As the proposed protest against economic hardship looms, the Commissioner of Police, FCT, CP Benneth Igweh, has appealed to Abuja residents to refrain from participating to prevent the destruction of recently established infrastructure by the FCT administration and President Bola Tinubu.
This appeal comes amidst the parade of the mastermind behind the armed robbery gang responsible for the murder of retired Brigadier General Uwen Harold Udokwerre in Abuja on June 22, 2024.
Speaking on the impending protest, Igweh said, “Lions do not destroy their den. We have toiled so much to ensure and provide security for the FCT.
In the course of this, we have gone to Kaduna, we have gone to Kogi, we have gone to Nasarawa to fish out criminals who came to disturb the peace of Abuja.
“In this process, we have lost officers. Last week we lost two officers, the previous week, we lost one officer over efforts at providing security and safeguarding residents. We don’t want to lose any more persons.”
“So please don’t allow the destruction of what the minister, what Mr President is doing. We have been in this FCT, we know when there are changes, roads, infrastructure. I am pleading with residents, do not join this protest.”
“We don’t want miscreants to come from outside the FCT to come and start destroying them. We will go back to square one where we were before. I plead, I beg of you, do not join this protest.”
“Let us continue collectively to make FCT safe. Let them go and do what they want to do, but not with us. Act maturely. Act maturely. Act like people who appreciate.
Even the loss we have been losing to ensure your safety. Use it to appreciate us. If you give it to us, we will be very happy. We will continue to provide security for you.”
On the arrest of the mastermind, CP Igweh said, “Last time, I did show you the four killers, kidnappers, and robbers that went and killed Brigadier General Uwem Harold Udokwerre retired. Today, I will show you the organizer of the killing and the robbery.”
“We have also recovered the general’s gun that was with him. We have recovered the wristwatch of the general and the wife’s jewelry which they all robbed from the general’s house.”
“The organizer is here and we have arrested him. He is Alhaji Ashiru. He had been arrested before for crime and jailed in prison and escaped during the jailbreak.”
“Instead of him to repent, he continued with more audacity. We arrested him in Kano where he was trying to exit the country. I told him that you can run but as far as you touch FCT, we are going to get you. So, I’ve got him. He’s here.”
“On the day they attacked the general’s house, he rented a hotel close to the general’s Estate. That was where he coordinated the robbery. In his residence we recovered drugs which they take to be high.”
The CP also paraded another armed robbery and kidnapping group, naming Ibrahim Yakubu, Ugumonde Joseph, and Moktab Lahi, who had been terrorizing Abuja and its environs.
“They came to FCT to rob. They have a red vehicle as their operational vehicle. As they organized to rob, they didn’t know we have the intelligence.
So, we barricaded them where they were on their way to rob. And we recovered two pistols and several rounds of ammunition. We recovered two English-made pistols and ammunition from them.”
He also displayed a truck loaded with stolen materials, saying, “This vehicle you see here, the group of criminals use it to remove cables and wires from government institutions.”
“So, we got information that they have a lot of wires that were removed, that they have burned all of them and they want to move them to somewhere best known to them.”
“If you know what is inside this, there’s nothing that’s not inside this vehicle. People’s property, they loaded them down first, before putting these ones upstairs. So, we have arrested them and we arrested other vehicles using Kabusa, Panteka.”
The FCT Police Command continues to work tirelessly to ensure the safety and security of residents while urging the public to cooperate and avoid actions that could lead to further instability.
