…another of IG’s heroes killed, waiting for his promised promotion

The late Femi

In 2007, six anti-robbery men, attached to Apapa Police Station, were ambushed by a gang of bank robbers who had come prepared to rob Oceanic Bank, Apapa branch office, Lagos State.

The six men were later identified as Inspector Apagbue Wosen, Sergeant Cletus Emejo, Inspector Japheson Jorome, Inspector Malick Aliyu, Inspector Femi Adebojo and Sergeant Chigo Joseph.

The anti-robbery squad was attacked while on a routine patrol at about 11:45pm. The team was actually made up of seven men, but one of the members, corporal Abiola, had just left, to go and eat, when all hell broke loose.

The six men that were left in the bus did not know they had stumbled on a bank robbery.

What the team suddenly noticed was the headlight of a bus, full blast on their patrol bus.

They headlights blinded them, and they were unable to see the occupants of the bus.

When they tried to edge closer with their bus, the occupants in the bus, opened fire.

It was a rain of bullets.

The first casualty was Inspector Femi Adebojo, who sat close to the door of the patrol bus. He was shot on his head and neck. That he lived to tell the tale was nothing short of sheer miracle.

The squad bus was enveloped in bullet holes. When the smoke from the guns of the robbers cleared, there were wounded and dying policemen on the ground and inside the patrol bus.

One of the policemen, Sergeant Chigo Joseph, would later tell journalists at the Ahmadiya Hospital, where they were rushed to in Apapa, that he had to shoot his way out of the bus, after he saw that the hail of bullets from the guns of the robbers, had imprisoned him and others inside the bus.

Another of the wounded policemen, reportedly told newsmen from his hospital bed: “I thought every member of my team was dead! My ammunition got finished as I was shooting my way out of our patrol bus. I ran behind a counter.  The last thing I remembered was everything going dark around me.”

Two of the policemen died at the spot: Inspector Apagbue Wosen and Sergeant Cletus Emejo. The wife of Wosen would also later die on hearing that her husband was mowed down by robbers. Four others were rushed to hospital.

The bank robbers in the melee, tried to escape.

They abandoned a vehicle, five AK47 rifles, one cylinder, an iron cutter, wielding machine and some police uniforms.

It would later be discovered that Oceanic bank had received money that day, running to billions of naira.

Even as the policemen were under intense gun fire, they had been able to radio their Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Mr. Mohammed Ari. The gun battle was on air via police Walkie-Talkie.

The present Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, was the then Commissioner of Police, Lagos State.

Immediately the news hit the police air wave, he had jumped into his car with some policemen and raced straight to the scene. But before he reached Apapa, the battle had been fought, won and lost, depending on the side one looked at it.

Abubakar turned and made for the hospital, where he saw his men writhing and grinding their teeth in pains. He consoled them the best way he could.

Abubakar had still gone to the scene of the crime, just to be able to get a better picture of what actually transpired. It was at the scene that he noticed a trail of blood and followed it.

The trail led to a plank market; there Abubakar saw three among the bank robbers, hiding. They had sustained gunshot wounds.

They later confessed that they were part of the gang that killed some RSS men at Iyano-Ipaja and made away with their rifles and uniforms.

They also revealed that they already had a get-away boat, waiting at shore, to ferry them to safety once they had robbed the Oceanic bank. But the patrolling anti-robbery squad spoilt their tea-party.

The next day, Abubakar went to area B command, to lecture other policemen and used the squad as a shining example of what bravery and gallantry was all about in policemen.

He said he had never seen such specie of men and vowed right there and then, to speak with the then IGP, to promote the men.

Indeed, before the anti-robbery team fell under the hails of bullets from the robbers, Abubakar had earlier presented the team with commendation letters and cash prize of N5000 each for bravery and gallantry. He declared them heroes!

Every policeman in Lagos State, who had ever bothered to listen to his/her Walkie-Talkie, or even listened to a borrowed Walkie-Talkie, knew about the exploits of that anti-robbery squad.

When two of the men were killed and four battled to stay alive, Abubakar had asked them to see him once they recovered. Their names were penned down with the promise of promotion.

He even footed the medical bills for a while. But some of them later had to go to their villages to receive traditional healings for their bullet wounds.

The Lagos State government was so impressed by the exploits of the men, that it wanted to fly them overseas for treatment, but the Nigeria Police Force, put paid to that idea, insisting it was capable of taking care of its wounded men.

By the time the wounded regrouped, Abubakar had become the AIG, Zone II.

When Abubakar was announced as the new IGP, the heroes, who were still waiting for their elusive promotion, broke into dances.

One of those who celebrated the most was Inspector Femi Adebojo. They believed that since Abubakar knew the worth of policing, taking risks and carrying out brave deeds, that he might remember and give them the long yearned for and awaited promotion.

But sadly, Inspector Femi Adebojo died about two weeks ago, still believing that the IG would soon promote him and his team. 

One of them still waiting for his promised promotion, had about five bullets buried inside his ribs, which medical and traditional doctors insisted was life threatening if the bullets were removed.

 Another is almost a cripple, no thanks to the gun shots fired on his leg repeatedly by the bank robbers that fateful day.

Sergeant Femi Adebojo, 36, was killed on September 17, 2012, just days after two of his colleagues; one Taiye and Wale were attacked by robbers.

Wale and Taiye were attacked by four robbers on motorbike. Taiye who was shot twice on the head and thighs and died, but Wale was rushed to hospital with his intestines gushing out.

But before the two policemen were shot, they gave the robbers a run for their money. Two among the robbers were arrested. Another one was shot and died instantly, while the fourth escaped.

Femi died responding to a distress call. He was stabbed on the neck with a dagger, believed to have been poisoned by one of the robbers that attacked the residence of a white man in Apapa.

When Femi with his team dashed to the white man’s residence, he told them that the robbers had just fled. The anti-robbery team quickly followed the direction the white man pointed. Sure enough, they sighted the fleeing robbers.

When the robbers saw that policemen were hard on their heels, they scattered in different directions to confuse the policemen.

As Femi ran one of the robbers to earth, he did not know that another was lurking behind him. The second robber crept close to him and buried his dagger in Femi’s neck.

As Femi screamed in pains, one of his team members glanced back from his own chase and saw that one of the robbers was struggling with Femi to dispossess him of his gun, but even in his pains, Femi refused to relinquish his gun.

Femi’s partner, who saw the struggle, is Sergeant Mordi. The man opened fire and instantly killed the robber who stabbed Femi. The one that Femi had earlier apprehended escaped.

Femi was rushed to hospital, but died, leaving 10 children behind and never receiving the promotion he had been promised.

It’s seemed that every good thing that had ever comes Femi’s way, had to be fought for. His last promotion, from the rank of a corporal to Sergeant also came through a show of amazing courage.

He and his team of anti-robbery men were attacked at a checkpoint in Sango-Ota, when he was a mobile police. The robbers killed two policemen, but Femi chased after them and gunned down three among them.

The then IGP, Tafa Balogun, came from Abuja to Ogun State and promoted Femi to Sergeant under the full glare of journalists and other policemen.

It is hoped, that these gallant policemen long wait, almost five years now or more, will not become like the classical play of Samuel Beckett, of the Absurdist Theatre, “Waiting For Godot.”  A dream that never came to past.