CP Lagos, Umar Manko |
The tale of how of a new generation bank at
Akowonjo, Lagos, was robbed last year won’t be complete without the mention of
Eboma Onyeka, a sergeant who was at the time of the incident attached to the
Mobile Police Unit 20, at Ikeja.
Onyeka had allegedly conspired with four others,
including an employee of the said bank and robbed the bank he was to secure of
about N10m in April 2011. A security guard attached to the bank, Sunday
Ogundipe, was strangled in the process. Two months after, Onyeka was arrested,
tried and dismissed from the force before he was arraigned with his accomplices
on armed robbery and murder charges in July 2011.
However, Onyeka is once again a guest of the
Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Lagos, months after securing his bail. He is said
to have allegedly been involved in a series of bank ATM robberies since his
bail from Kirikiri Prisons in December 2011.
But Onyeka strenuously denied his involvement in
any bank robbery attacks and he was quick to give a recap of his activities since
his bail from prison.
“After I got my bail, I left Lagos for my village
in Delta State. I stayed there for about two, three months because I was
ill and needed to recover. When I was fully recovered, l went to Benin City and
met a friend whom I pleaded with for assistance. My friend gave me an
Audi car to use as a taxi, so I could earn a living. I also underwent a 10-week
course in producing insecticides and fruit juices.
“Upon the completion of my course, I returned to
Lagos because I needed to start a business of my own. Since there was no
place for me to go, I called a friend of mine who is a serving police inspector
and he asked me to see him. My wife had returned to her family with my children
after I got into prison, so I had no home in Lagos. All this happened in August
2012. It was the very day that I arrived Lagos that I was arrested by SARS
operatives. I still had my toiletries on me,” Onyeka said.
However, the Lagos State Police Commissioner, Mr.
Umar Manko, told CRIME DIGEST that Onyeka was arrested after the spate
of bank ATM robberies in Lagos metropolis went up. He said, “In the months
following Onyeka’s bail from prison custody, we started getting reports of bank
ATM robberies nearly every weekend. Prior to his arrest last year, there were
only two gangs responsible for bank ATM robberies in Lagos: Onyeka’s and
another gang. As at the time he went to prison custody, the ATM robberies had
reduced to the barest minimum.
“So when reports of ATM robberies began to come
in, we decided to check with the prison to confirm if Onyeka was still in their
custody but he wasn’t. We began investigations and we were able to obtain his
number. Through his phone number, we were able to track his movements until he
got to Lagos and thereafter we rearrested him. His gang was responsible for the
recent robbery of a new generation bank where a police corporal lost his life.
“At the time of his arrest, Onyeka had in his
possession a fake identity card which portrayed him as a serving member of the
Mobile Police Force. When SARS operatives stormed the hotel where he was
meeting with a friend, Onyeka had flashed his card to the team, not knowing
that he was the target of the raid.”
CRIME DIGEST investigations revealed
that Onyeka was granted bail at an Igbosere High Court 14 in December 2011
through a motion on bail application notice. His lawyer, who identified himself
as T.J. Ajapuno, said, “In law, everyone is considered innocent until proven
otherwise. Onyeka’s wife came to see me, requesting my services so that
her husband could get bail and due process was followed. If Onyeka went ahead
to start robbing again after his bail was granted, that is his own cup of tea.
His wife and his pastor had stood for him as sureties.
“We served the police and the State Criminal
Investigative Department at Panti got a copy of the bail application. The
Directorate for Public Prosecution got a copy too. I wasn’t even aware that the
DPP’s advice was out; I don’t have the facts of the case and the DPP doesn’t
even have Onyeka’s file. It is not as if the case is over, the substantive
matter is before Justice Okunnu at the Ikeja High Court.”
Onyeka, however, told CRIME DIGEST that
since his bail, he had had no further court appearance. “Although I was in
touch with my lawyer and one of his subordinates, they told me that they would
contact me if anything came up.”
Before his arrest in July 2011, Onyeka had just
completed a training course for inspectors and was awaiting promotion to same
rank. Published reports (not The PUNCH) said Onyeka was arrested
in his private Hummer Jeep on his way to keeping an appointment with other
members of his gang around 1.30 am on July 26, 2011.
Onyeka allegedly had in possession, an AK 47
rifle and a big bag containing a face mask and other suspicious items. Before
his dismissal last year, the 41-year-old had served the Nigeria Police Force
for 19 years.
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