*I’m not a
member-suspect
Juliana Francis
Two weeks after a gang of robbers, in a Hollywood style
stormed through different areas of the Lagos State metropolis, shooting,
maiming, killing and robbing, the police in the state have finally tracked down
two of the gang members.
The suspects have been identified as Rasheed Suleimon and
Kazeem Enifolabi. But Suleimon had quickly denied being a member of the gang.
Suleimon and Enifolabi were not only the persons arrested by
police in Lagos. Standing beside them was also Obinna Nwobodo, who killed his
friend, Elijah and stuffed his body into a bag, with a view to dump it
somewhere. He was however discovered before he could dispose of the corpse. He
killed Elijah after the deceased came to demand for his balance payment of
money for a piano he sold to Nwobodo.
According to the police spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, Suleimon
and Enifolabi were arrested based on a tip-off received by the Officer in
charge of Special Ant robbery Squad (SARS), SP, Abba Kyari.
Recovered from their hide-out were a car, two AK47 rifles
and four magazines.
Braide said: “On September 12, 2012, based on a tip-off
received by OC SARS, men of SARS swap into action, where one Rasheed Suleimon
was arrested at Dopemu area and he later led detectives to arrest one Kazeem
Enifolabi alias Oshomo at Oshodi. Both confessed to know the members of the
gang of armed robbers that operated in Lagos on September 9, 2012, where many
innocent citizens and policemen were killed. The two however insisted that they
did not take part in that very operation, but admitted that after the robbery
incident, one of the gang members, who participated in the robbery attacks,
gave some money to Rasheed Suleimon before the men who operated fled to Benin
Republic and Kwara State to escape police arrest. Suleimon took police to
Wahabi Street, Akerele Agege, where the gang members’ vehicle was recovered,
together with two AK47rifles and four magazines.”
Braide ceased the opportunity to explain why police failed
to catch the marauding gunmen that fateful Sunday.
She said: “They
escaped because we were mindful of civilian casualties. It’s better for 10
robbers to go free, than for a single innocent person to be killed. We’re
supposed to save and protect lives, thus we couldn’t afford to start shooting
the way the robbers did.”
Fielding questions from journalists, Suleimon, 21, from
Kwara State, who vehemently insisted that he was not part of the gang, but
‘only a handset snatcher,’ claimed that he was only friendly with the gang
members and the leader, Yemi boss.
He explained that he only got to know about the Sunday
robbery attacks after Yemi boss called him on Monday, regaling him with the
Sunday exploits, and rounding off the story by saying, “we finish them! We killed
some police people!”
“It was Yemi boss and others that went on the robbery
operation on Sunday. He told me about it on Monday and sent me 3000 recharged
cards, so that I won’t tell anyone about the operation. They were about 10 members
that went for that operation,” said Suleimon.
He further revealed that the gang has just one female and
used to go on operations in different paramilitary uniforms. Speaking on how he
got involved with the gang, Suleimon said: “I met them at a joint. The joint is
Wahabi at Akerele, Sango Agege. I’m not a member of the gang, but Yemi boss
just took a liking to me. I was arrested on Tuesday by policemen while I was on
my motorbike.”
Other suspects in police net are Saheed Quadri, Taiwo
Ojedokun and Jelili Ojedokun, who were described as car snatchers. Police
recovered eight cars from them.
There are also Obinna Soamy, Sunday Eze, domestic staff and
security guard who repeatedly conspired and steal from their employers.
According to Braide, the duo were in the habit of using fake
names, fake addresses and fake guarantors to gain employment with private
security firms, after which they would be deployed to residential homes. Once
at these homes, they would steal valuables and disappear.
Another set of criminals were Pius Uba Livinus, Kelechi
Onyema and Ayebe Segun. They were arrested for kidnapping.
Livinus was described as a serial kidnapper, for he had just
left prisons where he had been for some time for kidnapping and yet barely
weeks after he gained his freedom, he made another attempt to kidnap somebody.
The kidnap turned out to be a bungled one, as the people who turned up to pay
the ransom, were plain cloth policemen.
Two locally made pistols with 16 rounds of live ammunition
and one KIA Cerato S/car, marked DN735APP, was recovered from them.
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