House of Reps summons IGP, others over missing police officers

The last signal the police saw of the missing four was when they were in Cameroon, some 900 kilometres away from the destination.

A committee of the House of Representatives has summoned the Inspector General of Police and the commissioner in charge of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) over the case of some missing police officers.

The three senior police officers of the INTERPOL; Olutope Falode, Yohanna Gamidan and Usman Mohammed, and one mechanic, Usman Momoh, were sent to the Central African country, Gabon, from Abuja, to track a stolen vehicle on September 3, 2018.

The vehicle they went to recover belonged to one Felicia Ogunjana, who said it was stolen at gunpoint in Nigeria.

The last signal the police saw of the four officers was when they were in Cameroon, some 900 kilometres away from the destination.

The media had reported the traumatic and harrowing experiences of the families, who continually mounted pressure on the security agencies to intensify efforts in finding their loved ones.

This paper also reported the appearance of the relatives of the officers at the National Assembly complex on Wednesday afternoon.

At the sitting on Wednesday, the chairman of the committee, Jerry Alagbaso, from Imo State, directed the IGP and the INTERPOL commissioner to appear before the committee in December.

This was conveyed through the Head of the Force legal unit, Ochogwu Ogbeh, who represented the police at the sitting.

“They were going on an investigation. Along the line, they did not get to their destination and we cannot reach out to them. They were sent by the INTERPOL,” Mr Ogbeh told the committee.

While addressing Mr Ogbeh, Mr Alagbaso said the presence of the summoned officers and request for documents is to confirm if the missing officers truly went on an official assignment and to know the efforts of the police so far.

“We want to be sure that they went on an official assignment. When next you come bring all those documents too,” the lawmaker told Mr Ogbeh.

Mr Alagbaso also begged the families of the missing officers to exercise patience to enable the committee to reach a logical conclusion.

The meeting was adjourned to December 2.