Naval Rating Abdurasheed Mohammed, a seaman, was on Wednesday paraded by FCT Command for killing the son of former Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ishaya Ibrahim rtd, at Maitama District in Abuja.
Addressing a press conference during the parading of no fewer than 97 suspected terrorists and criminal elements arrested within Abuja, the Commissioner of Police FCT Command, Benneth Igweh, averred that the operatives of FCT Command, on routine stop and search operation on Sunday 18 August 2024, apprehended Abdulrasheed Muhammed, a naval seaman in a black colored Prado SUV.
He said that during questioning, the suspect could not give a satisfactory explanation as to how he came about the vehicle, adding that the police operatives took him into custody and their preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect was a seaman of the Nigerian Navy on guard duty at the residence of a retired Naval officer and the vehicle belongs to late Aminu Ibrahim – the son of late Vice Admiral Ishaya Ibrahim a former Chief of Naval Staff, who was killed and his Prado SUV snatched on 18/08/2024 at River Benue Street Maitama.
The commissioner said: “While in custody, the suspect attempted to escape from but was promptly rearrested. He freely confessed to being a member of a three-man gang who specialise in armed robbery/snatching of luxury vehicles and selling them off outside the FCT. They have carried out three operations successfully so far”.
Igweh said that efforts are ongoing to apprehend the remaining three gang members currently at large.
In an interview with the suspected killer during the parading, he confessed to the crime. He however, narrated how he committed the crime in the following words: “I was on guard duty in the house of former Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ishaya Ibrahim, and Aminu Ibrahim, one of his sons, wanted to go out at night, around 11 pm and requested that I should provide security for him.
Then I followed him with my gun, along the way he stopped and took his ATM, and I thought that he was going to buy something in the super market but when I got down from the vehicle, I just shot him so that I will take possession of his car”.
Asked why he killed the innocent and unarmed son of his principal, Muhammed said: “I just killed him so that I can go and sell the car”.
When contacted, the hierarchy of the Nigerian Navy said that it was aware of the alleged crime by one of its personnel against the family of its 18th Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Ishaya Ibrahim, rtd.
The Naval Spokesperson, Commodore Aiwuyor Adams-Aliu, in a chat over the subject matter, said: “Yes, the suspect is a bona fide rating of the Nigerian Navy and has been accused of committing some offences. The Navy is aware”.
Adams-Aliu, assured that the proper procedure for both military and civil judicial processes will certainly be followed to first establish a prima-facie case and then ascertain guilt as determined by competent court.
He concluded that every retired service chief is entitled security personnel attached to them, hence Muhammed’s deployment to the former CNS’s house on guard duty.
The 30-year-old Naval rating, Abdurasheed Muhammed, a criminologist who was recruited into the service in 2015, was on guard duty in the former CNS’s house for one month and three weeks before committing the crime.
Linus Aleke
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