‘I was among robbers who killed policeman’

Two armed robbery suspects, who allegedly killed a police corporal, Ekpenyong Ekanem, seven months ago, have been arrested by men of the Osun State Police Command.

Ekanem, who was attached to Police Mobile Force 39, Osogbo, was shot dead on November 30, 2011, at Aye-Coker village along the Ife-Ondo Road, while on duty.

None of the members of the gang that shot Ekanem was arrested after the operation.

The bubble, however, burst on June 6, 2012, when two male suspects, Wale Olowookere, and Tope Ajayi, who engaged in another armed robbery operation in Ife, were arrested and transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department, Osogbo.

Olowookere, in his statement at the state CID, Osogbo, confessed that he was inside a Mazda car driven by a suspected armed robbery kingpin, Ishola Sulaimon, who fired the shot that killed Ekanem.

The Commissioner of Police, Mrs. Kalafite Adeyemi, who paraded the suspects on Tuesday in Osogbo, said Sulaimon had been imprisoned over another armed robbery incident.

She said Olowookere would be taken to prison to confront Sulaimon.

Adeyemi said all the suspects would be charged to court as soon as investigations were completed.

The police commissioner advised members of the public to be wary of suspicious movements, stressing that security was a collective responsibility of all.

She urged members of the public to report suspicious movements to the police, assuring them that their identities would be protected.

Explaining that bail remained free, Adeyemi implored members of the public not to offer money for bail in any police station across the state.

“Bail if free. No member of the public should offer bribe to the police under any guise for bail. I urge members of the public to report any policeman or policewoman, who demand bribe for bail,” she stated.

Punch Nigeria