Prime Suspect At Large Weeks After Killing Rivers DPO

• Nwonyi also said some arrested suspects and others linked with the DPO’s murder were still undergoing investigation
• Nwonyi revealed that late Angbashim was deceived by cultists who tricked him into submitting weapons and embracing amnesty at an event in Port Harcourt

The Divisional Police Officer of Ahoada in Rivers State, Bako Angbashim, was kidnapped and slain two weeks ago, but the police have yet to find his body or detain the main suspect, Gift Okpara.

Recall that on September 8, 2023, Superintendent of Police Angbashim was leading his men to raid criminal hideouts in the Odemude community of the Ahoada West Local Government Area of the state when they were ambushed, shot at, and captured by a dreaded cult group led by Okpara. They then beheaded Angbashim’s body while filming their actions.

However, following the event, the State Police Command, led by Commissioner of Police Emeka Nwonyi, had made two unsuccessful attempts to locate the deceased DPO’s remains and apprehend the offenders.

At the last attempt, Nwonyi, while briefing newsmen in Port Harcourt last week, said operatives gunned down four of Okpara’s men during a shootout with the police who were on an operation in Odemude community to recover late Angbashim’s corpse.

Nwonyi also said some arrested suspects and others linked with the DPO’s murder were still undergoing investigation.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Operations, Rivers State Command, Ade Adepoju, while addressing a crowd of protesters from Ekpeye Kingdom last Friday, vowed that Angbashim’s killers’ would be brought to justice within a fortnight.

The protesters had expressed dismay over the gruesome murder of the DPO who they said had brought restored peace in many communities and called on the command to ensure his killers were apprehended and made to face the laws.

Responding, Adepoju stated that the command was equally pained because according to him, late Angbashim was “one of our gallant and very efficient officers” who put in his all in fighting crime and criminality.

He stated, “We will spare no one, I can assure you that. We will do the needful. Ekpeye Kingdom will be good again. We are doing all we can and I am sure we will succeed.”

Following SP Angbashim’s death, Nwonyi deployed another DPO to Ahoada with the task of recovering the former’s remains as well as to track down his killers.

Recall that Nwonyi, at an event in Port Harcourt revealed that late Angbashim was deceived by the dare-devil cultists who tricked him that they were willing to submit their weapons and embrace amnesty.