March 06, (THEWILL)- A 44-year-old farmer, Mr Anayo Agah, has urged the Police authorities to investigate an Inspector, who invaded his house with a team of miscreants and beat up his mother, nursing wife, destroyed his house and looted his property.
According to Agah, the Police would have further redeemed their image by launching a probe into why the said personnel, who was arrested, indicted in the crimes allegedly committed and subjected to Orderly Room trial, still walks freely on the streets boasting, “My position in the Police is high, nothing will happen to me and my boys.”
A police document obtained by THEWILL reveals that Inspector Patrick Mbam, who hails from Okaria village, Amachi community in the Abakaliki Local Government of Ebonyi State, allegedly armed with some dangerous weapons, led some people into the area on November 14, 2023, and began to wreak havoc there.
Further investigations revealed that no fewer than eight houses including shops, were destroyed, over 250 bags of rice and other valuables looted during the incidents.
They were arrested by a combined team of SWAT and CRACK, on November 14, 2023. Our findings further revealed that between November 2023 and February 2024, no mention has been made on report of the matter, wherein suspects in the incidents were publicly indicted and were to be charged to Court.
Speaking to our Correspondent, the 44-year-old farmer, Mr Agah, said, “About the month of October, 2023, a group of persons led by Inspector Patrick Mbam, started disrupting the peace of Okaria village, Amachi community in the Abakaliki Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. He gathered drug addicts and Indian Hemp smokers and he began to indoctrinate them into cults and administering oaths on them. When we noticed this and then urged them to stop, they didn’t listen to us, but were going about causing havocs in the village.
“This continued to the point that anybody they saw in the village they would beat him up and forcefully collect his belongings.There were instances of one Aloh and Uchenna Odom that they held; they beat them up and force them to pay money for no reason. And so, when the issue was getting out of hands we contacted some of our notable people within and outside the village to just intimate them of what was going on. In the midst of this, one of the villagers, Barr. Luke Nkwegu reported the incidents to the President of Okaria Village Welfare Association, who is resident in Lagos.
“But these miscreants continued marauding the village and their patron is this Inspector Patrick Mbam, that’s working with DC Ops and also said to be attached to one of the judges of Ebonyi State High Court; and most of the times he would promise these ‘children’ in the village that he works in the Court as a policeman and nothing will happen to any of them and that all they needed to be doing is to obey his instructions. He would tell them that if it was the issue of police arrest and court that they should not be afraid, because he was in charge.
“We relayed these atrocities and ugly incidents to our people outside when they continued unabated. Specifically, I’m aware that between the month of September and October, Barr Luke Nkwegu wrote a petition to the Commissioner of Police in the state, detailing what was happening and the involvement of Inspector Patrick Mbam in the incidents. There had not been a reaction to that petition; or maybe the police were planning to do something.
“Then on November 14, 2023, these village miscreants went on rampage and started destroying things in the village.
“Their annoyance was that one of them was arrested, because he went to Barr Nkwegu’s farm, uprooted the palm trees in that farm and destroyed them. When that happened, the villagers started pleading with him to return the palm trees and he refused. Then the police arrested him. These miscreants led by a police inspector, went on rampage. You know how busy police men are; but this one is just loitering around the village with young men he calls his boys and he claims to have protection from a judge in the state; and because of that he stays in the village fomenting trouble with village urchins. So, that very day he went on rampage with the village urchins he said his anger was that police arrested one of his boys. And so, they started destroying things and looting property in the village.
“Owners of the things they destroyed were people whom these miscreants perceived to have been the ones that gave police information that led to that arrest.
“And then they came to my house, chased me away from my house with their machetes and guns. I ran out of my house-they destroyed my house, looted everything that was in that house. They went to my house at the village and brought down the entire building and destroyed everything there. I’m a farmer and I deal on insecticides too. They looted all the insecticides in my shop. They looted my 253 100kg bags of rice. They also held my mother, my wife and my little baby of not more than one month old hostage.
