The biggest news in Nigeria at the moment is no longer presidential tribunal verdict or the investment trip to India and UAE by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. It is the capture, probable torture, beheading, and butchering of the man regarded as the most gallant police fighter, Bako Angbashim.
He was known as uncompromising and unrelenting. The underworld punished him for this, twice. Why would he be the only one that would not relent?
When he fought in the Omoku (Onelga) front, he lost his entire family (wife and children) to the evil men who wiped them off. He later fought and won in the Ogoni front, only to be captured and butchered in Ahoada front. The zone has become the hottest since the 2022 flooding that sent most communities packing to give free occupation by men of the underworld and cult gangs who shared out the empty zone. Now, taking back the area seems difficult.
Now, it does not take time for a big time killer to emerge, reign, and perish in Rivers State and the Niger Delta. Don Wanni had been a terror of national notoriety. He perished in Enugu fighting. Some other killers have transformed to power brokers and militias. Some are even courted by the powers that be up to the national level.
The killers of Bako seem to be local goons. Real mafia dons don’t easily want to kill cops, let alone top ones that are marked ‘X’. Killing such class brings down the roof that way the roof has come down on Ahoada, on monarchs, and on everybody. People are now forced to vomit every information they have, and big shots are being picked up. The fingers usually point upwards.
Many have asked to know why top killers and cult gangs grow in Rivers State and some other Niger Delta states.
It has some history. PH was a drug hub after the war and continued to grow. Later, oil theft came and they created cartels and gangs that controlled petrodollar territories with huge weapons coming from abroad aboard crude vessels.
They are now in charge of those areas called ‘ungoverned territories’ in the Gulf of Guinea. They run things and control a parallel black market crude oil ring. They have money, weapons and courage.
Read also: Rivers place N100 million bounty on killers of S.P Bako
Now, add politics. A political leader who had their support is sure to win. Nobody dares them. In return, the political class gives them cover. This is where the matter is.
When they go off the cuff and kill a very big person, their political covers sell them off. They get killed in return. They never live to stand trial.
Will it end with the killing of Bako? Never! When the dust settles, another top killer will emerge. Another big killing will happen, and another uproar will explode.
