The presence of stern looking armed men in a building at Airport Bye-Pass Calabar, Cross River state sent cold shivers down the spines of its occupants who were ordered to lie down flat.
Time was 8am . Attempt by the breadwinner Arch. Peter Denneth to shield members of his family from being hurt, earned him several machetes cuts all over his body.
The robbers then , drove away in the family’s Toyota 4 Runner Jeep with registration number BRA 639 AA as well as one laptop, an infinix Hot Note GSM, two other phones; Kawoon and techno Y product and an undisclosed amount of money.
The incident occurred last May. However, six months later, the stolen car was traced to the home of one Reverend in Ebonyi state, consequent upon which the car was seized but the suspect according to the family, was never arrested.
It has been over one year since the Ebonyi state command has recovered the stolen jeep. Regrettably, till date, Crime Guard was informed that it had not been returned to the family, in spite of several visits from Calabar to Ebonyi.
Irked by the seeming delay, the family has therefore appealed to the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris to intervene with a view to ensuring that the car is released .
In a petition from the Cross River state Deputy Governor’s office to the IGP, Mrs Denneth explained that :“My husband was called by the Ebonyi State Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS of the Nigeria Police Force, to come and identify the recovered jeep on November 19, 2016, which he did.
After that, the State Housing Police, Calabar traveled to Ebonyi State to bring back the car and the accused, but Ebonyi State Police Command refused to release the car and the accused giving no explanation.
The case was then transferred from State Housing Police station, where we reported the attack, to the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID State Headquarters, Calabar. After series of travels to Ebonyi State, it did not yield any result either.
The out-gone Commissioner of Police in Calabar, after studying the case, sent a team of Police men on December 23,2016, to Ebonyi State Police Command with a letter to bring the car and the accused to Calabar. Again, the Ebonyi State Police refused to release the car and the accused. Rather, they gave Calabar Police Command a court order restraining the arrest of the accused and the release of the car on the excuse that the accused has sued them (the police) to court for impounding his car. They said the case was adjourned till January 2017 and that my husband should try and come to court . But when my husband went, the Ebonyi Police said the accused didn’t show up in court and that the case was again adjourned till February 2, 2017”.
Startling discovery
She further stated that she traveled to Ebonyi state with her husband and their legal adviser. “But to our greatest dismay, we discovered that the very case which the Ebonyi State SARS Legal Adviser said was in court was never registered in court, rather the case in court was between the accused and another man who sued him( the accused ) for duping him of one million seven hundred thousand naria, in respect of a car he ordered from him. Our matter was never investigated, the case-file we opened in Ebonyi State Police Command has disappeared from the Police Station. We were now asked to open a new case-file. Ebonyi State SARS Legal Adviser could not give reasons why they lied to us that the case was in court.
On account of this, the Attorney General/Commissioner of Justice Ebonyi State was informed. After listening to the case, he came to the Ebonyi State Police Command ordering the release of the car and the immediate arrest of the accused, which the police agreed with and started the process, but immediately he left, the Police turned down his orders, and we were rather asked to come back to Ebonyi State on 28th of February, 2017”.
Appeal to transfer case to Calabar
In view of the foregoing, Mrs Denneth therefore appealed to the IGP to transfer the case to Calabar where the incident happened. She also based her appeal on security purpose.
When spokes person for the Ebonyi State Police Command, Jude Madu, a deputy Superintendent of Police was contacted, he said he was not aware of the matter.