Pastor arrested for armed robbery

A 38-year-old pastor who for long had been fooling residents of Ado Ekiti, in Ekiti State, pretending to be a holy man of God, when in fact he had been keeping guns for robbers, has finally been arrested.
The clergyman, identified as Pastor Sunday Suleiman, from Kwara State, was said to be the armourer of a five-man gang of robbers in the state. According to the police, the gang has been terrorising residents for long.
Suleiman, who claimed  that he oversees  the church known as The Way of Salvation  Ministry, located at N0 1, Ajilosun Street , Ado Ekiti, was said to have allegedly been giving the robbery gang spiritual backing for them to carry out their robbery operations  successfully.
The pastor was presented to journalists along with 11 other robbery suspects at the Police headquarters.
Other members of  the pastor’s alleged robbery  gang include;  Okoromadu Kingsley, 36, Eze Steven Okwudili, 30, Sunkanmi Alomaja, 28,  Ojo Gboyega, 25,  and Fatunroti Toyin, 25.
Suleiman had however, denied the allegation, insisting that he was just living in the same compound with the suspects, adding that he never knew they were armed robbers.
However, one of the suspects, Okwudili, who was described as a serial robber, said that Suleiman was aware of their robbery operations and had allegedly benefited many times from the stolen items they brought for him after operation as a mark of appreciation.
Okwudili added that the gang initially specialized in the snatching of motorbikes before they graduated to car snatching and raiding of houses for them to make more profits.
While parading the suspects, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Victor Babayemi, said the key to the cupboard being used as armoury was allegedly found in possession of Suleiman.
He revealed that dangerous weapons like cut to size USSR made gun, one locally made double barrel, nine live cartridges, one pick axe, one chisel, one hammer , a Laptop and six handsets, were recovered  in the cupboard after the men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad(SARS) conducted a search in the compound .
Babayemi also paraded a three-man-gang, Olaiya Adeniyi, 20, Akingbade Asimiyu, 19 and Seun and Seun Sanjo, now at large, for allegedly raiding Corps members Lodge at Ipole Iloro in Ekiti West Local Government.
They did not only raid the lodge, they also beat up the youth corps members and made away with a sum of N10, 200.
The PPRO, who decried the increasing spate of rape in Ado Ekiti, also paraded   Arowolo Opeyemi, 18 and Olajide Kehinde, 18, Ayo Idowu, who had been declared, wanted for allegedly raping a female motorist at about 10.30pm on November 21, 2013 at Adebayo Area of the Ado Ekiti capital city.
Babayemi warned women and girls against moving around at night or attending night vigil under darkness to prevent them from being raped.
mydailynewswatch