Poverty pushed us to kill Electoral Commission boss –Suspects

The suspects

Two robbery suspects, still cooling off at the detention centre of the Department of State Security, Bayelsa State Command, have confessed to the killing of the Administrative Secretary of Bayelsa State Independent Electoral Commission, Chief Simeon Akpane.

The suspects, Freedom Allen, 26; Clarkson Okilo, 27, popularly known as Oyoyo, said they killed the BYSIEC ranking official because they were broke and had no jobs.

In their revelation, they said they had set out to rob on the fateful day, October 10, 2014, with nobody in mind, however, Akpane’s flashy Sport Utility Vehicle seemed to have given him away as a rich man.

The BYSIEC Secretary was murdered by the gun-wielding robbery suspects in front of his residence at Bethel Church, off Otitio Road, Yenezue-gene, Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.

Allen and Oyoyo were among the six persons paraded by the DSS on Wednesday in connection with Akpane’s gruesome murder.

Allen, who did not betray any emotion as he gave a chilling account of the dastardly act, confessed he was the one that killed Akpane.

He said he did so because he was afraid that Akpane, who was shouting and resisting them during the operation, could expose them to danger.

While admitting to the murder, he said, “On the fateful day, my friend, Oyoyo, said we should go for an operation. He said he knew somebody who had about N1.5m that we should go and rob. That man was Chief Akpane. So, we both went out together.

“We (Oyoyo, Ebi and I) went to the place and saw him and on getting close to him, Oyoyo and Ebi accosted him, seized him and collected his mobile handset. The next thing we saw was that he started shouting while he held Ebi who was with the gun.

“Our thought was that since Ebi was with the gun and the man had held him, he might shoot any of us. So, I quickly collected the gun from Ebi. I did not know that Ebi had already corked the gun and in the process of collecting it, I mistakenly touched the trigger and the gun fired and hit the man. “He fell down and we had to run away as fear gripped us. Therefore, we could not accomplish our mission of robbing him. We went in separate directions.”

Narrating the role he played, Oyoyo, who showed great confidence as he made his confession, said he was very broke and he seriously needed money.

The suspect, who claimed to be a professional driver, said, “On the fateful day, I didn’t have money, so I went to a place in Biogbolo area to smoke and take some alcohol. After that, I went to Yenezue-gene. As I was walking, I heard a voice calling me by the corner. When I turned back, I saw Allen and Ebi. Allen said they were just standing there, looking for how to get money.

“For me, that was the kind of story I wanted to hear then because I had been financially messed around all the while. There was no work. I am a driver but had no job. Allen told me he had a local pistol and to prove it, he showed me the pistol.

“Allen said we should use the gun to go and fetch some money. We all agreed to go, honestly. We boarded a tricycle (Keke) to Biogbolo. On getting there, we saw a man coming in his flashy Jeep. We believed he should have money. Honestly, I must confess that before we set out for the operation, we did not have any place in mind. We were just roving about. Our intention was to look for people with fine cars to rob and get money, irrespective of who the person was.”

Oyoyo explained that as they were moving about, they saw the BYSIEC official even though he claimed they did not know who he was then.

He said, “The now deceased BYSIEC official parked his car and came out. He was about to enter his house when we accosted him. We pointed the gun at him. He was holding his mobile phone, which I collected from him.

“To my surprise, he was not willing to obey us and we were still prevailing on him to cooperate. Before we knew it, Allen came from the back and dragged the gun from Ebi’s hand and without wasting time, he pulled the trigger and shot the man. I was outraged and I asked him why he shot the man. I guess Allen didn’t know what he did because he had been smoking and had stuffed his brain with too much alcohol. At that point, fear consumed us and we took to our heels. Thereafter, we boarded a tricycle and alighted at PDP Junction.”

Oyoyo, who said he had the man’s telephone with him, said he had to sell it to get some money.

He claimed to have sold the expensive telephone for N5,000 to one Ibrahim at Yenezue-gene, who in turn sold it for N6,000 to one Halladu.

Parading the suspects at the DSS Command during the week, the state Director, DSS, Mr. Laasan Baba, named the suspects as Freedom Allen, 26; Clarkson Okilo, 27, popularly known as Oyoyo and Abubakar Ibrahim, 24; Salisu Haladu, 24; Maharaza Sallau, 20 and Simeon Macaulay, 20.

Baba said further investigation led to the apprehension of Simeon Macaulay, whom he said had been in the business of buying and selling stolen GSM handsets.http://www.punchng.com/feature/super-saturday-crime/poverty-pushed-us-to-kill-electoral-commission-boss-suspects/