Raheem: Witness Says Vandi Returned Incomplete Bullets

Inspector Adamu Shuaibu, who is the eighth prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of the Assistant Superintendent of Police, Drambi Vandi, for allegedly killing a lawyer, Omobolanle Raheem, on Wednesday, told the court that the defendant had an AK47 Rifle and was given 25 rounds of live ammunition.

He, however, said out of the 25 bullets, Vandi returned 23 bullets after perpetrating the crime on Christmas Day.

Shuaibu, who was the person in charge of the safekeeping of weapons, said on December 25, 2022, around 8.45am, the defendant came to his office to book an AK47 rifle with Breach No. 24669, with 25 rounds of ammunition after the Divisional Police Officer’s parade.

He said Inspector Ibimini also came to book an AK47 Rifle with Breach No. 7037, with eight rounds of live ammunition.

The witness, while testifying before the Lagos State High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square, told the court that around 1pm to 2pm, he received a call from Inspector Ameh Matthew, that there was a problem at the Ajah under the bridge.

Shuaibu, who was led in evidence by the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), told Justice Ibironke Harrison that he informed the DPO of the Ajiwe police station about the development.

He said the DPO led a patrol team to the scene and after seeing Inspector Ibimini and Mathew, he inquired what happened.

The witness said, “Inspector Matthew explained that the defendant shot a pregnant woman; I then called all the station guards to fortify the station. Later, I heard the voices of the DPO, Vandi, and Supol Segun, while I was in my office inside the charge room.

“I came out of my office and saw the two of them and Segun handed the defendant’s AK47 to me immediately. I called Inspector Ibimini and collected his AK47, I cross-examined Ibimini’s magazine, the eight rounds of ammunition were complete but when I cross-checked the defendant’s magazine, I realised that two out of the 25 live ammunition he booked were missing.

“I immediately moved to the cell to speak with the defendant, but he could not give an account of the two missing ammunition and I informed the DPO. The DPO asked me to bring my register and confirmed that the defendant returned 23 of the 25 ammunition he went with.”

When the AG asked the witness where the two AK47 rifles were, he responded that the guns had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba.

The witness brought the station register, where the defendant had booked the AK47 rifle to the court and a certified true copy for comparison.

Meanwhile, the AG told the judge that they could not tender the original register, but that the witness brought it for comparison and sought to tender the CTC.

The defence counsel, Adetokunbo Oduntola, did not object to the tendering of the CTC of the register.

When asked about his duty as the armourer, the witness said, “My duty as an armourer is to keep the whole records of arms and ammunition. Secondly, to service the rifle, thirdly, to repair and keep the movement of all arms lost and recovered arms.”

Asked if it was unusual for a gun to have two numbers, he stated that it was not unusual.

He said,” Yes, I am very familiar with all the arms being used in the Ajah division. It is not unusual for a gun to have two numbers, for instance, after I took over on April 29, 2021 as the armourer, like in the Ajah division during the EndSARS all our houses were looted.

“We recovered some guns and some were unserviceable. We had to remove some parts and fixed them on other parts to see if they can work. Some of the guns that were recovered didn’t have springs, so we used different parts to make one gun.”

The defence counsel, Oduntola, during cross-examination, asked the witness to explain the procedure of returning arms and ammunition.

The witness said the normal procedure was that the officer, who signed the ammunition, would remove the magazine and the armourer would count it in the officer’s presence and sign it.

He said,” But in this circumstance, the tension at the station was high, when I asked him why two of his ammunition were missing, he started crying and I joined him to cry.”

The case was adjourned till February 9, for the continuation of trial.