Day Oyo police bared fangs on suspected criminals - Paraded undergraduate robbery suspects, rapists, fake police, others

By Rotimi Omole - updated: Wednesday 27-08-2008

A gang of suspected armed robbersWITH their heads bowed in shame throughout the duration of the parade of suspected criminals arrested by the police in Ibadan, the four suspected undergraduate armed robbers were the cynosure of all eyes at the police headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan last week.

The suspects; Adio Kolawole, Benjamin Eezeji, Ajani Jamiu and Benson Dominic, who were said to have been arrested by police detectives after laying an ambush for them, were caught with one dagger, one knife, one black belt, one blue beret and a revolver gun.

While parading the suspects, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Bashiru Azeez, said that after his men had received a piece of information that four notorious students of University of Ibadan who had earlier robbed some female undergraduates who reside on Carpenter Street, Agbowo, Ibadan of their money and handsets, had also ordered their victims to report at a bush path within the premises of the institution. He ordered police detectives to lay an ambush for the four suspects at the venue where the suspects asked their victims to meet them.

According to the police boss, “my police detectives swooped on them and after a thorough investigation, my men were able to recover a revolver pistol, a dagger, a one knife, one black belt, three live ammunition, and a blue beret.

In a chat with Crime File after their parade, a member of the gang, Adio Kolawole, who claimed to be a student of Physiology in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Ibadan with matriculation number 110782, however denied being an armed robber.

A gang of suspected armed robbersAccording to him, “I’m not an armed robber. I was initiated into a cult group by some cultists when I gained admission into the University of Ibadan. They threatened to kill me if I refused to join them; they initiated me under duress when they discovered that I was very brilliant, being the best JAMB candidate when I entered U.I.”

When asked where the gang got the revolver pistol and other dangerous weapons recovered from them by the police from, Adio Kolawole, the acclaimed leader of the gang, said it was given to him by a cultist friend long time ago, adding that he couldn’t locate his friend any more.

In his words “it was handed over to me by a cultist friend a long time ago. We don’t use the gun and other dangerous weapons recovered from us to rob; we only use them to threaten and intimidate rival cultist groups”

A member of the gang who also spoke with Crime File, Ajani Jamiu, also denied robbing people with ammunition.

According to him, “we are not armed robbers but cultists. We sometimes used deadly weapons to harass and intimidate female undergraduates and rape them thereafter but we don’t rob them as claimed by the police.”

However, a member of the police detectives that effected their arrest told Crime File that more than five ladies from the University of Ibadan had identified them to be the robbery gang that sometimes robbed female undergraduates of the institution after raping them. We also discovered that female members of the cult group always led their male members to rape the uninitiated ones.The suspects were actually armed robbers. What could they be doing with a revolver pistol and three live ammunition, dagger and knife? Are they using these deadly weapons to rape only? Certainly not, they must have been responsible for most of the robbery incidents in Sango, U.I. area.”

A fake policeman identified as John Abiodun who was alleged to have attempted to steal a motorcycle at Mokola police station recently was also one of the suspected criminals paraded at the occasion.

Abiodun was also alleged to have lied to the station guard on duty on gaining entry into the ever busy Mokola police station that he wanted to remove his motorcycle which he had earlier parked there.

The guard was said to have demanded for his identity card, following which he presented a fake identity card. He was said to have been arrested and later confessed during interrogation that he was never a policeman but thought that he could beat the security men on duty.

A 26-year-old Islamic teacher, Alfa Muritala Osiyemi Ajide, was also paraded at the occasion for allegedly raping a 15-years-old girl after making her dumb for some few hours.

The parents of the girl, who reported the case to the police, said they were worried when the girl came home dumb but could only respond to questions through sign language. The victim was rushed to the hospital for treatment where drugs were administered on her and she eventually regained her speech and thereafter related her experience to her parent. Sequel to her explanation, the suspected rapist was said to have been arrested while a search conducted in his house at Apata area of Ibadan revealed blood-stained bed spread and female underpants belonging to the victim.

One Alhaji Moruf Akintunde (a.k.a. Tela) was also among the suspected criminals paraded for illegal sale of fake number plates.

The suspect was also alleged to have led the recent robbery incident at the house of the Commissioner for Women Affairs where he led some hoodlums to cart away valuable properties belonging to the Commissioner.

It was alleged that the suspect used one Toyota Hiace bus with registration number XV 361 AAA during the operation. He was alleged to have confessed to the crime during police interrogation. The suspect was also alleged to have mentioned one Jejeola Oluremi as the one who provided a fake registration plate number for him to use for his bus during the robbery incident.

One Adewale Seyinjobi who was caught by a police patrol team after dispossesing one and three others of the sum of N6,000 and a Motorola handset while busy fixing their car that had been driven into a gutter close to a Motel in Molete area of Ibadan, was also paraded at the occasion.

While assuring members of the public that his men were ready to confront criminals in the state, the state Commissioner of police, Mr Bashiru Azeez, however implored members of the public to always supply his men with useful tips on the movement of criminals in the state.