The Ogun State Police Command has
apprehended a 32-year–old man, Taiwo Agboola, who impersonated a police
corporal for two years without detection.
Agboola told our correspondent at the
Department of Criminal Investigation, Eleweran, Abeokuta, where he is
currently being held, that he had applied during a police recruitment
exercise but was never employed, which was the reason he became
desperate to the point of spending his N20,000 savings on buying police
uniforms, handcuffs, and teargas.
He said when he started to put his plan into play in 2012, nothing would stand in his way of achieving his dream-job.
“I was desperate but I was very smart. I
leave my house everyday, seeking out the gathering of policemen, just to
gather information about the way they operate,” he told our
correspondent.
Like an undercover criminal, Agboola
gathered information from bars frequented by policemen, he befriended
some and bought drinks for others just to get as much information out of
them as he could.
He said, “When I was sure that I had
enough information about where and how to get police uniform and how to
operate undetected, I decided to use the N20,000 savings I had gathered
from the menial jobs I had done at the time to buy police uniforms.
“I went to Eleyele in Ibadan and bought
police uniform for N5,000 from a tailor who normally sew uniforms for
policemen. I also tracked down a policeman in the same Ibadan who sold
me handcuffs for N4,000 and teargas for N3,000. I did not have much at
the time, but I knew that the police work would be profitable as soon as
I started.”
According to Agboola, he started life as a photographer, a job which was not too profitable.
“I was a photographer for two and half
years but the job was not profitable, so I decided to pursue my dream
job, even though I knew it was a crime. I regret it now,” he said.
Asked why he chose police work in
particular, he told our correspondent that he was attracted by the
respect policemen get from members of the public and thought he could
use this avenue to make money. Bare-chested, stocky with a blood-shot
eyes, Agboola smiled, “I opted for the rank of corporal because I did
not want to attract attention by either choosing lower or higher rank.”
His daily routine involves waking up in
the morning and donning his full police uniform to seek out places where
there are fights or making arrests when he senses a wrongdoing.
“Sometimes, I make arrests but since
there is no station to take such people to, I collect money from them
after threatening to lock them up if they do not ‘settle’ themselves,”
the young man said.
He told Saturday PUNCH that he
started operation in Oyo State but he claimed that when his wife died
after she had abortion, he decided to settle and continue his job in
Ogun State.
Two years after he started operation as a
fake policeman, the end of the road came for Agboola when he intervened
in a robbery matter which was already being handled by a real policeman
at Sango area of Ogun State.
He said, “A shop was broken into at Sango
and a young man was arrested because of that. The mother of the suspect
approached me to help settle the matter with the owner of the shop. I
was settling the matter when a police team came.
“I showed them my fake identity card but I
made a mistake by following them to the station when the policemen
suggested we all go to their division to settle the matter. When I got
there, they started questioning me and it did not take long for them to
discover that I was a fake policeman.”
Agboola denied ever using the police
uniform for robbery or extortion but the police said investigation was
ongoing to determine the extent of the crimes he had used the police
uniform to commit.
Police Public Relations Officer, Mr.
Muyiwa Adejobi, said people like Agboola were the reason members of the
public sometimes have negative things to say about the police force.
“For those who are still out there
carrying out this kind crime undetected, this is not the way to go even
if they are interested in joining the police. The suspect told us that
he had always wanted to be a policeman but his mother discouraged him.
Youths should learn that unemployment is not an excuse for committing a
crime,”Adejobi said.
The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikemefuna
Okoye, has directed that Agboola be charged to court as soon
investigation is completed on the case.
