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.
It was the first step in his quest to becoming a policeman, Agboola told Saturday PUNCH. The secondary school drop-out who hails from Ife, Osun State, said as far as he was concerned, he was just like every other unemployed youth in the country.
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.
Copyright PUNCH.
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