Date Published: 10/31/09

Soludo latest: Anambra Police Boss under fire

Ogbonna Onovo

Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Parry Osayande has faulted claims by the state Commissioner of Police Philemon Ibrahim Leha that the reported kidnap on Tuesday evening of the father former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, Pa Simeon Soludo was politically motivated.

Leha had shortly after Soludo’s reported kidnap, fingered a trustee and financier of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Chris Uba for masterminding the kidnap of the 78-yearold. Uba had earlier reportedly met with some PDP governorship aspirants opposed to Soludo’s selection as PDP governorship candidate...

“Just yesterday (Wednesday), some group of politicians held a meeting at Emmaus House in Awka where scathing remarks were made on Chukwuma Soludo. Just after the meeting, Simeon Soludo was kidnapped and it is left for people to speculate who did it, and for what reasons,” Leha told reporters.

But speaking late Friday in Awka, capital of Anambra State after assessing the state of its Command, Osayande who was flanked by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 9, Hafiz Ringim, said it was wrong to give political coloration to Soludo’s kidnap since, according to him, it was not different from the several kidnap cases recorded in the state.

Sources close to the Commission told Pointblanknews.com that the reprimand from Osayande may have stemmed from the embarrassment which Leha’s outburst reportedly caused the police authorities. Even more embarrassed, the sources offered, is the police high command over Soludo’s refusal to officially report the matter to the police.

Offered the source: “Instead of plunging into investigating the veracity of the kidnap, the CP (Commissioner of Police) rushed to the media to libel Chris Uba as being the brain box of the kidnap, even when no relative of Pa Soludo had yet to lodge an official report with the police.

“The first thing every police officer is taught is never to believe all complainant says. We have lost count of instances where people have murdered their loved ones and have rushed to the police pointing accusing fingers at some other people.

“Even the CP ought to have known from the little time he has spent in Anambra that no kidnap is ever successful without the backing of an insider. He has several case files of kidnappings, and to the best of my knowledge, he has yet to crack any.

“We at PSC are scandalized that the CP turned himself into the complainant, IPO, prosecutor and judge. He even went overboard to advise politicians to seek office only through the ‘ballot box.’ He was either too silly or simply hallucinated not to work on the lead that it may all have been stage-managed by the Soludo camp to whip up public opinion that we hear may be ebbing.

Continued the source: “This is the same Pa Soludo that was reportedly blinded in one eye following an attack by armed gunmen shortly after his son was made Governor of the Central Bank. We also know Soludo and the chairman of Pokobros Group, Chief Paul Okonkwo, are not the best of friends. Yet Pokobros was kidnapped in broad day light some months ago near the CP’s office. Why didn’t he accuse Soludo of masterminding his kidnap,” the officer observed, adding, “I guess officer of the law should be circumspect when dealing with such issues.”

The police official told Pointblanknews.com that the police are never unmindful of the unwritten code that behind every kidnap is insider information

He offered: “The owner of Gubabi Hotels in Abuja is a typical example. The young businessman, we hear, sold his hotel in Abuja for about N1.3 billion. A week later, some men kidnapped his 95-year old father, demanding N300 million as ransom. “They pointedly told him they were aware he had N1.3 billion from the sale of the hotel. That, as ‘God-fearing’ people, they would ‘take’ only N300 million and leave him with N1billion. That, as far as they were concerned, it was a fair deal.

Continued the source: “Unfortunately, while the young man was preparing to release the first tranche of N50 million to the kidnappers, they called him on the telephone to tell him to go and pick up his father’s corpse around Oba junction. This happened around May or June.

“One would have thought that with the old man dead, the deal had gone awry. Shortly after the Gubabi boss picked up his father’s corpse, the kidnappers called to tell him to proceed with the payment of the N300 million or they would make it impossible to bury his father.

To cut a long story short, the man was only able to bury his father on Thursday, five months after his father’s painful murder. Even at that, we had to invite hordes of soldiers, navy and air force personnel to mount guard. We also had to station at least 50 fully armed mobile policemen.

“Where was this Super Police Commissioner in all this? Now he has suddenly found his voice. How many kidnappers has he arrested in Anambra where we have this year alone recorded over 500 unresolved cases? For heaven’s sake, we are police officers and not PDP officers. If he wants to vie for any political office, we can’t stop him. But he has to, first, hand us our beautiful uniform, after which we may decide whether or not to kiss him goodbye,” the police officer proclaimed.