18th November, 2023
By Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
Police operatives in Bayelsa State have tracked and arrested Onyekachi Ikowa, 43, the Second-in-Command to the wanted Cult kingpin, Gift David Okpara alias 2 Baba, the killers of Late SP Bako Angbashim, former Divisional Police Officer of Ahoada Division, Rivers State.
The breakthrough in the intensive manhunt for the arrest of the members of the notorious gang by the Police was revealed by the Chief Superintendent Of Police, CSP Butswat Asinim, Police Public Relations Officer of Bayelsa State Command in a statement on Saturday, November 18, 2023.
He said the suspect, Ikowa and second-in-command to 2Baba was arrested on Saturday,18 November, 2023 based on credible intelligence that he was hibernating in Yenagoa after participating in the callous murder of Late SP Bako Angbashim, in September 2023.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, Bayelsa State Command, CP Francis Iduh, has charged police operatives to fish out any of his cohorts, who are hiding in Bayelsa State, stressing that the Bayelsa Command under his watch would not be a safe haven for criminals to hide.
It was learnt that the suspect has been handed over to the Rivers Police Command for further investigation.
Our Correspondent reports that the new Commissioner of Police, CP Tunji Disu on assumption of duty this week charged the Police to redouble their efforts to capture 2Baba and members of his gang, emphasising that nobody kills any policeman and goes scot-free.
He gave the charge when he paid a surprise visit to the Police Area Command and Police Division Ahoada in Ahoada-East local government area where the late SP Bako Angbashim was brutally murdered by gang members of 2Baba, dismembered his body and made a video of it.
A N10 million bounty had been slammed on 2Baba by the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara and the Rivers Police Command.