Posted by Olamilekan Lartey, Asaba on
A policeman who extorted money from the Delta State Commissioner of Police Mr. Udom Ekpoudom, has been dismissed from the force.
A policeman who extorted money from the Delta State Commissioner of Police Mr. Udom Ekpoudom, has been dismissed from the force.
Ekpoudom told newsmen at the command's headquarters in Asaba on Monday that policemen stopped him at a checkpoint near the River Niger Bridge and demanded money from him because he was not in uniform and was driving a private car.
Ekpoudom said he placed the men under arrest and immediately ordered the dismissal of the police corporal who tried to fleece him, while the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the B Division in Asaba (name withheld) has been transferred and issued a query because the extortion happened in his area of jurisdiction.
Also at the command headquarters on Monday, the police paraded a 27-year-old suspect (name withheld) who allegedly killed his six-year-old son for ritual purpose. Also paraded was his 50-year-old accomplice.
The two suspects allegedly committed the offence in Uvwie Local Government in the state.
The 27-year-old suspect said he paid N21,000 to his suspected accomplice who informed him that a child was required as an essential ingredient for the get-rich-quick ritual.
The younger suspect confessed that the old man gave him a black substance with which he could lure any child.
He said he was not bold enough to take just any child.
He claimed that he picked his own child, whom he lured to a local fish pond not far away from their home.
He said he then pushed the child into the pond where he drowned.
He said trouble started when his situation did not change and neighbours and family members began to ask after the child.
The young man's estranged wife, who was also at the police station, said the alleged herbalist and her husband worked as civil defence officers in their town.
She said the family had been reluctant to involve the police because they did not want any trouble.
She said they had planned to hand over the matter to the youths of the town.
The youths, she noted would compel her husband to produce the child.
Police sources told out correspondent that the corpse of the child had not been found.
Both men are being detained in Asaba, the state capital.
THE PUNCH, Tuesday, September 13, 2005