…I was playing my colleagues, says Inspector
Juliana Francis
A Police Inspector, attached to the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force), identified as Musa, has been demoted for hiding his rifle under his mattress at home, and then turning around to accuse his colleagues of stealing the rifle.
When Musa’s mischief was discovered, he was arrested, detained, tried, and then demoted. His colleagues, who had earlier been arrested and detained after being accused by Musa of stealing his rifle for nefarious purposes, were then released to go.
According to Police sources, Musa, along with his colleagues were posted to the Lagos State Secretariat Gate, otherwise known as Alausa Gate, from Task Force, Oshodi.
On one of the days that Musa and his colleagues were at their duty post at the Alausa Gate, the devil seemed to penetrate the mind of the Inspector and took a seat there, and even though Inspector tried to dislodge the devil from corroding his mind, he failed. He then schemed a wild plan and left his duty post.
When he left his duty post, his colleagues did not know that he left with his rifle. He was alleged to have made a beeline for his home, where he then hid the rifle under his mattress.
He returned to his duty post and then made a show of frantically looking for his rifle. He then accused his colleagues of stealing his rifle for nefarious purposes.
A source said: “The colleagues repeatedly denied seeing or taking his rifle, but he refused to listen to their denial and keep accusing them.
“The matter was finally taken to the office of the Chairman of the Police Task Force, a Chief Superintendent of Police, Shola Jejeloye.
“All the policemen posted to Alausa Gate were arrested and detained. But Musa was not detained. Everyone believed that Musa could not have accused his colleagues unjustly if not that his rifle was truly taken after he left it at their duty post.
“Investigation was launched, and trial commenced. The adjudicating Police officer instructed that the houses of all the policemen detained should be searched. The houses of all the detainees were searched, but nothing was found.
“The adjudicating Police officer then instructed that Musa’s house should also be searched. When the policemen got there, they found the rifle under his mattress. When he was asked why he hid his rifle and wanted to get his colleagues into trouble, he said that he didn’t know how the rifle got under his mattress.
“He was tried and during the trial, he admitted keeping the rifle under his mattress, adding that he was just playing with his colleagues. The result of the proceeding was that he was remoted from Inspector to sergeant.”
When our reporter reached out to Jejeloye to confirm the incident, he urged the reporter to get across to the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Benjamin Hundeyin.
When our reporter reached out to Hundeyin, he said that he was not aware of the incident.
