Retired Policeman arrested for stealing Generators, begs for Forgiveness

A retired policeman who was arrested alongside two others for stealing generators has blamed the devil for his actions as he begged for forgiveness.

The  69-year-old retired Assistant Superintendent of Police from Cross River State was paraded by the Bauchi State Police Command, Ewona. He reportedly worked with an Abuja-based Chinese company, ZTE, which installed the generators but he admitted he was no longer an employee of the firm.

The retired policeman who recounted how he got involved in crime after he retired from the Cross River State Police Command in 2011, said he joined the company afterwards but later left to establish a business of his own. The father of 12 who admitted to the crime, blamed the devil for his action.

“I left Cross River State on Monday, January 14, 2019, and arrived Bauchi that same night. Then I asked one Malam Yusuf to meet me where I was. He was a staff member of the company I was working with; he is based in Maiduguri and he came.

“We both visited the site on Tuesday in preparation to remove the generators; on Wednesday, we went and removed that generator some few minutes to 12pm, nothing more than that.

“I am a retired policeman. I retired as an ASP from the Cross River State Command. I retired in 2011. This is just my first time and doing this before I was caught, I have not done it before. This thing just came like that. If I tell you that I had foreknowledge of this thing, I am lying to myself not to talk of telling you that I knew I would do this. I wanted to sell them and make some money.”

He also confessed that he wrote a letter to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps to “assist me with security to inspect a site. I told them that I was a staff member of the company. I showed them the identity card of my former place of work, so they gave me the security.”

“I am guilty of what I am being charged for; I am guilty of stealing the generators. I removed the generators without deciding yet how much I was going to sell them; I don’t even know their prices in the market.

“It was the devil that pushed me into stealing; I don’t think I will say more than that; that is the truth. I even stated it in the statement I made to the police that I am sorry for what had happened” he added.