*Three policemen arrested
*Properties running to millions of naira, others carted away
An Abuja home of the immediate past President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has been reportedly burgled by the police officers assigned to guard the house.
A report by the Premium Times, an online news medium, monitored in Abuja, the nation’s capital, indicated that the former president’s house was not burgled by known thieves, but by police officers assigned to guard the house.
The Nigeria Police, according to the report, have thus arrested three of its officers for stealing items valued at several millions of naira from the Abuja residence of the former president.
The items were alleged to have been stolen by the officers from the residence located at No. 89, Fourth Avenue in the Gwarimpa district of Abuja.
They include sets of furniture, dozens of plasma television sets, refrigerators, air-conditioner units and box-loads of clothes such as designer suits imprinted with the former president’s name, male and female Ijaw traditional attires, lace materials and bowler hats.
It was gathered that the three mobile police officers conducted a systematic looting over a period of three months beginning from around March 2016, until they totally stripped the house of all movable items, which they sold piecemeal to dealers at the Panteka second-hand materials market in Tipper Garage, Gwarimpa.
Mr. Jonathan’s spokesperson, Ikechukwu Eze, confirmed the theft. He also confirmed that the affected officers have been arrested. According to a security source involved in the investigation, by the time family members of the former president were made aware of the looting early this month, the house had been stripped bare.
On getting wind of the arrest of the policemen, two dealers who had been the main recipients of the stolen items were said to have closed down their shops at Panteka market and have since remained at large. Dr Jonathan, according to the report, had lived in the house for about a year when he was vice president.
His mother was said to have assumed residence there after The erstwhile President moved to the Aso Rock Villa upon becoming Acting President in 2010.
The report, however, said that It could not be ascertained when and the reason Dr Jonathan’s mother vacated the residence, leaving it under security guard of the police. Investigations by the online medium revealed that the looting was discovered when a neighbour noticed “severe damage to the house” and called a member of Jonathan’s family to ask whether the house was undergoing renovation.
The former president was said to have personally gone to inspect the property after which he reported the vandalization to the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris. After a team of officers dispatched to the scene confirmed the crime, Mr. Idris was said to have ordered the arrest of the three police officers who were still on guard duty at the residence.
“They were arrested about two weeks ago,” the police source familiar with the development told Premium Times last Tuesday.
A trader at the Panteka market, who confessed to being close to one of the fleeing buyers of the stolen items, told the online news medium that the police officers first brought some items to the market for sale in early 2016. According to the trader,
“It all started sometimes around March 2016 when a mobile police sergeant came to Tipper Garage market and brought some items for sale. ” He approached one of the wholesalers to buy them, but the trader said he does not buy items from an unconfirmed owner.
“He identified himself as Sergeant Musa and told the trader that he was one of the security men guarding Jonathan’s private residence at Gwarimpa.
He took the trader to follow him to confirm that he was not a thief who had come to sell off stolen properties in the market.
“The trader followed him to the residence where he met two other policemen, an inspector and a sergeant. They convinced him that the items were part of gifts to them.”
The source said that it was not long before he noticed that the stream of transaction had no end, as the Sergeant Musa continued to invite the trader to the residence to pick up fresh items.
LIST OF CLOTHES SAID TO HAVE BEEN STOLEN AND SOLD
1. Niger Delta traditional attires in about 20 Ghana-must-go sacks.
2. Suits, each one with “President Jonathan” inscribed in the inner side, in five big Ghana-must-go sacks.
3. About 10 big Ghana-must-go sacks of women attires made from lace materials sewn in Niger Delta style.
4. More than 10 bundles of Ankara materials, known as Atamfa.
5. About 10 sets of babban riga.
6. One big Ghana-must-go sack containing clothes with PDP logo neatly sewn on each one.
7. About 20 Niger Delta bowler hats.
ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES AND FURNITURE ITEMS
1. 36 Plasma televisions.
2. About 25 refrigerators.
3. Five sets of furniture.
4. Two sets of sitting room chairs.
5. Several air conditioner units.
