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By Chioma Okezie-Okeh
Operatives of the Force Intelligence Response Team (FIRT) have arrested four suspects from Otukpor area of Benue State who were alleged by members of their communities to be miscreants responsible for various criminal activities in the area, including robbery and sale of guns.
Among the four is one Ogili Sule who had been on the wanted list of the police after he allegedly sold a pistol stolen from a serving policeman. He was said to have been contracted by another policeman who had since been arrested and jailed to sell the pistol which the dismissed officer stole from his colleague. During the investigation then, Sule, who got news of the policeman’s arrest, fled to an unknown destination. He has since been picked up after he returned home.
Other arrested suspects are Victor Mathias, Adoga Solomon and Sunday Audu. It was gathered that they confessed to the police during interrogation that they were small time criminals and were responsible for snatching goods from motorists at gunpoint along Otukpa Expressway in Benue State.
Sad and begging for forgiveness, Ogili Sule who is 32 years old, told Saturday Sun that it was his failure to obey his father’s last wish that got him in police detention.
“I am from Otukpor in Benue State My name is Ogili Sule, and I am 32 years old from Benue. My grandfather was a gunsmith and while he was alive, I normally visited his workshop. When he died, my father, who was a farmer, refused to continue because of police problem over licence. He closed down the workshop and warned us to stay away. Unfortunately, I already knew some of the buyers and I kept in touch with them. My father was not making enough money to sustain his family, so I dropped out of school.
“I learnt how to buy and sell timber, but those my grandfather’s customers kept coming back to look for guns to buy. This was why I decided to try my luck and got contacts from Benue and Anambra who are gun dealers. I started in 2008 and sometime in 2014, there was a major crisis and when the army and police were investigating, they came to our area and arrested my father. Luckily there was no gun found with him because the supply I had was well hidden.
“When they finally released my father, he heard that I had started selling guns and he was very mad. He begged me to stop, he made me swear that I would never sell guns. I agreed and actually stopped. The money I made I concentrated on timber work till sometime in 2021 when my in-law, who is policeman, brought a pistol and begged me to help him sell.
“I asked him the source and he told me that it was his own. I believed him and got a buyer who bought it at N300,000. I was surprised when he was arrested and dismissed from the police. I had to run away and when I felt that all was okay since he is in jail, I came back to Otukpor.
“A week after I came back, they came to my house and arrested me. I wish I had listened to my late father,” he lamented.
He alleged that most of the guns that he sold recently were bought from one Chinedu in Onitsha, Anambra State. “It is very easy to buy guns in Onitsha as long as you have the right contacts. I used to buy from one Chinedu who normally meets me at a hotel close to Ojanja market in Onitsha. The last he sold to me were six pump action rifles at N200,000 each. I then sold them N250,000 each. The buyer assured me that it was for election and not for robbery. I am always careful because when police arrest a robber, they must take them to the source of their guns.
“I was only given N20,000 for the pistol that got me into trouble,” he stated.
The second suspect, Victor Mathias, who is 18 years was referred to as the leader of an eight-man gang who specialises in snatching goods from truck drivers at gun point. He escaped in January when the gang was busted during an operation. His words: “Immediately my father died when I was 16, my friends who are already active in crime advised me to join them. They told me that there was no one to beat me if I was caught doing anything bad since my father was dead. Initially I refused but they told me that I needed to help my mother to take care of my other siblings.
“To confuse my mother, I told her that I wanted to be a welder and she agreed. She always assumed that the money that I used to give her was got from gifts from motorists.
“Our attack point is at that Hill in Otukpa Expressway in Benue that connects Enugu. Normally big trucks passing through there will have to slow down and climb the hill. We would jump on their trucks and start throwing down goods while they are on motion. Two of our members would point guns at them to slow down properly while we are at it. As soon as they are descending, we would jump down. They will never stop because we are always armed.”
On his miraculous escape, Victor said that he was able to escape because he was moving some of the stolen goods from the highway. He said: “I was just lucky that day. We never knew that the truck had policemen hiding at the back of the truck. I heard my members scream so I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. Sunday Audu was also lucky to have escaped that day. I stayed away from Otukpa for months and came back two weeks ago. I never knew they were also waiting for me to return.
“I am sorry that I deceived my mother and stole what does not belong to me. If God will give me a second chance, I will sell my father’s land and do legitimate business.”
Adoga Solomon, on his part, claimed that he was arrested because the police found him with his late brother’s rifle. “My brother was a vigilante commander before he was murdered by Fulani herdsmen that invaded our community. I never knew he had a weapon amongst his property because it is a taboo in our land to check the property of the dead. We give them months to be sure that they are truly dead, this was why they concluded that I am now using his rifle to commit crime. I know that I hang around bad boys but that does not mean that I am a criminal,” he stated.
