SUPOL 419

Superintendent of police (Supol), Dominic Ubot, was sipping the last cup of local palm wine, IKOT 4. He was not in a hurry to leave the palm wine joint on that cool saturday evening. 

Anytime from 6.00pm, the bar would come alive with patrons from the neighborhood who had one thing in common: low profile folks in quest for low profile booze.

'The people's bar ' was just one of several others that inundated the Ajegunle neighborhood of Lagos Nigeria- an area largely inhabited by the dregs of society.

Yes, only this group could patronize the filthy environment of Ajegunle. They could also make do with the palm wine that came from IKOT Ekpene in south-south Nigeria.

The fact that the reddish-brown liquid gave the same satisfaction as lager beer, at one-quarter the cost, offered the main reason why patronage of the wine was high in that locality.

The palm wine had a slightly higher alcoholic content than the average lager beer per volume and it was reported to possess medicinal values not found in beer. The longer the post- harvest days on shelf the higher the alcoholic content,and the more potent it became as panacea for sundry ailments. IKOT4 was the four-day old brand, the premium stuff. After the fourth day the quality would begin to deteriorate.

Supol Ubot was not necessarily a pub crawler, nor an alcoholic. On the contrary he was a professionally-disciplined police detective of the Scotland Yard genre. He had worked in the state CID (Criminal Investigation Department) for twenty years during which he was promoted four times, an uncommon achievement, against the background of the generally- poor condition of service of the country's police force.

Ubot earned the distinction of cracking otherwise difficult cases, especially those bordering on advance-fee fraud, which was covered by section 419 of the criminal code. 419, thus became a short form of advance-fee fraud. That was how SUPOL 419 became an appellation for the man whose real name was Dominic Ubot.

Ubot had arrived at the people's bar at about 4.30pm on that Saturday evening and occupied a vantage position from where he had unlimited access to any ingress to the bar. He had ordered for a bottle of IKOT4 and sipped from it for a period of about one hour. He had to do this in order not to arouse suspicion. Although he visited the bar occasionally, few people knew he was a police officer and none knew he was a detective of the crack CID. It was important that he remained incognito.

Ubot was investigating a case of 419 and he was running out of time. A car manufacturing company had been defrauded of a large sum of money running into several millions of Naira (equivalent of about five hundred thousand dollars). The company management had thought of investing on some of its top management staff, by providing decent homes for three of them. The Administration Manager, Johnson Uka, was saddled with the responsibility of searching out properties that were good and within the budget. He and two other managers were the beneficiaries. He was required to liaise with the company lawyer to buy the properties for the management staff who had displayed tremendous loyalty and diligence towards the growth of the company. They were to employ the services of a competent real estate company to consummate the deal. A representative of the real estate company, Usman Daku, led the representatives of Goodway Automobile Manufacturing Company Limited to a set of three duplexes in a serene environment, a GRA (Government Reserved Area). It seemed the agency knew exactly what the client wanted. The deal was struck and the sum of one hundred and fifty million naira was paid to the presumed owner of the property, Chief Mukaila Jubrin, in the presence of the real estate agent, Usman Daku, and company lawyer, Taiwo Kehinde.

According to the agreement, the buyer would take possession of the properties after two weeks from payment. This would allow time for some landscaping to be completed. At the expiration of two weeks, the presumed property owner was contacted to release the keys and formally hand over. The telephone rang several times. No answer. After subsequent trials, the number became unavailable! The estate agent was approached. Together with the company's representatives, they went to the property location only to find a notice on the fence: "Houses not for sale. Beware of 419."

The police were called in and every body became a suspect, Johnson Uka, the Administration Manager of Goodway Automobiles, Usman Daku, the real estate agent, and Taiwo Kehinde, the company lawyer. The deal was a classic fraud. The transaction documents were a perfect forgery. The presumed owner of the property, Chief Mukaila Jubrin (real name, Bisi Khalid) had evaporated into thin air. The real owner of the property, Retired Captain Mukaila Jubrin of the Nigerian Legion was the one who alerted the police when he got wind of the fake deal.

Supol Ubot could not keep the suspects in detention indefinitely. The lawyers of the three suspects had procured their bail. The court had given the police seven days to commence prosecution or have the case struck out. Ubot had received ample intelligence that Johnson Uka was a regular visitor to the palm wine joint. According to his informants, Uka's visits became pronounced during the period of the deal . More interestingly, he gave out free drinks worth thousands of naira during each visit. He even gave his audience a hint that he wanted to contest elections into the local government council. Could this be the catch? Ubot was so sold to the Uka connection that he showed little or no interest in the other two suspects.

At exactly 6.000pm, a car arrived at the people's bar. A cacophony of adulations rent the air. 'Our man! Our man!' This characteristic outburst of sychophancy echoed in the neighborhood as well as within the bar. The palm wine patrons, who were about thirty in the bar, stood up as Uka made a majestic entry to the admiration of his parasites. They were used to a bazaar of free wine, especially on Saturdays. He did not disappoint that day. 'One hundred bottles!' he announced to his ecstatic audience while the bar man struggled to meet up with the order.

Was the drama at the people's bar enough to sue Uka for advance-fee fraud? Supol Ubot soliloquized as he took off his clothing to have a shower when he got home late that evening. He had scarcely removed his singlet when a call came through his weather- battered Nokia handset. He didn't subscribe to the luxury of premium smart phones. After all, he only needed them to make and receive calls, and perhaps send and receive messages, he surmised.

"Could you please report at the Area command office immediately!" he couldn't miss the voice of his Division's Crime Officer, Superintendent Arit Aban.

A confessional statement was being recorded at the police Area command office. Bisi Khalid (fake Mukaila Jubrin) was already singing over the telephone. He had carried out the deal with Usman Daku the estate agent. In fact, the latter procured the fake documents of the properties which were presented to the prospective buyers earlier. The money was paid into Daku's account on the understanding that he would remit same to the presumed property owner's account. As it turned out, Daku was a double fraudster. He had failed to remit the full amount of Khalid's cut as agreed. This prompted the latter to expose the deal. It would be better that both of them sank than allow 'a small boy' cheat him in a deal.

Why did it never cross the mind of Supol Ubot that someone other than Uka was the bad egg? Or was his mind also a victim of 419?