How a 3-man robbery gang killed teacher in Ogun State

THURSDAY, 22 November 2012, will forever remain an unforgettable, date in the life of the Odufowokes’ in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, as their breadwinner, Mr Sikiru Abiodun Odufowoke, a.k.a Olodu, a teacher at St John’s primary School, Odogbolu, was murdered in his sitting room during a robbery incident.
Crime & Security reliably gathered that the three man gang had robbed a house directly opposite the Odufowokes’  at Alaafia quarters, Iwesi, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, before they eventually arrived at his residence. One of the victims of the first house who pleaded anonymity informed Crime & Security that the robbers came in the dead hour of the night.
The source hinted that “We had all slept when a son of the family saw the gang approaching the house. He quickly ran inside the room to alert his father who was fast asleep. When they eventually came, they broke the glass at the entrance door to gain access to the apartment. Their effort at forcing the door open from outside alerted everybody in the house at that point in time,” the source noted.
The gang ransacked the house, forcing the occupants; the father, mother and their two children to lie down while they ordered the father, who was also a teacher, to peacefully surrender all the money in the house. The source revealed that the man had told the robbers that “I’m a teacher, I have no money at home.” However, Crime & Security learnt that he was able to part way with an envelope with mint notes, remnants of his expenses at a party two weeks earlier. They also made away with the sum of N10,000 belonging to the Parents Teachers Association (PTA), kept in his care for students’ clothes from school, the family can’t state the actual amount, N11,000 meant for his son’s final year project and collected all the mobile phones of the occupants of the house.
Before they left, they had threatened to rape a female family member before they were locked up in a room and ordered that they switch off their light,  threatening to kill the head of the house before heading to the Odufowoke’s house.
Against the widespread belief that the teacher was peeping at the robbers while they were operating, a family member who was also around during the operation said the late teacher never did so. Some newspapers had reported that Mr Odufowoke was killed because he was peeping while the robbers were operating at their neighbour’s residence, but a member of the family, who was in during the operation, denied the allegation.
“He never peeped at them because we didn’t know they were operating at our neighbour’s house. They were also not aware that they came to our house until mummy went to call them for assistance that dad had been shot.”
In a chat with Crime & Security, the source said, “the thieves were knocking at the door before they went ahead to remove one of the burglary proofs on the window of the two-flat bungalow. It was gathered that when they gained entry, no one in the house argued with them, “because we heard them very well, they spoke Yoruba fluently, wore black dresses and didn’t cover their faces. All they were asking for was money, and he pleaded that he didn’t have money at home because he was a teacher. It was at that point that they threatened to kill him while his wife pleaded that they spared his life.
“Then one of the robbers went into one of the rooms where his daughter was hiding to check a sewing machine, apparently maybe where he told them money could be. He went inside the room and found some amount of money. When he came out, they still probed him that they needed more money.
“No one heard the gun shot, we just saw him fell on the ground and one of them told mummy that she should get a cloth to cover her husband’s chest so that he would not die. Even while she was trying to do that, another gang member pushed her away.
“He never peeped to see them nor argued with them. Even after that, they picked his car key which was on the table and went inside his car parked outside to check for what only God knows. We were helpless. One of the gang members went outside and ransacked his white Toyota Camry (with registration number OGUN JBD 83 AAA), probably in search of something. He returned to the sitting room angry, maybe he didn’t find what he went there for, and dropped the car key without attempting to go with it,” the source noted.
The source also informed Crime & Security that the house directly opposite theirs, where in the robbers first operated, didn’t know they were with them until Mrs Odufowoke went to their house to ask for assistance in taking her husband to the hospital.
“Even until then, the family was still in the room where they were locked up and didn’t know that they had operated at our house. It was when mummy called on them that we knew they had been at their house as well,” the source stressed.
But Odufowoke died on the way to the hospital and was since been buried last week Thursday according to Muslim rites. The incident was reported at Igbeba and Atan Police stations.
Efforts to get the reaction of the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ogun State Command, Mr Muyiwa Adejobi, on the incident proved abortive. Calls made to his mobile phone were not picked while he also failed to reply a short message service (sms) sent to his mobile phone number as well.

Tribune