From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
The last four months of every year, otherwise known as “ember” months, have always been a sort of rush period for Nigerians. People struggle to achieve the goals they set for themselves at the beginning of the year.
The period is usually characterised by increase in crimes and criminality. People of questionable characters with greed for wealth would stop at nothing to acquire wealth through whatever means, so that they could showcase a life of affluence during Christmas and New Year celebrations.
Daily Sun gathered that the need to stem the tide of criminal activities in Oyo State made the Police Command to restructure its security architecture. Commissioner of Police, Mr. Samuel Adegbuyi, said in the first part of the “ember” months campaign, men of the command arrested 168 suspects for various offences, adding that 104 among the suspects were still under interrogation.
He paraded the 64 suspects, whose interrogation had been completed at the command headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan, recently. He explained that 53 persons among the 64 arrested suspects were nabbed for armed robbery, two for murder, three for rituals and unlawful possession of human skulls, three for fraud and unlawful possession of fake currency, two for human trafficking and child labour, as well as one person for impersonation.
Items said to have been recovered from the suspects included 14 firearms, 12 ammunition and cartridges, seven vehicles, seven motorcycles, $75,100 fake US Dollars. The items also comprised knives, a gas cylinder, a sledge hammer, a big wrench, a mask, assorted cell phones, ATM cards, a master key, vehicle particulars, cutlasses, a dagger, fake police identity card, police kits, SIM cards, weeds suspected to be Indian hemp, criminal charms, laptop, and a cash sum of N20,000.
Adegbuyi said: “I am spurred by the imperative of informing the public of efforts of the Oyo State Police Command to vigorously fight crimes and criminality in the state. Conscious of the approaching yuletide and its attendant rise in criminal activities by unscrupulous criminal elements, who are blinded by avarice and who would stop at nothing to acquire ill-gotten wealth during this period, the command has restructured all its security architecture to brace up to this challenge.
“In doing this, the command embarked on intensive stop and search, purposeful and aggressive vehicle patrol, sustained intelligence-led raid and crackdown on ‘okada’ riders carrying more than one passenger.
“All these efforts are deliberate and are intended to achieve desired objective of providing adequate security for all and sundry in the state before, during and after the festive period.
“These efforts have yielded the desired results as many criminals were arrested and stolen property recovered during the first part of the ‘ember’ months.”
The first set of syndicate paraded were suspected armed robbers that killed one Yerokun Rasheed via gunshot at Iyana Agbala area of Ibadan during a robbery operation at his residence on August 31, this year, were among the paraded suspects. The suspects were accused of dispossessing the deceased and other residents of their valuable property, including cash:
“During the robbery operation, the callous armed bandits killed Oyedokun Rasheed, one of their victims. Consequent upon the report made to the police, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), of the command was directed to carry out discreet investigation with a view to apprehending the armed robbery suspects.”
The investigation conducted by the police, he stated, resulted in the arrest of the two suspects. A locally-made cut-to-size single barrel gun used by the purported robbers during the operation was recovered. The suspects confessed to the crime and other similar robbery operations they had carried out in different parts of the state.
The second set of the syndicate comprised four suspects – Ismaila, Moshood, Ahmed and Abiodun who were arrested in connection with the foiled bank robbery on September 4, this year, at 1:15am. The suspects allegedly attempted to break into the vault of Oyo branch of Zenith Bank. But the robbery was foiled by combined team of SARS and patrol team from neighbouring divisions.
The CP stated that as a result of the superior fire power of the police, the armed hoodlums were forced to abandon the scene, adding that some tools such as a Micra car with Registration No: OYO GBH 308 XH, one cut-to-size gun, a gas cylinder, a sledge hammer, a big wrench and face masks, which the bandits abandoned at the scene were later recovered. Investigation by SARS, he said, led to the arrest of the four member of the gang at their purported various criminal hideouts in Ibadan. The suspects also confessed to the crime.
In the same vein, another five-man gang of suspected armed robbers, which specialised in snatching posh cars from their owners at gunpoint, was smashed by SARS. The gang allegedly lurked at the entrance of their victim’s house at Akobo, Ibadan, when he was about to driving into his residence at 7:30p.m on September 7:
“The hoodlums snatched the Honda Accord Saloon car with Registration No: OYO BDJ 127 SX, and abducted their victim, who was later dropped off at Fiditi area, near Oyo town, after they had dispossessed him of his phones, money and other valuables.
“Through intelligence, the vehicle was later recovered together with a member of the criminal gang. The suspect, Olajide, who received the stolen vehicle from other members of the gang, had sold it to another criminal receiver at the rate of N570,000 with initial deposit of N30,000. The unlawful transaction was carried out at the Akinyele Trailer Park. The arrest of the suspect led to arrest of Fatokun, another criminal receiver of stolen property.” Adegbuyi stated and the suspects confessed to the crime during interrogation. The stolen car and one other Sienna Space Bus with Registration No LAGOS LSR 769 DX were recovered from the gang.
