Unidentified gunmen on Saturday stormed the home of the Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Domestic Matters, Mr. Waripamowei Dudafa, and carted away an undisclosed amount of money after destroying the safe kept in one of his rooms.
It was learnt that the gunmen, 10 in number, were dressed in police uniform. They were said to have stormed his residence in Okaka Estate, Yenagoa, around 8pm.
It was learnt that when the robbers came, the three policemen guarding the residence of the Presidential aide were not around.
The gunmen were said to have gained entry into Dudafah ‘s residence after telling the security men (civilians) that they were policemen from the police headquarters.
When they got into the premises, they were said to have grabbed the Chief guard, Muhammed Garba, tying his legs, his hands and covering his eyes and mouth.
An eyewitness, who craved anonymity, said the attack on Dudafah’s home was politically motivated.
He said the incident took place few minutes after results of some rescheduled House of Assembly elections were released and Dudafah’s candidate on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance defeated his Peoples Democratic Party opponent in Kolokuma-Opokuma constituency.
Narrating his ordeal, Garba, who said he had been working with Dudafah for eight years, said the suspects came in two black Sport Utility Vehicles.
He said , “The robbers knocked on the door, saying, Where is the security man, where is the security man? When I asked who they were, they said they were policemen. They asked the whereabouts of the police security operatives in Dudafah residence.
“They ordered me to open the gate. I opened the small gate and saw about 10 of them. They pushed me and gained entry into the premises. They hit me in the head. They tied my hands, my legs and covered my mouth and eyes with celotape. They asked me to show them the apartments of police security in the building. They also asked for oga’s (Dudafa’s) house keys. I told them I did not know where they were since I was not the person keeping them.
“They said they would kill me if they eventually found the keys in my place so I kept quiet. After ransacking my room, they found the keys and started using them to open the main building.
“The man leading the operations, asked his colleagues to talk gently so that when my colleague who had gone to buy noodles at that time returned, he would not suspect something was amiss. No sooner had they said that than my colleague came in, and they caught him and tied him up.”
Garba said when the robbers had held all of them captive, they went inside the building and started ransacking everywhere.
The 55 year old Garba, a father of one, said the operations lasted for about three hours before they left around 12 midnight on Saturday.
Also, Dudafah’s cousin, Pere Ozoru, said he was sleeping in his room when the gunmen came.
He said it was the second security guard, Ibrahim, that brought them to his apartment after which they tied him up.
Ozoru said by the time the gunmen left the premises, he was able to untie himself and thereafter untied Garba and Ibrahim.
He said before the incident, three policemen used to guard the building but when asked about the whereabouts of the policemen, he said he did not know where they went that day.
He said he would not forget the day in a hurry, saying that they were battered, tied and subjected to inhuman treatment by the gunmen.
When our correspondent visited the residence on Sunday, it was discovered that most apartments in the gigantic edifice were ransacked and furniture were destroyed.
In one of the rooms, a safe was destroyed and it could not be ascertained how much was carted away from it.
Efforts to get the police’s reaction were unsuccessful as calls to the spokesman for the Bayelsa State Command, Mr. Asinim Butswat, rang out several times.
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