– Declares Affected Officers AWOL
– More heads Roll at Panti CID
THE Police Service Commission in Nigeria rose from its meeting last Thursday in Abuja to recommend two of its men, Mr. Babatunde Odine Jonathan and Sheik Umar Usman, both very senior officers of The Nigerian Police, for dismissal for acts of gross professional misconduct following accusations of receiving a bribe of four million naira to destroy the case file on an alleged killing of an unidentified teenager.
Babatunde Jonathan, a boxer who currently resides somewhere in Nevada, in the United States, with the alias ‘Fighting Machine’ along with his partner in fraud and corruption Sheik Umar Usman, allegedly took a bribe of four million naira from one Mrs. Oyindamola Pemu-Amuka, in order to destroy incriminating evidence on the alleged ritual killings of the yet-to-be identified teenage boy about four years ago.
Police sources confirmed that Babatunde Odine Jonathan, an officer then in charge of Department 13 Monitoring at the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Panti, Yaba, Lagos, allegedly made confessional statements before Assistant Inspector General of Police, Mr. M. D. Abubakar, who was then the Lagos State Commissioner of Police; Mr. Leye Oyebade the then Deputy Commissioner of Police State CID Yaba, Lagos, now Assistant Commissioner of Police who was demoted to this present rank along with Nuhu Ribadu and CSP Tony Onyeagoro Ebere then Office in Charge of Homicide Department 4 of the state CID in Panti, Yaba, Lagos, now an Assistant Commissioner of Police and presently in Imo State.
According to S. P. Jonathan, a female Lagos socialite based in London was arrested for an alleged ritual crime and detained in Panti for three days after which 4 million naira exchanged hands with the police, there after the female suspect was granted bail.
Police sources also confirmed that SP Babatunde Odine Jonathan confessed to destroying the entire case file of Department 13, video clips showing the ritual killing of an unidentified 11-year old boy, CD plates and pictures relating to the entire ritual acts after the four million naira bribe had changed hands.
It was also confirmed that shortly after the scandal blew open, Babatunde Odine Jonathan absconded from his duty post as officer in charge Department 13 since 2007, ignoring all summons both by the Police High Command and the Police Services Commission to show up and answer the allegation of the 4 million naira bribe.
According to the same police sources, Mr. Babatunde Odine Jonathan on June 11, 2007, made an undertaking at the state C.I.D Panti Yaba to refund the 4 million naira he had received from the female suspect on or before the 30th of November, 2007 and urged the police High Command to deal with him if he fails to pay as agreed.
It was also confirmed that the undertaking was made in presence of one Bash Ali, a fellow boxer of Jonathan’s who equally signed as a witness.
In another document made available to sharpedgenews.com, Babatunde Odine Jonathan, made another undertaking promising to pay back the four million naira in or before 31st August 2007, asking the the Police High Command to be lenient with him as, according to him, he had put in 30 years of service as a veteran of the Nigerian Police Force.
Police sources and documents made available confirmed that three police officers also involved in bribery allegation scandal that rocked state C.I.D Panti Yaba Lagos includes a female police officer, Toyin Omojola, with force number 023884; Sergent Ogadinma Eze, with force number 175586 and Patrick Ararumi with force numbers 188782, whose statements corroborated that of Babatunde Odine Jonathan as to having received four million naira bribe from a female suspect then under their custody at State C.I.D Panti Yaba Lagos.
In another document made available to sharpedgenews.com from the office of the Deputy-Commissioner of Police at the State C.I.D in Panti, Yaba, Lagos, dated December 24 2008 with reference No CR.3000/LSX/F4/VOL.7/249, it was stated that the female suspect did hand over the sum of four million naira to SP Babatunde Odine Jonathan, then officer in charge of Department 13 (monitoring) state C.I.D Panti Yaba Lagos, in other to destroy an entire case file which Babatunde eventually destroyed.
‘Mrs. Oyindamola handed over a some of four million naira (N4,000,000.00) to SP Babatunde Odine Jonathan as part of a payment for a yet to be disclosed sum of money. It was at this stage that SP. Jonathan destroyed the case file of Department 13 sections, video clips, CD plates and other items of evidential value while Mrs. Oyindamola fled to London.
The female suspect, identified by the police as Mrs. Oyindamola, told the police that she gave four million naira to SP. Babatunde Odine Jonathan as bribe in his office at state C.I.D in Panti, after which an earlier confessional statement made by her, pictures relating to the ritual acts involving her and video clips of same ritual acts were destroyed by SP. Babatunde Odine Jonanthan.
Police sources, also confirmed to this reporter that the female suspect, a mother of five and a native of Owo town in Ondo State and wife of a prominent Nigerian, had since returned to London. She had also allegedly requested her husband to distance himself from the case. According to her, the four million naira that was given to the police as bribe was from her own sweat.
Sources from the Police High Command revealed that the four million naira bribe scandal is the biggest bribe ever to be taken by a police officer in that department, describing the state C.I.D Panti as a money-spinning department.
Investigations revealed that the admission of Babatunde Odine Jonathan, a Police Boxer who had represented Nigeria and the Police High Command in various local and international Boxing competitions who had put in almost 30 years in service, points to the fact that the State C.I.D Panti (now Musiliu Smith Street) Yaba Lagos needs a proper over-haul in all its departments.
Public outcry about the level of extortion that goes on in state C.I.D Panti is alarming, and SP Babatunde Odine Jonathan 4 million bribe scandal is just one among the extortions that goes on there.
The Police High Command in its effort to clean the C.I.D Panti Yaba Lagos of the likes of Babatunde Odine Jonathan recently deployed a seasoned police officer in the person of Mr. Abdulai Yuguda, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, to overhaul the departments and reposition the Apex Panti state C.I.D to a Metropolitan Police standard in investigations, administration and operations.
In this regard, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, Hassan Biu, was promoted to a full-fledged commissioner of police based on the recommendations of the Inspector General of Police.
Nine other serving police officers were reprimanded while a Deputy Superintendent of Police was reduced in rank for professional misconduct.
The Chairman of the Police Serving Commission, Chief Pary Osayande, a himself a retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police, in exercising the powers vested in it by section 153 (i) and (m) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic, and the Police Service Commission (establishment) Act 1999, deliberated on a number of issues in its resolve to reposition, reform and refocus the Nigerian Police Force to a security outfit that would meet the requirements of policing a dynamic Nigerian society.
The Hounorable Chairman of the Commission Chief Pary Osayande, CFR, MPM, MNI, while congratulating the newly promoted officer, enjoined him to redouble his efforts towards good and efficient service delivery to Nigeria and the society at large, promising to work for a more dedicated and discipline police force.