The fourth gang paraded consisted of 10 suspects arrested for specialising in stealing of cars and motorcycles. Four motorcycles and one car were recovered from them. Also, one motorcycle and one mobile phone were recovered from another gang of four suspects that had allegedly terrorised Sabo Gambari village.
An armed robbery syndicate that had terrorised Oranyan, Agugu area and other parts of Ibadan metropolis, was unlucky recently when they purportedly robbed Abidemi, a female resident of Ilupeju Street, Lagelu area and dispossessed her of N630,000, four cell phones, laptops and other valuables. They were nabbed by the police. One pistol and three cell phones were recovered from the two suspects arrested in connection with the crime.
An armed robbery suspect, Saheed, who allegedly chattered a Toyota Camry car at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, to Ibadan and snatched the car at gunpoint from its owner at Mowe area of Ogun State, was also paraded. The suspect said he drove the car to Ibadan where he wanted to sell the car before his arrest.
Four persons that specialised in robbing bank customers after trailing them, especially at Ojoo, Apata, Challenge, Bodija and other parts of Ibadan metropolis were also paraded by the police.
The command arrested a syndicate of human traffickers operating in Ibadan. The suspects allegedly lured a 15-year-old girl, Alimat, to Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire, two years ago without her consent. The girl, who is now 17 years, has been brought back to Nigeria.
The 10th gang that paraded for armed robbery allegations was accused of unleashing reigns of terror at Iyana Agbala area of Egbeda comprised six suspects. The next set of suspects paraded included two persons alleged to have been terrorising Eleni village in Itesiwaju Local Government Area and robbed a man of N400,000, a motorcycle and a grinding machine. Also, the suspected armed robbers who operated at Apata area of Ibadan on October 8 were also in the police net.
Paraded also were three persons, Ramoni, Azeez and Salami, arrested with human skulls. They were said to have been arrested at their hideouts in Ogbomoso on October 10.
A fake police Inspector, Olodu, was arrested at about 11am on October 9, when he was escorting an unregistered Toyota car along Iwo Road, Ibadan. He was said to have claimed to be a spy police working with some companies in Lagos, which was found to be false. Items recovered from him included police identity card, three pairs of black police uniform, a pair of sky blue police uniform, a beret and a black belt, two customised police T-shirt, a head warmer with police colour, five phones, eight sim cards, 21 passport-size photographs of suspects in police uniform as well as badges of ranks of Inspector, Assistant Superintendent of Police I, Deputy Superintendent of Police and Superintendent of Police.
The 14th syndicate comprised five suspected armed robbers that have allegedly terrorised Oyo, Ibarapa and different parts of Ibadan was paraded. The gang was said to have on October 10 at Elebu area of Akala Way, Ayegun in Ibadan attacked one Basirat, robbed her of N485,000 and killed her son. The same gang was accused of operating at Orita Aperin in Ibadan sometime in August and carted away N370,000 and other valuables.
The command’s Safer Highway team stationed on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway intercepted an Audi saloon car on October 12. Fake $75,100 and weeds suspected to be Indian hemp were recovered from them.
“During investigation, the men confessed to be fraudulent Islamic clergies, who often used the fake money to deceive unsuspecting victims, who sought spiritual help or money ritual,” the Commissioner of Police said.
Two persons were arrested in connection with the alleged murder of Mr Yahuza Isiyaku Fakai, a 32-year-old personnel of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Oyo State Sector Command in his residence at College Road, Amejiogbe area of Oyo. The suspects were Nurudeen, a dismissed personnel of the FRSC over motor licence racketeering, and Mohammed. The deceased was said to be the benefactor of Nurudeen since he lost his job.
The 17th gang paraded comprised six suspected armed robbers alleged to have been responsible for the spate of armed robbery in Ibadan, Ogbomoso and other parts of the state. They were arrested on October 21at their hideout in Ibadan.
The principal suspect in the alleged murder case of the FRSC personnel, Nurudeen, confessed: “I just don’t understand what came over me because the deceased helped me on many occasions. In fact, he gave me N1,000 the night that preceded his murder. I had arranged with my friend, Mohammed to come and help me in stabbing the victim till death so we can rob him of his valuable property like his car, mobile phones, money and so on.
“Unfortunately, we could not take away anything from him because of the situation of thing. It was my friend that stabbed him in the neck while I was pretending to be making calls at the entrance of the gate. I later joined him in the victim’s car, where he has already been stabbed by my friend.
“I collected the knife from my friend and stabbed him (FRSC personnel) in the chest and in the leg. After we have succeed in killing him, we could not take away any of his property because we were so afraid to do so. Though we were not arrested on the scene, we were later arrested in our various houses.”
The second suspect, Mohammed: “I was invited by my friend Nurudeen, who told me to stab the victim till death so that we could rob him of his valuables property like phones, his car and money.
“But I could not withstand the scene when I saw blood. So, I had to flee without taking anything from the victim, though I stabbed him in the neck while I was in his car and my friend Nurudeen later came to finish the job by stabbing him in the chest and in the leg.
