Police uncovers arms cache in Festac Town

• parades fake medical doctor

By OKOSUN DENNIS

The Lagos State Police Command on Monday said it had uncovered and recovered large cache of arms and ammunition at Festac Town in Lagos.

A fake medical doctor identified as Dr Yonlonfun Misimahu Celestine, from Badagry local government area was also paraded by the police.

The Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, disclosed these to newsmen in his office at Ikeja. He, however, said no one has been arrested in respect of the arms which were found in a house at 6th Avenue.

He explained that the recovery was made possible based on “creditable information made available to the operatives of his command by a concerned citizen.

Arms recovered included 24 AK 47 rifles, 25 magazine, 951 of 7.6mm ammunition, 110 of 7.65mm ammunition; a vehicle plate number and other objects including charms.

Owoseni further explained that the command was working assiduously to find out how the ammunition got to the place and who owes them. He denied that some uniformed men were arrested in respect of the weapons.

Revealing the achievements of the force under his command in the last few weeks added that “we have arrested 28 armed robbery suspects, while four died during a gun duel with the police. We also arrested two kidnap suspects and recovered 16 different types of weapons from the criminal elements.

“In addition, 1083 live ammunition, 23 cartridges, 10 exotic vehicles were recovered,” he added.

However, a fake medical doctor who was said to have been responsible for the death of a pregnant woman and her baby during delivery at his hospital in Liverpool area of Lagos, was paraded before newsmen.

The fake doctor identified as Dr Yonlonfun Misimahu Celestine, from Badagry local government area claimed he was trained as a qualified nurse before setting up a hospital three years ago where he worked alone without any staff.

T\he fake medical doctor

Accepting responsibilities for the death of the victim, he explained that the victim was brought into his hospital about a week ago but told the family members that the case was beyond what he could handle and thereafter referred them to Tolu Hospital in Apapa.

He further stated that because the family couldn’t afford the hospital bill at Tolu Medical Centre, they insisted he tried all he could to assist the woman to deliver whom he said was brought into the hospital convulsing. Unfortunately after several hours, he delivered her of a dead baby . Few hours later, the woman went into convulsion and also died.

Explaining how he was arrested, Yonlonfun pointed out that he was arrested in his clinic after someone sent a petition to the police, they swooped on him to demand for explanation.

He pointed out that it was in the process of showing them his certificate of registration with the medical council that they saw his fake University of Ibadan Medical Certificate.

Other certificates found on the suspects, who claimed to have his Senior School certificate in the Republic of Benin were Medical Council and Cooperate Affairs certificates.

CP Owoseni also disclosed the arrest of a man who clandestinely engaged in sodomy. According to him, the suspect was said to be running a football club where he was the coach, using the influx of players that throng in for training to engage them in sodomy.

Earlier, Commissioner Fatai Owoseni cleared the air on the purported video that went viral on social media a week ago of a 7-year old boy that was said to have been lynched in Orile part of Lagos for selling gari.

The police boss reiterated that their investigation revealed that no such barbaric lynching took place in Lagos. However, during their investigations discovered a decomposing body of a notorious armed robber who was hatched to death with a cutlass.

On Otogbedeme community crisis at Ikate Elegushi, Lekki phase 1, Owoseni said there was no demolition orchestrated by the police that led to the death of residents as alleged by the community.

He further explained that the police did not at any time fire any gunshot during the crisis claiming that what appeared to be sounds of gunshots were gas cylinders that exploded as  a result of some shanties that are set on fire by the irate protesting rival groups that laid claims to the disputed riverine area.

Fatai Owoseni used the opportunity to warn members of the public that take laws into their hands at the slightest provocation to desist from doing so stating that the authorities of the force will not fold its hands and allow miscreants to perpetrate criminal acts that would jeopardise enduring peace in the state.