BAYELSA: Alleged Phone thief Vindicated by Court as EKELGA leaders intervenes

An alleged phone thief identified as "Areofurubo Anthony", that was handed over to security agencies, after being accused of snatching a blackberry phone belonging to one Joy Edafe, has been vindicated and set free by a Magistrate Court in Ovom, Yenagoa, Bayelsa state, after leaders of the newly ekeremor federated youths council led by Comr. Ebi Etolor Prince swung into action.

According to the story authored by Bodmas P. Kemepadei, published by Bodmasnewsblog.com, which went viral on social media pages, it captioned "
Photo Story: SUSPECTED PHONE THIEF APPREHENDED BY BAYELSA STATE VIGILANTE".

The story was viewed by more than 50,000 persons hours after publication, and therefore caught the attention of the family and close associates of the suspects, who were not aware of the incidents and had been searching for their son, with intentions of declaring him missing.

Having viewed the story on the Facebook page of Bodmas P. Kemepadei, which was already generating a lot of controversies, as some opinionist continued to vouch on the innocence of the culprit. Bodmas Kemepadei received a phone call from the public relation officer of the union, Mr. Perekeme Fidelis Perekeme, asking some vital questions that could help the union locate the whereabouts of the suspect, Bodmas Kemepadei gave the little he had, as the story was sent via an eyewitness report to Bodmasnewsblog desk.

The union therefore swung into action, according to the President, Comr. Etolor Ebi Prince, he stated that the identified suspect was a native of Isampou in Ekeremor local government area of the state, residing in his hometown, but on an official assignment as a member of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria visited Yenagoa and was temporarily residing at the command office along Tombia-Amassoma road.

Etolor noted that when his attention was drawn to the publication, he knew the suspect as one who could not indulge in such act, according to him, he immediately contacted the union's legal adviser, Barrister Jessica God'spower, and with the information at their disposal, they got to the court, were the suspect was to stand for trial, making a defense for him.

The suspects was therefore vindicated and granted freedom, following failure of the complainants to appear in court at first sitting.

Speaking with the Suspect, Areofurubo Anthony, he narrated his story how he became a victim of circumstance, in his words;

" On that day, i was heading to the command office where i stay, suddenly i saw people chasing a thief, i joined the chase because i was close to the thief, i dived and grabbed the thief, hoping to hold him down before the mob would arrive, unfortunately, he struggled and broke out, leaving the phone behind, i then picked phone hoping to return it, but to my greatest surprise, the mob started shouting 'see am there, hold am, thief!', i got confused, i tried to explain but i could not, they were already pouncing on me, i was beaten mercilessly, if not for men of the Doo Akpo, i would have been lynched, but i thank God, i am out, it has been about four days of torture in cell, i sincerely thank my leaders, i also thank Bodmas who publicised the story, if not for the publication, no one would have known about my situation", he said.

Comr. Etolor further condemned the action of the police, accusing them of not embarking on proper investigations before putting the suspect behind bars, even when they saw his identity card.

Areofurubo Anthony, has gone back to his hometown to reunite with his family who had been worried over his sudden disappearance.

The commander of the Vigilante Group in the state, Mr. Tolumo Jonathan, confirmed the Suspect as one of their own, and stated that it was a case of mistaken identity.