigations as we have been hitting them and will continue to hit the kidnappers and their collaborators hard, and even though we have some of the grey areas to fine-tune, the already identified bases/cells of the kidnappers will still go down,” he said.