“Not satisfied, they went to Barr Luke Nkwegu’s father compound and vandalised his house. They destroyed Barr Nkwegu’s house and smashed the roof, windows and doors. They proceeded to his brother’s compound and destroyed and brought down the house he was building. They went round like that across the village destroying the houses and other valuables of their perceived enemies. The Police were alerted of these incidents. But the miscreants led by Inspector Patrick Mbam mounted about seven roadblocks with the intention of stopping men of the Nigeria Police Force from accessing the village, to halt their crimes. The policemen were led by the SWAT Commander at the Ebonyi Command, I have forgotten that his name. I mean the current commander. .
“He knew the number of roadblocks they dismantled before they got into my village and on entering the village square, they saw Inspector Patrick Mbam holding a machete while also commanding those his ‘boys’ and he was arrested right there alongside others. He was the one commanding -he would lead those boys to whoever they deemed necessary, they would destroy the person’s property, loot whatever they wished, ‘arrest’ the person and bring him to the village square and ask him to sit on the ground. It was at this village square that he (Inspector Patrick Mbam) was arrested alongside others by the combined team of SWAT and CRACK, and they were taken to the Police Headquarters Abakaliki.
“At the Police Headquarters Abakaliki, investigations were carried on them. Both himself (Inspector Patrick Mbam) and his civilian cohorts were heavily indicted by the police investigations. Part of the rice they looted, that’s a tipper load of about 63 100kg bags of rice, was intercepted by the same team in another village where they were going to hide it.
He lamented it was frustrating that with evidences of the crimes committed by Inspector Mbam, he was not charged to Court alongside his civilian ‘boys’.
“So, after investigation both the Inspector Mbam and his ‘boys’ were indicted and they were recommended to be charged to Court. Now, his civilian cohorts were charged to Court, but because Inspector Mbam is a Policeman and he boasted nothing would happen to him; so he wasn’t charged to Court. Of course, that was how he been deceiving those village urchins that as far he was concerned his position in the police was high and that nobody can touch him. In other words, he was untouchable and that he could equally protect his ‘followers’.
“At the end, the Police said they were going to try him (Inspector Mbam) through Orderly Room trial. They defaulted him and then subjected him to this their mode of trial (Orderly Room). During the Orderly Room trial, we were invited to give evidence, and we all came and gave evidence. And after we gave our evidence, this Inspector Patrick Mbam asked us questions because he was there. Eventually we were asked to go , and when it was time for him to give his own evidence we were not invited and we didn’t know. How own evidence was made secret by the police. And after they police refused to bring out the report of the Orderly Room trial-and true to what this Inspector Mbam said he’s above the law and untouchable.
“I lost a lot to the unlawful activities of this Inspector Patrick Mbam and his civilian cohorts. Like I said, 253 100Kg bags of rice for me alone, I’m not talking about money. I’m not talking about my house and shops that were destroyed and valuables therein that were looted, among others. I’m not talking about the ill-treatment meted towards me , the mother, my one-month-old baby and my wife. I lost over N200Million to these incidents. For other victims in the village, houses were destroyed, money stolen and other pieces of property vandalized and looted. Houses belonging to this Barr Luke Nkwegu and his brothers and those of his father were vandalised and property therein, looted.
“I am not suspecting anything other than true to the various boasts of Inspector Patrick Mbam he’s untouchable.He is above the law, he can just do anything and get away with it because he’s a policeman. I call on the Police authorities to intervene in this matter. The major suspect in this very matter is a policeman, and the police leadership shouldn’t give the impression that being a police personnel is a ticket to just commit any crime and go scot-free. Infact, the standard expected of a policeman should be high than a civilian. I call on the police leadership to intervene.”
The Ebonyi State Command was not ready to react to inquiries made by our Correspondent on the matter, as messages and calls were not responded to or answered.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Joshua Ukandu, said he was not aware of the incident.
The Commissioner for Police, CP Augustina Ogbodo neither picked calls by our Correspondent on the matter nor responded to messages sent to her mobile, on Wednesday.
About the Author
Sunday Ogbu is a professional journalist with eight - twelve years experience that had worked with various print and online media. Sunday specializes in news reporting with the aim of educating his readers on current social, political and economic occurences within his area of coverage. Sunday is a strong force to work with in the media industry and uses his positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Sunday is inspired daily by his wife and their four children. In his free time, Sunday likes sight-seeing, reading and discussing issues of societal interest.
