Gift David Okpara, the key suspect in the murder of Bako Angbashin, the Divisional Police Officer of Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State, has spoken out from hiding.
The renowned cultist, also known as General 2-Baba, denied any involvement in the incident in a voice message broadcast on a prominent radio station (92.3, Nigeria Info, Port Harcourt) on Monday morning.
The wanted head of the Iceland cult also claimed to have spoken with the late DPO hours before his murder, while also explaining why his group picked up weapons after being granted amnesty by the previous administration.
“I want to tell the Rivers State Government that I am not involved in anything related to the death of the DPO,” he stated. I didn’t want to say anything the whole time. But I chose to speak up because of how people were discussing it. “I was astonished, and I want to assure everyone that I was not after the DPO and had nothing to do with his death. It’s only that the incident occurred on my neighborhood road. And I spoke with him on the day it happened (the killing). This was discussed with the DPO.
“I was not even there when he was killed that day, and I was shocked when I heard about the incident.”
He stated that he returned to crime when his gang surrendered their weapons in response to the amnesty granted to them, but that a rival gang refused to surrender and its members were killing his own members, including his younger brother, and that the government took no action against them.
“We surrendered all of our weapons and ammunition, but our opponents refused to surrender.” And I witnessed the government doing nothing about it. “As a result, my gang began to regret our decision to surrender our arms. “As a result of our lack of firearms, our adversaries took advantage of the situation to pursue us and kill members of my group.
They murdered my younger brother of the same parents and set fire to our home. That was my aggravation, and it was the reason I returned to gunplay (crime),” he explained.
The suspect, who now claims to be a liberation fighter for the youths of Ekpeye (communities in his region), also denied involvement in kidnapping, illegal bunkering, and other criminal crimes, claiming to be in the dredging business.
“I didn’t pick up arms again for the purpose of intimidating people and causing problems,” Okpara says. Everyone knows I was never involved in kidnapping, illegal bunkering, or any other criminal action.
“I’ve just been focusing on my business.” And everyone knows that I was solely interested in dredging. That is what I do,” he said, adding that he was self-sponsored rather than supported by a traditional king, as alleged.
The Rivers State Police Command designated General 2-Baba wanted following the brutal murder of SP Angbashin on September 8, 2023, in Odiemude community, Ahoada East LGA of the state.
A monarch and a former LG Chairman are among the 50 people on trial for the killing of the brave police officer.
The state police leadership has searched criminal hideouts in the Ahoada area multiple times and executed some people linked to the DPO’s death, but the principal target, 2-Baba, has remained elusive.
Attempts by operatives to collect the late Angbashin’s beheaded body have also failed.