The level of attacks and kidnapping of residents of Apa community was becoming a nightmare for security agencies. Though there are pockets of security breach across the State, the report coming in from Apa is alarming.
The police Inspector General (IG) had summoned the commissioner of police and told him to mobilize his men and put a stop to the unabated proliferation of weapons in the state. A timeline was given to him for which improvement must be visible else he may be asked to vacate the position for being incompetent.
The commissioner came with a burning desire to put a stop to the attacks and he wasted no time calling for a meeting with all the Divisional Police Officers (DPO) in the State.
"There is a big problem at hand and you must all sit up to find solution to it." He began to address us in a stern voice. "Kidnapping today and killing tomorrow must stop. I returned from a meeting with the IG of police yesterday and one of the major problems he identified is the movement of arms and ammunition across the State by the criminals. Some trucks are moving arms concealed inside bags of grains. Some are so desperate now that they conceal arms and ammunition inside coffins for safe movement without notice.
"DPO of Apa community, don't sleep on your job. Motivate your men to put a stop to this. The big hammer is coming from the IG if we fail on this assignment and I won't waste time to weigh the big stick on any incompetent subordinate." He turned to me specifically before leaving the hall.
We departed immediately to our various divisions and coincidentally, I met a crowd of protesters in front of Apa divisional police headquarters. Different placards with inscriptions such as, 'Safe us from kidnappers,' 'The attacks are getting out of hand,' and many other write-ups displaying the anger and frustration of the people.
My arrival was timely and I addressed the crowd immediately.
"I am just coming from the State headquarters because of these problems. It is our duty as police to secure the lives and properties of the populace. We are not shying away from this duty. I took over this division less than two weeks ago and I have already put measures in place to effect a positive change. I urge you to go home and wait for the next developments. Our intelligence team is working assiduously to not just get the criminals to face the full wrath of the law but to also get their sponsors."
The protesting crowd dispersed after the address.
I called my men to intimate them with the new strategy of concealing weapons in coffins and foodstuffs.
"We are starting 24 hours patrol immediately while some personnel would be stationed at some strategic roadblocks along the highways."
I decided to lead the patrol for some hours before returning to the headquarters for other official duties.
The personnel stationed at the roadblock along the highway entering the division called me to inform me of an arrested vehicle transporting ammunition in a coffin. My patrol team drove to the spot immediately and I met the vehicle with three supposed mourners conveying the remains of their dead relative to Apa for burial. They all wore black dresses.
It was a convoy of two vehicles. The vehicle conveying the coffin was in front. The poster of a 60 years old deceased woman whose burial was to take place the following day was pasted on the vehicles.
I arrived at the scene to inspect the situation and upon opening the coffin, the contents were arranged and wrapped in white to depict the remains of a human. I opened what was supposed to be the head and what I found was carefully arranged ammunition.
I immediately ordered my team to handcuff the suspects and move them to the station.
All the efforts of my men to interrogate the suspects and get more details from them didn't yield immediate results. They were not cooperating. For more than 24 hours, they refused to write a statement.
I ordered their phone lines to be investigated. The phone network provider was asked to release the details of their call logs with the support of a court order.
The leader of the supposed mourners was a middle aged man in black suit at the point of his arrest. The details of the calls he made within the previous 24 hours showed that he discussed the movement of the ammunition with Chief Owonifari, a wealthy and respected community leader. The revelation was shocking.
Owonifari means "Money is synonymous with good-looking." Like his name implies, Owonifari was a flamboyant wealthy individual who was regarded as a great philanthropist. His house is the best in the town and it is a heaven for help seekers. Behind the fence of the house is a tap through which he provides his immediate neighbors portable borehole water. This is in addition to many boreholes that he constructed at different strategic locations in the Apa community. He provided a solution to the town's water problem.
He constructed some access roads and provided transformers for some areas that were in darkness.
He is the favorite of the musicians in town. They praised him to high heaven. He identified with all religions. He contributed to building mosques and did the same for churches.
It was as a result of all these philanthropic efforts that the king of Apa gave him a traditional title of "Oluomo" meaning "Worthy son" of Apa Kingdom.
I knew the kind of sentiments such a case would attract within the community. I informed the IG of police to deploy more personnel to my division before executing a search warrant for the Chief's house.
The arrested suspects, when confronted with their communications with Chief, confessed that Chief was their sponsor. He was the one responsible for all the kidnap cases in the town. Ironically, he used to donate money for the ransom payment for some victims.
I led a team of police officers to search his house. The house is a mansion of more than twenty rooms. We spent hours searching the rooms without finding anything incriminating.
At some points, I heard of some altercations from outside the building and I rushed out to meet my team stationed outside. The people of the community heard of the development and as expected, they have come to show solidarity with their benefactor. They were chanting some war songs against the police accusing us of witch-hunting their son.
The police were trying to send them away. I intervened and asked my team to leave them for as long as they didn't attack my team or make attempts to get into the compound.
I returned back to the building and met my officers about to exit the living room.
"Have you checked all the rooms, the toilets, the kitchens and everywhere?" I asked.
"We have checked everywhere," One of the team responded.
"We have not checked this section," another personnel pointed a finger to a door just before the exit door.
I led the Chief to open the door and we searched the whole expansive kitchen without finding anything incriminating.
I looked at the right corner of the kitchen and saw a yellow door, smaller in size than an average door.
"What's in that room," I asked the Chief.
"It's a store where foodstuffs are kept." He responded with panicking.
I requested the key and the room was opened. Strangely, a rug was spread on the floor of the room. The rug was removed and an underground compartment was unveiled.
The whole protesters outside the building were dumbfounded when a cache of different kinds of guns and ammunition were being brought out of the building.
Within a few minutes, the placards held by the people were dropped on the ground while they gathered in groups to discourse about the discovery.
Chief was handcuffed, hiding his face from the glance of the people as we exited the building.
He joined his earlier arrested agents to face their case in court. The whole residents of Apa were disappointed in Chief.
After months of prosecution, Chief Owonifari was found guilty of gunrunning, murder and kidnapping.
The judge rounded up his statement with words of caution to the people to know that all that glitters is not gold.