A 43-year-old man, Lawal Hakeem, said he impersonated a policeman to get money to fight excruciating hunger. Hakeem was arrested along with Abiodun Ibrahim, 32, at Mile 2 area of the Lagos metropolis by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS).

The suspect, who was found with a fake police identity card, said he used to be a policeman, but was dismissed for deserting. Hakeem, who resides at 16, Shittu Ajiron, Ajangbadi in Ojo Local Government Area, said: “I got enlisted into the police on April 4, 1989 with force number; 180939 before I was dismissed last year due to absenteeism from work after the death of my wife. Since that time, things have not been easy for me.

I was only parading myself as a policeman only to find means of livelihood.” The RRS Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP Olatunji Disu, said his men, while on patrol duty, sighted the suspects who were in mufti and became suspicious of their furtive movements.

According to him the RRS men approached the suspects to find out their business in the area. The duo, believing that esprit de corps would get the policemen off their back, introduced themselves as policemen. But rather than allow them to go, the RRS men probed them further.
During interrogation, Hakeem whipped out a police identity card, later found to be fake. Immediately both of them were arrested. On his part, Ibrahim confessed that he was not a policeman, but Hakeem’s intimate friend. He added that he was just trying to settle dispute that ensued between Hakeem and a private car driver at the spot before the arrival of the police at the scene. Hakeem appealed to the police to forgive him, promising not to impersonate anyone again.