Unidentified gunmen on
Saturday stormed the home of the Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck
Jonathan on Domestic Matters, Mr. Waripamowei Dudafa, and carted away an
undisclosed amount of money after destroying the safe kept in one of his rooms.
It was learnt that the
gunmen, 10 in number, were dressed in police uniform. They were said to have
stormed his residence in Okaka Estate, Yenagoa, around 8pm.
It was learnt that when the
robbers came, the three policemen guarding the residence of the Presidential
aide were not around.
READ MORE AFTER THE CUT...................................
The gunmen were said to have
gained entry into Dudafah ‘s residence after telling the security men
(civilians) that they were policemen from the police headquarters.
When they got into the
premises, they were said to have grabbed the Chief guard, Muhammed Garba, tying
his legs, his hands and covering his eyes and mouth.
An eyewitness, who craved
anonymity, said the attack on Dudafah’s home was politically motivated.
He said the incident took
place few minutes after results of some rescheduled House of Assembly elections
were released and Dudafah’s candidate on the platform of the All Progressives
Grand Alliance defeated his Peoples Democratic Party opponent in
Kolokuma-Opokuma constituency.
Narrating his ordeal, Garba,
who said he had been working with Dudafah for eight years, said the suspects
came in two black Sport Utility Vehicles.
He said , “The robbers
knocked on the door, saying, Where is the security man, where is the security
man? When I asked who they were, they said they were policemen. They asked the
whereabouts of the police security operatives in Dudafah residence.
“They ordered me to open the
gate. I opened the small gate and saw about 10 of them. They pushed me and
gained entry into the premises. They hit me in the head. They tied my hands, my
legs and covered my mouth and eyes with celotape. They asked me to show them
the apartments of police security in the building. They also asked for oga’s
(Dudafa’s) house keys. I told them I did not know where they were since I was
not the person keeping them.
“They said they would kill
me if they eventually found the keys in my place so I kept quiet. After
ransacking my room, they found the keys and started using them to open the main
building.
“The man leading the
operations, asked his colleagues to talk gently so that when my colleague who
had gone to buy noodles at that time returned, he would not suspect something
was amiss. No sooner had they said that than my colleague came in, and they
caught him and tied him up.”
Garba said when the robbers
had held all of them captive, they went inside the building and started
ransacking everywhere.
Pictures of the damaged safe
The 55 year old Garba, a
father of one, said the operations lasted for about three hours before they
left around 12 midnight on Saturday.
Also, Dudafah’s cousin, Pere
Ozoru, said he was sleeping in his room when the gunmen came.
He said it was the second
security guard, Ibrahim, that brought them to his apartment after which they
tied him up.
Ozoru said by the time the
gunmen left the premises, he was able to untie himself and thereafter untied
Garba and Ibrahim.
He said before the incident,
three policemen used to guard the building but when asked about the whereabouts
of the policemen, he said he did not know where they went that day.
He said he would not forget
the day in a hurry, saying that they were battered, tied and subjected to
inhuman treatment by the gunmen.
When our correspondent
visited the residence on Sunday, it was discovered that most apartments in the
gigantic edifice were ransacked and furniture were destroyed.
In one of the rooms, a safe
was destroyed and it could not be ascertained how much was carted away from it.
Efforts to get the police’s
reaction were unsuccessful as calls to the spokesman for the Bayelsa State
Command, Mr. Asinim Butswat, rang out several times.
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