Posted by By YINKA FABOWALE, Ibadan on
Lanky, handsome well-spoken, Fabian Emudi, is the perfect image of a gallant Army Captain. Except that the military camouflage and the pips he donned were not his. Emudi is an impostor who makes a living on fraud.
Lanky, handsome well-spoken, Fabian Emudi, is the perfect image of a gallant Army Captain. Except that the military camouflage and the pips he donned were not his. Emudi is an impostor who makes a living on fraud.
He impersonates army officers for the gain of filthy lucre, but an end came to the scandalous lifestyle of the 31-year-old, who claimed to be an electrical/electronics engineering graduate of the Federal Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti, when he made a bid to secure the release of a suspected smuggled BMW car, impounded by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) about three months ago.
The car was seized in Ile-Ife, Osun State, while being driven to Abuja where the owner resided.
Emudi was consequently hired to help effect its release. He swung into action immediately, only to discover that the seized car had been transferred to the NCS base in Saki on the northern fringe of Oyo State.
Undaunted, he proceeded to Saki, where he tried to negotiate for the release of the vehicle. However, suspicious officers of the Customs alerted the commanders of the nearby 244 Recce Battalion of the Nigerian Army, who arrested him.
He was transferred to the 2nd Division NA headquarters, which eventually handed him over to the police in Ibadan for prosecution.
Emudi said he was offered N25,000 for the abortive job and he resorted to the trade because of his inability to secure a regular job.
The Delta-born suspect, who spoke fluent English said he had access to the uniform and pips found on him, because his father was a retired colonel. Besides, he said he has a lot of soldier-friends, having served as a private in the military too.
He said he left the military in 1997 when he travelled to Germany on an undisclosed mission. He would, however, not disclose under what circumstance he left the Army.
Emudi is just a part of a big harvest of criminal suspects reaped by the Oyo State police command in the last quarter. Also in the haul were six armed robbery suspects belonging to different gangs, six vandals accused of vandalising the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pipelines in the state, and one Kazeem Ademola a member of a gang that attempted to siphon diesel oil from GSM service provider-MTN at one of its service stations in Olode village, a suburb of Ibadan.
Also paraded along with them was Adeyemi Kayode, who, hiding his identity, allegedly threatened a neighbour via a GSM phone, promising the latter death if he failed to provide a N400,000 ransom money.
He was caught in a trap laid by the police who had encouraged the would-be-victim to play along.
Also in the police net are the trio of Ali Ibrahim, Mairana Magaro and Umaru Sanda who had been raiding cattle ranches, dispossessing the owners of money and cattle heads.
According to police sources, the suspects invaded Odo Ogun area of Oke-Ogun on May 10, robbing a victim of four cows valued at N100,000.
But they met their waterloo on a second attempt, running into an ambush by the police two days later. Recovered from the hoodlums are two dane guns, pistol, one sharp iron object and a torchlight.
The State Police Commissioner, Mr. Moses Anegbode in a press briefing urged the public to continue assisting the police with information about criminals and their activities.
He lamented the increasing rise in the involvement of students and educated persons in crime.
The police boss was, however, full of gratitude to The Polytechnic, Ibadan for its assistance and collaboration in fighting crime and cultism both within and outside the campus.
According to him, the institution's authorities have contributed about 50 per cent to police success in tackling crime in the state, by helping to screen students enrolment.
Through this partnership, he said, 'we are able to know that illegal students form the bulk of criminals operating within and outside the campus.
'They first see themselves as cultists and above the law and to live up to the high standing they have created for themselves, they involve themselves in all sorts of crime; armed robbery, rape, shooting and murder."
The police commissioner assured the people of his command's capacity to protect property and lives within its jurisdiction.
He advised members of the public to swiftly alert the police if confronted with phoney phone calls.