Robbery gang: PDP aspirant identified among suspects

One of the suspects paraded by the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police Force on Monday in Lagos, Mr. Ayodeji Olumudi, has been identified as a member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party in Kogi State.

The suspects, Olumudi (1st left)

PUNCH Metro had reported on Tuesday that the FSARS, Adeniji-Adele Street, Lagos, paraded a chief of the All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State, Itunnu Odeyemi, and eight others on Monday, saying they were notorious for snatching exotic cars in the country.

It had also been reported that Odeyemi denied being a robber, but said he provided his political thug, Omoniyi Ajewole, with a gun, which was recovered by the police, and had led to the arrest of the Ekiti APC member.

But as soon as the report was published, some Nigerians went on the Internet and identified Olumudi.

An investigation by PUNCH Metro on Wednesday showed that indeed, Olumudi was a PDP aspirant.

Olumudi, whose PDP campaign poster during the 2011 elections was obtained by our correspondent, had also been arrested and paraded for the robbery.

However, the Police Public Relations Officer, ACP Frank Mba, said it was during the course of police investigations that the initial suspect, Ajewole, mentioned that he was an APC thug, adding that people should not give political meaning to police investigations.

He said, “The suspect (Ajewole), in the process of interrogation, told the police that he preferred to be called a political thug than an armed robber. And that had changed the entire narration and we began to probe further. You can understand why his own story was relevant to us; a gun was recovered from him by the police. In the process of asking where he got the gun, he said it was given to him by an APC honourable in Ekiti State.

“The idea of anybody trying to read political colouration into it is rather unfortunate. We were concerned about the robbery, and if the suspect had not opened up that he was a political thug, perhaps that would not have come up. Ajewole said it so openly that it would have been difficult for anybody to contest the fact. But if anyone has any additional information from anywhere, that is alright.

“The other person, even if he was a politician, the interrogation probably never took us to that direction. In investigation, it is not possible for you to know everything about a suspect. The gun is a material evidence recovered from the suspect, and it is relevant to establishing the robbery case. It was in the process of finding out the owner of the gun, that the suspect confessed he got it from an honourable in Efon-Alaaye, Ekiti State. So, you can see the way it was built up. So, if anyone belongs to any other political party, that has nothing to do with the case, that is not my business.”