By Jude Atupulazi
Four suspected killers of a retired Brigadier General of the Nigerian Army, and national chairman of retired members of the Nigerian Armed Forces, Brig. Gen. Harold Uwem Udokwere, have been arrested by the police, with one of the suspects confessing how the general was killed.
The suspects had on the morning of Saturday, June 22, killed the retired general in his residence in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
But in a swift move, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command arrested four of the suspects.
The suspects reportedly killed Udokwere on Saturday morning at an estate in the nation’s capital with a knife.
Addressing a press briefing last Monday, Benneth Igweh, FCT Police Commissioner, said two of the suspects were at large.
The arrested suspects include Ibrahim Rabiu, 33; Nafiu Jamil, 33; Aliyu Abdullahi, 47; and Mohammed Nuhu, 28.
Igweh, who also said the Command also arrested kidnappers terrorising the FCT, disclosed that on May 6, officers acting on intelligence arrested Isa Mohammed, 30 (an escapee of the Kuje prison break in 2022), and his brother, Nasiru Mohammed, also known as Danger.
Reacting to the arrest of the suspects who killed the retired general, Igweh said: ‘On June 23, 2024, at about 04:00 p.m. acting on credible intelligence, police operatives of FCT Police Command from Utako Division, led by CSP Victor Godfrey, trailed and arrested four suspects: Ibrahim Rabiu, 33 years, of Rasha; Apo Nafiu Jamil, 33, of Apo Pantaker; Aliyu Abdullahi, 47, of Apo; Mohammed Nuhu, 28, of Apo Primary.
‘They are responsible for attacking, robbing and killing one Brigadier General Uwen Harold Udokwere (rtd.) on June 22, 2024, at his residence in Sunshine Homes Estate in Kabusa. The suspects, who confessed to the crime, stabbed the general when he tried to resist them with his pistols.
The knife used in committing the crime was recovered and the deceased’s stolen phone was equally recovered. Efforts are in top gear to arrest other fleeing suspects and to recover the pistols taken away from the deceased. Suspects will be charged to court at the end of the investigation.’
One of the suspects, Rabiu Ibrahim, who spoke with journalists on how the general was killed, said: ‘We stabbed the general with a knife. We went to rob him and we collected laptops and phones from him.
I was the one that killed him with a knife. I had two knives. I stabbed him in the stomach while another of my friends stabbed him in his shoulder. The general was with his gun and he was struggling with us, that was why we killed him.’
The Commissioner said the suspects were members of a kidnapping syndicate which kidnapped 17 people in an estate in the Dei Dei Area of the FCT and collected a huge ransom before releasing the victims.
The FCT police boss said several informants and logistics suppliers to kidnappers were arrested, while weapons were also recovered from them.
He said the informants included Sunday Musa, also known as Dan Gwari, 30; Ruqqaya Ibrahim, 41; Musa Idris, a.k.a. Dogo, 20; Aminu Ibrahim; Zainnu Abubakar, 30; and Yahaya Abubakar, 20.
The Police Commissioner further said on June 18 and 19, operatives of the command attached to Utako and Kubwa Police Divisions, in a joint operation in Agena, Abaji, and Chikara, Kogi State, bordering FCT, arrested Umar Adamu, a.k.a. Walejo, 42; and Abdulrahman Abubakar, a.k.a. Juli, 35.
He said Adamu was a notorious and wanted informant and logistics supplier to bandits.
‘He supplies ammunition to kidnappers in Nasarawa, Abuja, Kogi, and Kaduna States. He is also the commander of the Fulani Miyetti Vigilante in Abuja,’ the Police Commissioner said.
Igweh said Abubakar was arrested in connection with the alleged kidnapping along the Abuja/Kogi Road, where travelling Hummer buses were hijacked and the occupants kidnapped.
The Commissioner said the suspects would soon be charged to court.
