David Gift Okpala Okpolowu, the wanted suspected cultist and alleged killer of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Ahoada Division, Bako Angbashim, has spoken from hiding and denied involvement in the murder of the DPO.
Okpolowu, popularly called 2Baba, in a voice note he made and sent to the media in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Monday, said the news of the murder of Angbashim came to him as a shock, adding that he does not have a hand in it.
Recall that cultists terrorising Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State had lured and killed Angbashim during an operation in the state and ceased his decapitated remains.
However, 2Baba in the voice note, said he spoke to Angbashim few hours before he was murdered.
“I want to tell the whole world that my hand is not in the murder of the DPO. All this while, I never wanted to talk on this, but people are putting much concern, so, I said let me tell my people the truth.
“I am not involved in the murder. It is just that the thing happened in my community road. The day it happened, I was not there. I was shocked when I heard what happened,” he was heard saying
He confirmed that he has accepted the state government amnesty to cultists but that he went to take back his gun when their rival cult members started killing his men without any intervention.
READ ALSO: Police Nab 2Baba’s Second-In-Command In Bayelsa Over Slain Rivers DPO
2Baba added: “We had taken all our rifles and given to government, but opposition refused to submit theirs. So, those people started attacking us with their guns. We regretted that we submitted our guns to government.
“Those opposition cultists started killing our people. They killed my younger brother. They burnt down our house. This was the annoyance that made me go back for gun play.”
2Baba said he was only a freedom fighter and does not involve in kidnapping, illegal bunkering and other criminal activities.
He said he was not being sponsored by any traditional rulers, that he is self sponsored.
“The gun play I went back to, I did not go back so that I will use it to intimidate people or disturb people. Everybody knows that I don’t kidnap, I don’t involve in bunkering. I give attention to my business. Everybody here knows my business. I am into sand dredging,” the suspect added.
Recall also that the Bayelsa State Police Command have arrested one of the killers of Bako Angbashim.
The suspect, identified as Onyekachi Ikowa, 43, is the right hand man of 2baba and was arrested on 18 November, 2023, “based on credible intelligence that he was hibernating in Yenagoa after participating in the callous murder of Late SP Bako Angbashim, in September 2023.”
