Gift David Okpara aka General 2-Baba, the prime suspect in the killing of DPO of Ahoada East Division of Rivers State, Bako Angbashin, has denied involvement in the crime.
In September, The Herald reported that the police declared 2-Baba wanted over the DPO’s killing, promising a “handsome reward” for information leading to the suspect’s arrest’.
However, in a voice note aired on 92.3, Nigeria Info, Port Harcourt, the notorious cult leader said he knew nothing about the DPO’s death.
“I want to tell the Rivers State Government that I am not involved in anything concerning the death of the DPO. I didn’t want to say anything all this while. But I decided to speak out because of the way people were talking about it.
“I was surprised and I want to tell people that I was not after the DPO and I’m not involved in his death. It is just that the incident happened on my community road. And the day it (killing) occurred, I spoke with him. I and the DPO discussed this.
“I was not even there when he was killed that day and I was shocked when I heard about the incident,” 2-Baba said.
He also revealed why his group returned to arms after initially laying down the arms under the amnesty programme offered by the state government.
“We submitted all the arms and ammunition we had, but our opposition refused to submit. And I saw that the government didn’t do anything about it. So, my gang started regretting our decision to submit our arms.
So, since we no longer had weapons, our rivals now used the advantage to trail us and kill members of my gang. They killed my younger brother of the same parents and burnt our house. That was my annoyance and that was why I went back to gunplay (crime),” 2-Baba said.
The suspect who now claims to be a freedom fighter for the youths of Ekpeye (communities in his region) also denied involvement in kidnapping, illegal bunkering, and related acts of criminality, noting that he was into a dredging business.
According to Okpara, “I didn’t pick up arms again for the purpose of intimidating people and causing problems. Everybody knows I was not into kidnapping, illegal bunkering, or any criminal activity.
“I have just been concentrating on my business. And everybody knows that the only business I was doing was dredging. That is what I do,” he said.
2-Baba added that he was self-sponsored and not bankrolled by a traditional ruler as claimed.