The Rivers State Police Command has said that its operatives were closing in on David Gift, also known as ‘2Baba’, the prime suspect in the gruesome murder of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Ahoada Police Division in Ahoada-East local government area of the state, late Bako Angbashim.
Angbashim, a Superintendent of Police, was murdered in September 2023 by a group of suspected cultists, led by 2Baba, at Odiemude community in Ahoada-East LGA.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police in-charge of Operations, Olubenga Adepoju, spoke on Thursday in Port Harcourt while handing over four 20KVA generators that were recovered by the Police from 2Baba’s hideout, to a company.
The wanted cult kingpin had seized the generators from the company for not paying the sum of N20 million to him as ‘matching ground’, an illegal levy imposed on persons or organizations by cultists in the area.
Adepoju said: “I am here representing Commissioner of Police, CP Olatunji Disu, today, to hand over some Perkins generators, that were recovered by our tactical teams.
“They were seized by the notorious most wanted criminal in Rivers Command, David Gift a.k.a 2Baba and his gang, who killed SP Bako Angbashim, DPO of Ahoada Police Division some months back.
“These generators were intercepted by him some months ago while going to a location to be used by the company at Odiemude community in Ahoada East Local Government Area.
“He seized it and was demanding 20 million naira for the generators, five million naira for each generator before it can be released to the company .
“While we were on search for him, we were able to stumble on the generators where he kept them. Our men tactically cordoned off the place and recovered the generators.
“We have the generators here with us. Today, we want to present it to the company. I dont want to mention the name of the company for security reasons. They are here with us now. This is one of our achievements. We are still on his trail and by the grace of God we will get him.
“Criminals should know that Rivers state is not a place for them to stay. They should advise themselves, if not, we give them the chase they deserve.
“We are warning every other person who want to bring criminality to the system back while urging anyone whose property this people are still with to report officially to the command so we do the needful.”
Speaking with journalists on the condition of anonymity, one of the representatives of the company, thanked the Police for their efforts in recovering the generators
He said: “I want to seize this opportunity to thank the Rivers State Police Command for this feat. These generators were confiscated some months ago and all efforts to recover them failed and we reported to the Police.
“They did a very fantastic job even sacrificing their own men to recover our assets and also handing it over to us peacefully without any string attached. This is something that is commendable. I have known the CP for a long time he is a good Police officer with alot of respect accorded to him.”
