A 23-year-old
man, arrested for attempting to rob somebody with a knife, has blamed
his father for ‘pushing’ him to the underworld. The suspect, Sodiqu
Adetayo, said that it was his first time he attempted to rob, but
detectives attached to the Special Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja,
Lagos State, said he was lying. Adetayo said his father forced him to
live in a taxi park, even though the man had houses at Bariga and
Ikorodu areas of the state.
The suspect said that aside from battling the harsh element, he also had to confront hunger on a daily basis. He added that he was frustrated because of all these challenges. That frustration, according to him, pushed him to pick up a kitchen knife one fateful day and attempted to rob a man, identified as Mr Ezekiel, a human right activist.
After robbing the man, Adetayo searched the man’s bags, saw his identity card and decided to wait and see if he would come back for his items. A few minutes later, Ezekiel arrived with policemen at the scene where he was robbed. The policemen saw Adetayo clutching the victim’s property and arrested him.
He said: “I was frustrated. I just woke up one day and went to Anthony; I saw a knife, picked it up and kept it. On the fateful day that I was arrested, I picked up the knife and went to Anthony under bridge around 9pm, and saw Mr Ezekiel. Immediately I showed him the knife, he ran away, leaving his bags. “I checked the bags and saw an Android phone and a Techno phone. I saw an ID card and it showed that the man was a human right activist.
I didn’t want to throw the bags away. I waited for him to return, so that I could return the bags to him. I didn’t know that he went to the police. They came and arrested me.” According to Adetayo, he lives in Anthony Taxi Park. The suspect added that he was allowed to sleep there because his father was the chairman of the park.
He said: “My father built a house at Bariga, but he said there were too many bad boys there. He refused to give me one of the rooms. He said he did not want me to join the bad boys. I live and sleep at the taxi park. I learned sculpture as an apprentice.”
The suspect claimed his world crashed when his parents split, after his father impregnated their housemaid. His mother, according to him, walked out and left him with his father. He added that his father became a drunk, married the maid and had other children from her.
But like Adetayo, the father’s wife and her children also sleep at the park. “The new wife has a shop at the taxi park, where she, her kids and my father used to sleep. My father doesn’t give me money to feed. He has his own problems.
He has too many children. I take care of myself. “At a point I got tired of sleeping in the park. My mum gave him N50,000 to allow me rent one of his rooms in his buildings. But he spent the money and didn’t give me the room,” he added.
Since his arrest, Adetayo said his father had not been to the police station to see him. But his mother, who had remarried, took time out to visit him.
He said: “When she saw me, she started crying. She asked me why I went to do what I did. I told her that it was hungry that pushed me to it. I blame my dad for my situation. If I had a home, I wouldn’t be in this condition.”
The suspect said that aside from battling the harsh element, he also had to confront hunger on a daily basis. He added that he was frustrated because of all these challenges. That frustration, according to him, pushed him to pick up a kitchen knife one fateful day and attempted to rob a man, identified as Mr Ezekiel, a human right activist.
After robbing the man, Adetayo searched the man’s bags, saw his identity card and decided to wait and see if he would come back for his items. A few minutes later, Ezekiel arrived with policemen at the scene where he was robbed. The policemen saw Adetayo clutching the victim’s property and arrested him.
He said: “I was frustrated. I just woke up one day and went to Anthony; I saw a knife, picked it up and kept it. On the fateful day that I was arrested, I picked up the knife and went to Anthony under bridge around 9pm, and saw Mr Ezekiel. Immediately I showed him the knife, he ran away, leaving his bags. “I checked the bags and saw an Android phone and a Techno phone. I saw an ID card and it showed that the man was a human right activist.
I didn’t want to throw the bags away. I waited for him to return, so that I could return the bags to him. I didn’t know that he went to the police. They came and arrested me.” According to Adetayo, he lives in Anthony Taxi Park. The suspect added that he was allowed to sleep there because his father was the chairman of the park.
He said: “My father built a house at Bariga, but he said there were too many bad boys there. He refused to give me one of the rooms. He said he did not want me to join the bad boys. I live and sleep at the taxi park. I learned sculpture as an apprentice.”
The suspect claimed his world crashed when his parents split, after his father impregnated their housemaid. His mother, according to him, walked out and left him with his father. He added that his father became a drunk, married the maid and had other children from her.
But like Adetayo, the father’s wife and her children also sleep at the park. “The new wife has a shop at the taxi park, where she, her kids and my father used to sleep. My father doesn’t give me money to feed. He has his own problems.
He has too many children. I take care of myself. “At a point I got tired of sleeping in the park. My mum gave him N50,000 to allow me rent one of his rooms in his buildings. But he spent the money and didn’t give me the room,” he added.
Since his arrest, Adetayo said his father had not been to the police station to see him. But his mother, who had remarried, took time out to visit him.
He said: “When she saw me, she started crying. She asked me why I went to do what I did. I told her that it was hungry that pushed me to it. I blame my dad for my situation. If I had a home, I wouldn’t be in this condition.”
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