Crime
[PHOTO] Police nab 16 persons claiming to offer jobs on Buhari’s behalf
The Akwa Ibom State Police Command has arrested 16 members of illegal job recruiting group which operates under the name, “Niger Delta Youths, Women and Security Movement for Buhari.
The group allegedly promised unsuspecting recruits jobs in many areas of the economy.
It made recruits to believe that they were acting on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, even as it charged N6,000 for membership, and N15,000 for what it called ‘surveillance.’
A press release signed by the Police Public Relations Officer for Akwa Ibom State Command, DSP Chukwu Ikechukwu, noted that attention was drawn to the activities of the illegal group when detectives were mobilised to its base, which turned out to be a veranda in a storey building along Atiku Abubakar Way, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, where 16 persons (10 males and six females) were arrested.
“On the 30th day of June, 2017, actionable intelligence was received by a team of detectives from the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department of the Command that a group of people were selling forms to unsuspecting members of the public to be recruited as law enforcement officers, using the guise of employment,” Ikechukwu said in the press release.
“The following items were recovered from them: physical cash of N199,800.00, and two sets of forms for empowerment and surveillance.
“The group operates under the name, “Niger Delta Youths, Women and Security Movement for Buhari,”the statement reads.
Ikechukwu revealed that the group sells membership forms for N6,000.00, and surveillance form for N15, 000.00.
“The group tricked applicants into believing that those applying for security jobs will be trained by the Nigerian Army and on completion, will be posted to the Nigerian Navy, Police Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Department of State Services, for the purpose of pipeline surveillance and protection,” the release states.
Ikechukwu said the fake recruitment exercise started in 2015 with membership drawn from all the local government areas of Akwa Ibom State, with one Felix Obonka from Delta State as the alleged mastermind of the group.
“He and his cohorts gulled members into believing that they would become trained artisans and proud owners of shops at the end of the programme,” the release adds.
Ikechukwu noted that the syndicate had neither trained nor given shops to any persons since 2015.
“It is also instructive to note that the group is an unregistered organisation which perpetrates all sorts of criminality and consequently not one to be taken seriously.
“They are simply using the name of the President and Commander in-Chief, Mohammud Buhari, to scam and defraud innocent members of the public, as none of the members belong to any registered political party.
“The Akwa Ibom State Police Command believes in the sanctity of the law, respect for its citizens in accordance with the tenets of democratic policing. Consequently, the 16 suspects will be arraigned in the court,” the statement adds.
Ikechukwu said the leaders of the syndicate had gone into hiding, promising that the law enforcement agents would track them down, arrest them and eventually have them prosecuted.
He said the Niger Delta Youths, Women and Security Movement for Buhari had, at a press briefing held July 3, 2017 at NERA Hotel, Jabi, Abuja, sought to misrepresent facts and malign the Akwa Ibom Police Command.
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