Gang member kills colleague for protesting against sharing formula

• Police parade notorious teenage cultist, 12 others in Bayelsa
The police in Bayelsa State are searching for a suspected armed robber, simply identified as Oginivie, who allegedly killed a member of his gang, Gialaemi Ben, for protesting against an unfavourable sharing formula. The Commissioner of Police, Shola David, told newsmen yesterday that the manhunt for Oginivie followed the arrest of other members of his gang after the murder of the 19-year-old Ben.

David, who paraded 15 suspects arrested for various criminal activities in the state, named other arrested members of Oginivie’s gang as Victor Meremunya, 30; Isaac Ogan, 22; Pereowei Ibiagbe, 23; Tibolayefa Louis, 23; and Gift Samuel, 22. He said: “They burgled a house and stole a generating set, which they sold and shared the money.

“One of the suspect, Gielaemi Ben, aged 19, protested that he was given a smaller amount. The principal suspect, one Oginivie, shot him dead. In the course of investigation, operatives went to arrest one of the suspects, Isaac Ogan, who engaged the police in a shoot-out.

“He was shot on the leg and a locally-made pistol was recovered from him. The suspects are detained, while the principal suspect, Oginivie is at large. Efforts have been intensified to arrest him,” he said.

The command also paraded 13 suspected armed robbers, cultists and kidnappers, including a notorious 17-year-old, who had been terrorizing residents of Yenagoa, the state capital. The notorious cultist, Precious Egbo, was arrested by police operatives on surveillance at Swali, a suburb of Yenagoa.

He was said to be the brain behind most of the robberies and raids on traders in Swali market area and its environs before he was eventually apprehended. Others paraded include the kidnapper of an eight years old girl from his mother on March 20. The girl was rescued.

The suspects had gone on a motorcycle to the residence of Mrs. Amara Diekedie, and abducted her daughter, Dora Diekedie, at gunpoint. Luck, however, ran against them when policemen on patrol, alerted through the command control room, chased after them. While the police gunned one of them down, one other escaped and one was arrested.

The command also narrated how 19-year-old Priye John and his gang member, the late Pere Edwin, went to Sampino road, with a locally-made pistol to rob the owner of a tailoring shop. However, in an attempt to escape with their loot, the victim summoned courage and held the one with the gun, while others join him in apprehending the other.

Irate youths descended on the two robbers and inflicted various injuries on them leading to the death of one of them.

Parading the suspects at the police command headquarters in Yenagoa, the police boss said one of the major challenges facing the police in the state was the proliferation of small arms. He said the easy way small arms gets to these misguided youths, especially within the Yenagoa metropolis, poses a great danger to the security of the state.