The Delta State Commissioner of Police, Olufemi Abaniwonda, has ordered a probe into how a vehicle stolen inside a church was converted into a patrol vehicle in one of the police divisions in the state.
An X user, @ChuksEricE had on Wednesday, posted a video in which one Ogoro Matthew, a Warri resident, was seen pleading for assistance to recover his vehicle, which was stolen in 2015, and has since been in the possession of the police.
Matthew, in the video, said “I went to a church programme on November 13, 2015. As we closed the programme, when I came out, I didn’t see my car again. I searched for it to no avail, so I went to the Ekpan Police Station to report.
“They told me to do papers indicating a stolen vehicle. I printed the papers, gave them, and even distributed them all over the place.
“After two years, I discovered the vehicle with the police, Ekpan Division. They converted my vehicle to their use. They wrote Jakpa Raiders on it. Someone advised me to take the matter to court.
“On July 19, 2018, the high court ordered the police to pay me N10 million. While I was waiting for them to pay me, they appealed against the judgment.”
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Wondering if the police were trying to claim ownership of his vehicle, the victim accused the police of oppressing him because he doesn’t have a helper, adding that since it was the vehicle he was using to manage himself, the theft has made feeding and paying for his house rent difficult.
Responding to the allegation, the spokesperson for the state police command, SP Bright Edafe, in a statement on X, said the police commissioner has ordered an investigation into the matter.
“It happened a long time ago, and almost all the key actors in the matter have retired. However, injustice is injustice, and that’s what the commissioner of police does not tolerate.
“It doesn’t matter how long it happened; the man has a valid case, and it will be looked into as directed by the commissioner of police,” Edafe said.
