After over nine months of painstaking investigation, the police has finally pointed at three mobile policemen and six civilians including a private guard as being responsible for the cold-blooded murder of frontline politician and Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) gubernatorial aspirant in Lagos State, Engineer Funso Williams.

Consequently, the Inspector General of police, Sunday Ehindero, said the suspects would soon be arraigned in court on charges of conspiracy and murder based on what he described as the outcome of a thorough investigation which led to the arrest of a total of 46 suspects.

Addressing newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja, the IGP named Sergeant Okponwasa Imariabe, Corporal Tunani Sonani and Mustapha Kayode of the Police Mobile Force(PMF), all attached to the late Williams until his death, as active collaborators in the planning and murder of the Lagos politician.

According to Ehindero, who said the cops have already been dismissed from the police force, others also suspected to have taken part in the chilling act are Abubakar Kalamu, Bulama Kolo, Garba Abubakar, Musa Maina, Felix John, and David Cassidy, the 34-year-old private guard of the deceased, who not only vehemently denied involvement in the killing of his boss, but dismissed police investigations into the incident as shoddy and questionable.

It was indeed a drama of sorts, as Cross River State-born Cassidy engaged the leader of police investigation team at the Force Criminal Investigation Department(FCID), Deputy Commissioner of Police, Alli Ahmoudu, in a war of words on Tuesday at the police Force Headquarters where the suspects were paraded, during which he pointedly told the IGP to go and scout for better investigators for the Nigeria police to make genuine breakthroughs in its anti-crime efforts.

Cassidy, who admitted police investigation reports which described him as a one-time successful businessman whose fortunes suddenly plummeted, narrated a sad tale of how he fell from grace to grass after being duped of over N10million in a flourishing solid mineral business at Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

He further explained that after several futile efforts at recovering from his predicament, he relocated to Lagos where he engaged in all manner of odd jobs to eke a living until his employment by Mouka Security Limited, a private security firm which deployed him to the residence of the late Williams, with whom he had worked on a monthly salary of N4,500 from February 14, 2003, to July 26, 2006, when he was brutally murdered at his Dolphin Estate, Lagos home.

Almost losing his temper over his alleged involvement in the murder of his boss, Cassidy roared in a fit of anger: " Yes, I am the day guard to my boss. I worked with him since February 14, 2003, till the day he was murdered. Now, I 've been in detention for nine months and your boss(Ehindero), has the guts to tell me that I am involved in the murder of my boss. It is a shame on the Nigeria police, because this is no investigation, and you need good people to investigate cases."

It took a warning from the IGP to calm his outburst, before the lead investigator in the case, DCP Ali, tried frantically to puncture Cassidy’s claim of innocence, saying suspicion of complicity of the nine suspects was boosted by the weight of available evidence against them.

However, mixed emotions swelled at the IGP's conference hall as the nine suspects were led out by detectives amid a loud protest of innocence, even as police sergeant Okponwasa Imariebe tearfully sought divine intervention, saying "O Lord, I commit my soul to you".

Despite their pleas and cries, the IGP insisted that there is an onus placed on them before the law court, just as he gave graphic details of how Williams was murdered. In his words, "the assailants, using a professionally well-knotted rope, gained entrance into the deceased's premises through an air conditioner opening, and met the deceased in a computer room, tied him up, and stabbed him to death.

"The two policemen on duty were obviously negligent. They vandalized the apartment, emptied his wife's jewelry box, stole wrist watches, camera, and very importantly, Williams’ GSM handset. Forty-six suspects were arrested, 20 were screened out, but found to belong to an unregistered paramilitary organization, and were accordingly charged to court. Out of the remaining 26 suspects, nine of the suspects have high degree involvement, the three mobile policemen on guard inclusive".

Ehindero further noted that a sustained interface between police investigators and GSM providers led to the arrest of four suspects identified as Kalamu, Kolo, Abubakar and Maina, in Lagos and Maiduguri, with Williams' stolen Samsung handset, which was discovered to have been used to make calls some days after the murder, by the four suspects.

He said although the outcome of various forensic analysis and DNA reports on fingerprints of suspects and blood stains collated are still being awaited from the British Forensic Service Centre, the nine suspects fingered as the main actors by police investigators, are to appear in court for conspiracy and murder.

The IGP also spoke on preliminary police findings in the case of a former Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos, Professor Jonnie Onyeka, who has been declared missing since August 18, 2006, and is yet to be found. He was last seen in attendance at a service of songs for the late wife of one of his colleagues, and drove in a Peugeot 406 saloon car, which has also not been traced.

But Ehindero said discreet police investigations led to the arrest of a Jos-based car dealer, Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim, from whom the police recovered a Samsung handset model SOH-E700, belonging to the missing university don. Ibrahim's arrest, he said, led to the arrest of four others whose names were given as Sani Abubakar, James Umar, Chukwudi Eze, and Emeka Anyaegbunem, a 200 level student of Geoplanning at the University of Jos, and close friend to a son of the missing professor. Interestingly, Emeka was allegedly in possession of Professor Onyeka's mobile phone after his disappearance, and sold it to one Chukwudi Eze, who has confessed his level of involvement to the police.

Describing Emeka as a hardened criminal, the IGP said the police discovered upon his arrest, that Emeka belonged to several cult groups, had over ten carry-overs in his courses, and was rusticated from Unijos, but hibernates around the campus. Investigators also said they've established that his mother is the owner of Unique restaurant in Jos, which the missing professor used to patronize.

Although the police is yet to establish Onyeka's whereabouts, he said Emeka would be made to face the wrath of the law.