Slain DPO: Rivers police closing in on prime suspect, says DCP
The Rivers State Police Command said it is closing in on notorious cult leader, Gift Okpara, declared wanted for the murder of the Divisional Police Officer of Ahoada, Bako Angbashin in September 2023.
Earlier reports had revealed that the late Angbashim was deceived by the dare-devil cultists who tricked him that they were willing to submit their weapons and embrace amnesty.
However, the command said it had recovered four 20-KVA generator sets from the hideout of Okpara popularly known as ‘2-Baba’ which he seized from a company.
According to the police, the wanted leader of the Iceland cult group had seized the assets from an unnamed company for refusing to pay him N20m illegal levy dubbed ‘matching ground’ imposed on persons or organisations by cultists in some communities.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Operations, Olugbenga Adepoju, disclosed this to newsmen while handing over the assets (four 20-KVA generators) back to the company in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
DCP Adepoju stated, “I am here representing the Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, today to hand some Perkins generators, four that were recovered by our tactical teams seized by the notorious most wanted criminal in Rivers, David Gift aka 2 Baba and his gang who killed SP Bako Angbashin DPO of Ahoada Police Division some months back.
“These generators were intercepted by him (2 Baba) some months ago while going to a location to be used by the company at Odiemude community in Ahoada East Local Government Area.
“He seized it and was demanding N20m, five million naira for each generator before it could be released to the company.
“While we were on the search for him, we were able to stumble on the generators in his hideout. Our men tactically cordoned off the place and recovered the generators.
“We have the generators here with us. Today we want to present it to the company. I don’t want to mention the name of the company for security reasons.
“They are here with us now. This is one of our achievements. We are still on his trail and by the grace of God we will get him.”
The DCP, Operations said the command will make the state uninhabitable for criminal elements by chasing them to their hideouts wherever they might be.
Adepoju added, “We are warning every other person who wants to bring back criminality to the system while urging anyone whose property these people are still with to report officially to the command so that we will do the needful.”
Meanwhile one of the representatives of the company in an interview with journalists thanked the Police for their efforts in recovering the assets.
According to him, “I want to seize this opportunity to thank the Rivers State Police Command for this feat. These generators were confiscated some months ago and all efforts to recover them failed and we reported them to the Police.
“They did a very fantastic job even sacrificing their men to recover our assets and also handing them over to us peacefully without any strings attached.
“This is commendable I have known the CP for a long time. He is a good Police officer with a lot of respect accorded to him.”
Although the primary suspect is still at large, Onyekachi Okowa, 2-Baba’s second-in-command, was apprehended by the police in November 2023.
