Rivers Police Nab Fake Vigilante Leader

The Rivers State Police Command says the leader of a suspected militia group operating as a local vigilante has been arrested by men of the Operation Sting for the alleged involvement of his members in criminal activities in the state.
Spokesman of the Command, DSP Nnamdi Omoni, who confirmed the arrest to newsmen in Port Harcourt, said that the leader of the group, Alalibo Gogo-Abite from Bakana in Degema Local Government Area of the state was arrested following a tip off on the activities of the group.
Omoni explained that shortly after he was arrested, Gogo-Abite, a.k.a. ‘Inspector General’, took police operatives to his office were they also discovered other items being used by the group.
He said the group claimed that they have been assisting the police to fight crime in the state, noting that following the claim, the state Commissioner of Police, Mustapha Dandaura, had ordered investigations into the relationship between the group and the police in the state.
He added that preliminary results of the investigation indicate that the group was not what the suspect had claimed in his confessional statements.
The police spokesman, who said that the command was not aware of the group’s operation and existence, explained that Alalibo Gogo-Abite has been using fake letter headed paper of the police to recruit more than 500 persons across the three Kalabari-speaking communities and some from Diobu axis of Port Harcourt.
In his remarks, Alalibo Gogo-Abite, who denied his group’s involvement in militia activities, insisted that some of the Divisional Police Officers in the command were aware of their existence.
Gogo-Abite, during interrogation at the Police Headquarters, also admitted that he has not been licensed by the police to operate a vigilante group, but claimed that as a leader of the local security outfit, he was trained by the police four years ago.
Investigations show that items recovered from Gogo-Abite’s office were more than 100 passports belonging to applicants, 82 recruitment forms and 74 police emblem crested berets.
Others include, four black T-shirts bearing Rivers State Vigilante and photo-album of the group’s activities in different parts of the state.

By: Susan Serekara-Nwikhana