who had been arrested severally
and charged to court for criminal
offences is in police net again after
he was caught at about 10p.m. on
October 3 by members of a
vigilance group at Elenusonso area
of Ibadan, Oyo State, who
suspected him after sighting him in
an uncompleted building in the
area.
Crime Reports gathered that the
suspect, who also bears Raphael, could
not give a satisfactory answer when
questioned on his presence in the area.
While the questioning was going on, the
security men reportedly sighted a pistol
in his back pocket but when Felix saw
that it might implicate him, he was said
to have taken to his heels with the men
in hot pursuit.
When he was eventually caught, the
gun was nowhere to be seen again, but
two wraps of weed suspected to be
cannabis sativa and two passport
photographs of him in police uniform
were found in his pocket. When
informed about the incident, the
Divisional Police Officer in charge of
Eleyele Division, DSP Ayoola Olawole,
reportedly sent a patrol team to arrest
him.
It was further gathered that a number
plate with registration number AGG 694
QB was recovered from his house at
Odejayi area of Ibadan. He was also
alleged to have attempted to snatch a
motorcycle from one Alidu Kazeem on
same day at about 8.30p.m. when he
and one other at large pretended to be
passengers and asked the rider to stop
so that they could alight from the
okada.
Felix had been arrested in Saki in May,
2012 and was charged to court after he
was caught for posing as a policeman
and extorting money from motorists.
Found with him, among other things,
were a police identity card, handcuffs,
driver's licence bearing Ojo Usman
Adewale, nine wraps of cannabis sativa
and crumpled naira notes in different
denominations totalling N1,925. After
his release months after, he was
arrested again on November 14, same
year, when he snatched a motorcycle
from its owner at Bodija area, and was
paraded among other suspects at the
Eleyele headquarters of the Oyo State
police Command on November 15.
Felix was reported to have been
notorious for stealing people's
motorcycles from them by pretending
to be a policeman who had arrested
them. One of his ploys was to stop an
okada without registration number,
claiming that the rider was under
arrest.
He would then call out to an imaginary
police officer to come and take the bike
to the police station, after which he
would decide to take it himself,
pretending that his partner was not
responding to his call. He would then
ask the owner to report at a particular
police station which would be found to
be a lie.
This time round, when arrested at
Elenusonso area, Felix claimed that he
went to look for a girlfriend he had not
seen in two years when he was arrested
by the security men. He also claimed
that his case on the last offence was
struck out and he was discharged and
acquitted when the complainant was no
longer coming to court.
The 34-year-old Ebira man from Kogi
State, who said he joined the Nigeria
Police Force in 2004 but was dismissed
in April, 2011 for going out on illegal
duty in Ile-Ife, Osun State told Crime
Reports that "There was a girl I was
dating while still in service. She has a
shop at Gbopa area of Ologuneru
community in Ibadan but we have not
seen each other since I left the police
force. I traced her to the shop but could
not see her, so I went to her brother's
place at Elenusonso area of Ologuneru
to look for her. We normally met in a
school behind her brother's house, so I
stood beside the school watching out
for her. I waited till after 8p.m. but did
not see her.
"As I was leaving, I was stopped by a
man whom I later discovered was a
security man in the area. He asked for
my mission and I told him I came to see
my girlfriend. He asked whether I knew
the place and I said yes. He took me to
a house and called out to Tina's brother.
The man denied knowing me and the
security man started beating me. He
was joined by other security men who
tore my clothes and beat me, using
cutlass to hit me on the back. They
called the police from Eleyele Division
and I was taken to the station."
He denied having a gun, saying he only
had his driver's licence and passport
photographs that were found on him.
He also denied ever being arrested,
charged to court or remanded in prison
until he was confronted with his past
deeds. At first, he was speechless, then
he confirmed the facts that were
presented to him on his past criminal
records. When asked why he was lying
bold-facedly, he could not give an
answer but bore a look that showed
that he gave up on his pretence and
lies.
When reminded of the okada he
allegedly snatched at Bodija area in
2012, Felix said: "I did not snatch it. I
only borrowed it from my friend and he
reported me to the police the following
day that I stole it when I didn't return it.
However, during an interview when he
was arrested in 2012, Felix told another
story. According to him then, he just
took the okada to Mokola because the
okada man was not willing to take him
to his destination.
The Kogi-born dismissed police officer
said that "on Wednesday, I called an
okada rider at Bodija to take me to
Mokola. He said he was not going that
way. I begged him to take me,
promising to give him money. He got
down to pick something and I went
away with his motorcycle. When he
came to meet at Sabo, the people were
asking whether he didn't know me."
According to his victim then, one Jelilu
Mumuni, a citizen of Niger Republic,
"this man (Sani) approached me to take
him and one other man to Agodi Gate
but I told him that I ply Bodija to Sango.
He brought out his identification card,
saying that he was a policeman and
pleading that I should help him to a
spot where they could easily get
another okada. On the way, he said I
should go and drop him at 411 Club
along Awolowo road. I thought that was
okay since I was going to Sango.
"As we passed the railway at Bodija Oju
Irin area, the second man used his hand
to push the face cap I had on. I wanted
to turn to pick it but they said I didn't
need to do that. With the belief that he
was truly a policeman, I kept the okada
engine running and got down to pick
the cap.
"Before I knew what was happening,
the one at large zoomed off wih the
'policeman' on my okada. I quickly
waved down an okada rider and told
him what happened. We started trailing
them until we saw them with the okada
at Civic Centre, Mokola. I started
shouting Ole! Ole!! (thief!, thief!!). The
sped towards Sabo and that was where
they were stopped by the Hausas there.
Sani was arrested while the other man
escaped. The police at Mokola were
invited and he was handed over to
them."
Raphael was then said to have been
notorious for snatching motorcycles
from owners in Oke Ogun environs and
was even fingered by a Saki resident as
the one who allegedly killed an okada
man and went away with his
motorcycle.
Confirming the story, the PPRO, Olabisi
Okuwobi-Ilobanafor said that he would
be charged to court after the
completion of investigations.
Source: Nigerian Tribune
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