Murder of Soboma George: Police parades another suspect seven years after
The Rivers State Police Command , weekend, paraded one Anthony Pepple, suspected to be one of the killers of an ex-militant Leader, Late Soboma George, who was murdered in cold blood on a football field in Borikiri area of Port Harcourt in the evening of August 24, 2010, where he went for his routine sporting.
Ex-militant Soboma, a former factional leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, and also a leader of a cult group called The Outlaws, accepted the amnesty offered by the late former President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua in August 2009.
The suspect, Anthony Pepple, known as Urban Gorilla, was paraded along with another suspected criminal, Shakeed Adekunle, a.k.a. Black Devil. Black Devil was arrested by the Intelligent Response Team of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP, on April 17, this year, and was described by the police as a notorious criminal.
Recall that Doubra Ogbe, Emmanuel Gladstone, a.k.a Tommy, and Pere Matthew, have been standing trial for the murder of the ex-militant since 2010 after they were tracked down and arrested by the police.
The murder case is expected to resume today, Monday, April 24, 2017, at a Port Harcourt High Court presided over by Justice George Omereji.
In a press briefing shortly after parading the suspects, the state Commissioner of Police, CP Zaki Mohammed Ahmed, said the suspected killer of Sogboma George, Pepple, had since confessed to have masterminded the killing.
According to the Commissioner, “On 17th April, 2017, around 02.00 hours the IGP Intelligence Response Team based on intelligence, arrested one Anthony Pepple, a.k.a. Urban Gorilla, aged 42 years old and resident of Bonny local government area of Rivers State and Shakeed Adekunle, a.k.a. Black Devil, aged 27 of Kebbi local government area of Ondo State.
“Urban Gorilla and Black Devil had been in our kidnapped wanted list and open to arrest. Anthony Pepple, a.k.a. Urban Gorilla has confessed to have masterminded the cold blood murder of one Soboma George, a militant commander sometime in 2009. He also confessed to being the leader of a kidnap syndicate.
“Based on their confession, four other members of their syndicate were arrested. They are: Hilary Worgu, 21, Obumbada Chima, 36, Lucky Gospel Marakwu, 26, and Agari Emmanuel, aged 31.”
In an interview with journalists during the parade, Pepple, who is a Health Safety and Environment, HSE, Coordinator by profession with over 18 years experience in the oil industry, revealed that he had been in the business of kidnapping, which he described as organized crime, since 2015.
He said: “I am here because I did an organised crime. I did kidnapping. I have been kidnapping since 2015.
“For sure when a crime is committed you cannot say something led you into it. It depends on your mindset. I needed to push up a transaction so I needed some bulk of cash.
“I studied abroad. I have worked in Saipem Abroad, my total experience in the oil industry is about 18 years and I studied various courses abroad. I’m a Health Safety and Environment, HSE, Coordinator. In that aspect we cover various areas in terms of security, life and property; in terms of safety in industry.
“For you, you call it kidnapping, I call it organised crime. If you come down to my investigation you find out that I never hurt anybody, I never killed a policeman. So for me it’s an organised crime. I did it perfectly and it went on smoothly, not until the IG Intelligence Response Team who are very technical and organised managed to fish me out.
Pepple who refused to comment on the killing of Soboma George which he described as classified, also told journalists that he was already regretting his actions.
