Our juju failed us - Bank robbery suspects

By Saka Gbeminiyi

IT is my duty to offer sacrifice to Ogun, the god of iron, whenever we want to go for operation. We always kill a dog and sprinkle its blood on the deity to protect us from any attack from the police. It has been working for us. To also fortify the gang, I used to take them (members) to an Ifa priest who always contact the divinity for us before going out for operation. We have been doing that for some time now and it has been working.

“We are in this mess because we failed to perform a sacrifice prescribed to us by the Ifa priest. Our intention was to do the operation first and come back for the sacrifice. We have already succeeded in robbing the bank, but things later backfired because we did not sacrifice as stated by the Ifa priest,” that was Oriyomi Sikiru, 32, confessing his involvement in series of bank robberies in recent times.

The men of the Ogun State police Command recently smashed an armed robbery gang that specialises in robbing banks and other financial houses in Ogun, Oyo and Lagos States.

Two members of the deadly armed robbery gang were nabbed by men of the Ogun State Police Command after series of investigation.

Sunday Tribune learnt from the Ogun State Police Command that the deadly robbery gang was responsible for the raiding of a first generation bank (Union Bank, Panseke, Abeokuta) on November 14, 2007 where money and other property were looted.

The source told Sunday Tribune that on that day, members of the gang stormed the bank in a convoy of cars, V-boot, Honda Bull dog and held people hostage.

However, the policemen gave them a hot chase and they were engaged in gun duel. When the heat was too much, the gang members abandoned one of their operational vehicles containing some of their weapons and a Nokia handset.

Sunday Tribune learnt that the police, through their investigation, was able to find out that the Nokia handset belonged to one of the members of the armed robbery gang, Oriyomi, from Ogijo, Ogun State.

Sunday Tribune was told that the men of Ogun Police Command, with the assistance of the police in Ogijo, was able to fish out the suspect.

Expectedly, the sources told Sunday Tribune that the suspect, Oriyomi, initially denied ever losing any handset, but he later gave up when he realised that the game was up.

“You see, these people don’t tell the truth. He initially denied losing any handset but when he was confronted with serious evidence, he secretly called one of his interrogators aside and promised to give him good money,” a source told Sunday Tribune.

The arrest of Oriyomi Sikiru also aided the arrest of Nurudeen Onaolapo. Oriyomi was the gang’s herbalist, while Nurudeen was the gang’s driver. They both lived in Ogijo.

The duo of Oriyomi and Nurudeen, Sunday Tribune learnt held very sensitive position in the town’s vigilante group, this was made possible because of the way they live.

“The duo are held in high esteem by the people of Ogijo. They are well respected, many people could not believe it when we went there to effect their arrests.

As a result of the arrest, the police conducted a search at their hideout and more items were recovered from the gang. They included a Gold and Mazda Saloon cars with registration numbers CM62KTU and GN928 KJA respectively.

Speaking on the gang’s mode of operation, Oriyomi, the gang’s herbalist said, “on our last operation, we took off from Ikorodu and moved towards Ibadan Expressway. We called other members of the gang and they told us that they were already in Abeokuta.

When we got to Abeokuta, we moved straight to the bank and when we got there, our men began to shoot sporadically into the air and we raided the bank, after the operation, we headed straight to Sagamu. It was a very successful operation”, he said.

On how they were arrested, he said: “The Ifa oracle failed us. We were expected to perform a sacrifice before the operation but because we were running out of time, we went straight for the operation, hoping to come for the sacrifice later. It is very unfortunate,” he lamented.

The police spokesman for the Ogun State Police Command, Mr. Femi Awoyale, said that efforts were in top gear to arrest the fleeing members of the gang. He also warned armed robbers to stay away from Ogun State as the command would not give them space to operate.

‘We formed robbery gang in our secondary school’

By Saka Gbeminiyi

THE men of Ogun State Police command have arrested a three-man robbery gang. The daredevil robbers were said to have been terrorising the people of Ibogun Community in Ogun State for some months before the long hand of the law caught up with them recently.

The gang specialises in burgling into people’s houses in the night, causing fears, commotion and in some cases death of the victims that failed to meet their demands.

Sunday Tribune learnt that the members of the gang on breaking into people’s houses often demand for money, gold and other valuables.

The armed robbery suspects caused a stir at Ogun State Police Command when they revealed that they formed their gang while in seconday school. “ You cannot believe it.

These boys said they were school mates and that they actually formed their gang while in secondary school. This is a very big lesson to parents. They should watch their children very well. Imagine a situation whereby parents send their wards to school to go and learn but they end up forming an armed robbery gang. While their colleagues were busy preparing for examination, these boys were busy forming an armed robbery gang”, a Police source told Sunday Tribune.

The suspects who are now in police custody are Kazeem Oyedele (23) Alabi Amos (23) and Kehinde Sholanke (30).

Corroborating the police, Kazeem told Sunday Tribune that :”I left Ogba in Lagos State after my primary school education for Atan in Ogun State. I was in Atan for my secondary school. I met other members of the gang in our school. So after our Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) we decided to stay together. We rented a room at Atan and stayed together and formed a gang”.

The mode of operation of the gang, Sunday Tribune learnt was to break into people’s houses at night while they were fast asleep. They attacked people with gun, cutlass and axe.

A source at the Police command told Sunday Tribune that, on the day of their arrest, the gang as usual had successfully attacked a landlord, Mr. Amodu Yusuf at night. The gang was able to collect money and other valuable items running into two hundred thousand naira from Amodu Yusuff and his family.

However, nemesis caught up with them when they extended their raiding to other houses in the neighbourhood. Men of Ibogun Police Division acting on a tip-off rounded them up while trying to break into another house.

Items received from them were a locally made single-barelled gun and the gang operational motorbike. The suspects were taken to Ibogun Police Division and later to the state Anti-Robbery Department of the state Police Command.

Explaining the way they shared responsibility during operation, Alabi Amos (23) said he was incharge of conveying members of the gang to where they operated using the motorbike. Kazeem Oyedele (23) was the gang’s hitman . He helped the gang to wade off any intruder during operation. The eldest, Kunle Sholanke (30) was saddled with the responsibility of staying outside to alert members of any probelm during operations.

Speaking to Sunday Tribune, the members of the gang confessed that their desire to live big forced them into armed robbery. “We want to be rich and famous. right from Secondary School, we have mapped out how to make money through armed robbery” Kazeem Oyedele said.

Speaking on the suspects, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Femi Awoyale said the armed robbery suspects in their statements made mention of some other members of the gang still at large and that the Ogun State Police Command will do everything to fish them out and made them face the law.

He used the opportunity to advise men of the underworld to change as there is no hiding place for them in Ogun State:” We are trying to make the whole of Ogun State very uncomfortable for men of the underworld”, he enthused.