A 26-year-old man in Lagos has been arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad over allegations of theft.
Omoboye Ogunyemi, said to be a pastor’s son, was apprehended along with a suspected member of his gang in the Ojo area of the state.
Ogunyemi is said to have attributed his participation in armed robbery to his financial situation and his wife’s pregnancy.
Explaining his role, Ogunyemi, who is described as a pastor’s son, said: “Though it is my friend – my gang leader – who lured me into armed robbery, the major thing that gave me the courage to rob is the financial problem created by my wife’s pregnancy. I don’t have a dime to take care of her now. My father, a pastor, is late and my mother is a farmer in Bayelsa State.”
Regretting that the “bad spirit” in armed robbery did not allow him to save any money from the three operations he participated in before he was caught, the suspect said: “If I
regain my freedom, I will never be involved in armed robbery again. Obtaining money by false pretences is better than armed robbery because in obtaining, one does not need gun but brain and tongue.”
Recalling how it all happened, Ogunyemi said: “I impregnated one girl and I was looking for where to get money to take care of her. One day, I met a friend, Ola and told him about my plight; he promised to help me. He told me to follow him to collect money from a man somewhere around the Alaba International Market, Ojo. Ola also invited one guy, Ocha, who said he had guns to sell to us. After taking some bottles of beer, we started walking along the Alaba Road.
“Ola saw a trader with a bag containing money and told us that he was the man we came to take money from. I held a gun. Ola also held one, but Ocha had no gun on him. Ola held the man with his gun pointed at him, while I grabbed the victim’s waist and off-loaded all the money on him and his bag. I handed the money over to Ola. As we wanted to leave, street boys started pursuing us as the victim was shouting.”
Ogunyemi went on: “When the mob wanted to capture Ola, he opened fire to scare off the people to pave the way for our escape, but Ojo policemen fired back and he was fatally wounded in the leg. I did not see him again; I think he died from the wound. I was later arrested in the Sabo area, while Ocha escaped.”
Confessing that he had participated in three operations, Ogunyemi said the first was at the Alaba market, where he collected phone sets and money. “My share was N4, 500. The second operation failed and we got nothing. In the third operation, we got N500, 000,” he said, adding that “it is the work of the devil”.
A police source described the suspect as a notorious armed robber who had participated in over 10 cases in Ajangbadi. Ogunyemi reportedly escaped to Bayelsa State and hid there for over eight years after a serious robbery he participated in.
According to an anonymous source: “On January 16, Ogunyemi and another suspect, Ola, armed with locally made pistols, each with two cartridges and another, Ocha, now at large, stood opposite a bank at the Alaba International Market
The moment they sighted Ibe, a trader carrying a bag containing N500, 000, they attacked him and robbed him of the cash. The victim’s shout of “thieves …thieves” attracted some area boys and when Ola opened fire in an attempt to escape, police responded and he was fatally wounded. Ogunyemi was handed over to the police unhurt.”
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