Myth, reality of the holy Ikorodu bank robbers

On June 1, 2015, a lone boat, loaded with almost 18 men, including riders, snaked its way towards the Ijede, Ikorodu area of Lagos.

The men were armed with explosives, machine guns, ammunition belts and several AK 47 rifles. A good number of them carried knap sacks and spoke rapidly in a language that would later discover to be Ijaw.

Earlier, before they boarded the boat, which could take over 20 passengers, they met along a creek, where they exhausted discussions on how to attack First bank and Wema bank, located at Ijede Road Ikorodu, Lagos.

The discussions were carried out in Ijaw language. The boat riders, who were part of the hastily recruited members, were not allowed to come too near the Ijaw men.

The men would have gone on the bank operations alone, but they needed experienced boat riders, who knew the waterway like the palm of their hands. They recruited Monday Omoboye, Ogbojule Bright, Monday Ikuesan, Promise Abiwa and others as boat riders.

The boat had not travelled far, when the leader of the gang, ‘Million,’ ordered his men to change their clothing. Million is said to be skinny and loves braiding hair like a lady. The knapsacks were opened and military camouflage uniforms emerged.

Ibiwa;  the suspect police refuse to present to journalists

The men changed into the uniforms, except for the boat riders. After they changed into the uniforms, Million further ordered all eyes to close for a prayer. The prayer was short and precise. The gang leader implored God to lead and guide them to have a successful bank robbery operation. Others, including boat riders, answered amen!

The change of uniforms and subsequently prayers also characterized other bank robbery operations.

The first operation was at the Lekki, Ajah, and the second and third at Ijede and Ogolonto areas of Ikorodu, respectively. In the Lekki operation, they killed three policemen and a girl hawking fish. In the Ijede operation, they had slot in tape into their getaway car and danced as music played after the operation.  The third operation at Ogolonto left residents reeling in shock at the commando style of the attack.

In each of the operation, eye witnesses claimed to have sighted a lady, wielding machine guns, with snake or tortoise draped around her neck. But the ‘lady’ in question is actually the leader of the gang, Million.

The supposed snake or live tortoise is the ammunition belt draped around her neck and shoulder. The sudden attack and quick disappearance through waterways had further stupefied people, forcing them to attribute spiritual forces to the gang.

The armed robbers had always brazen attacked in broad light. Their army uniform made it easier for them to attack and escape.

Police efforts in confronting robbers wielding machine guns

The robbers modus operandi had always being the same. They come with explosives, machines guns, pump action rifles, ammunition belts, magazines and AK47 rifles. They had been known to deploy explosives in the blasting of doors to banking halls.

These armed robbers are better equipped than the policemen sent to confront and stop them.

A police source said: “On the day of the Ogolonto operation, policemen of the Rapid Response Squad in Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), got to the scene before the robbers left, but they couldn’t challenge the robbers. The police had only AK47 rifles. Making further attempts to confront them would have been a suicide mission. The policemen ran away, leaving only the driver of the APC, who locked himself inside the vehicle.”

The former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kayode Aderanti, was among the first few policemen to reach the scene after the robbers left. The robbers as usual, escaped through the waterways after setting their operational cars on fire.

A police investigator said: “We’re yet to know why they set these cars on fire after operations, but in the Lekki robbery, one of the cars they used was discovered to have been snatched from a car dealer’s shop where it was parked. The dealer had already called to report his car missing before the operation started.”

Apparently sure that the robbers may strike again and determined to ensure his men were better armed, Aderanti stormed the exhibit room of the command, took four machine guns and handed them to operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja.

Ironically, the machine guns are not from the stables of the Nigeria Police Force or supplied by the Federal Government as it ought to be.

Rather the machine guns were from a cache of sophisticated guns recovered from past robbery suspects.

A senior police officer said that would be first time SARS detectives were given machines guns in the history of the NPF.

A police source said: “SARS had never used machines guns before now. Usually, it’s Marine Police that are given machine guns. They mount such guns in their boats. But on the day the bank robbers struck at Ogolonto, the Marine Police were called repeatedly by the Lagos CP, but he got no response. The OC Marine was nowhere to be found. The CP wanted them to use their boats to block waterways and possibly chase the bandits.”

Information further gathered has it that two of the machine guns had been deployed to Ikorodu and mounted at strategic points.

Over 15 plain cloth policemen, led by an experienced Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), are patrolling the Ikorodu waterways. The ASP and his men had been ordered to be there for a month. After that, another batch would relieve them. Thus the circle continues.

The two remaining machine guns are at a standby at police headquarters.

Last week Thursday, the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase announced the removal of Aderanti as the Lagos State Commissioner of Police. Arase said on television that Aderanti’s removal was over the bank robberies.

Arrest of the bank robbers in Ondo

Many security watchers felt the removal of Aderanti was political rather than due to his ineptness in arresting bank robberies in the state.

The transfer of Aderanti had long being expected. Whenever there’s a change in police hierarchy, transfers are always expected and apparently normal. A new IGP is expected to post his loyalists to sensitive areas in the country to watch his back so to say. This was clearly what happened last week Thursday.

Since Aderanti took over the mantle of leadership, there’s no crime that had happen that he didn’t catch the culprits, with supports from his men at SARS, headed then by Superintendent of Police, Abba Kyari. Kyari too has been posted out of Lagos Command

Indeed, once there’s a robbery, Aderanti would always be at the scene to ascertain the damage and check out the crime scene. To label him an armchair policeman would be a great injustice.

After the Ogolonto bank robbery, Aderanti and his men had started investigating. But the robbers appeared to have disappeared into thin air.

He however soon got a lucky break when he received a call from some soldiers in Okitupupa in Ondo State that they had arrested a man at check point, who might be one of the Ikorodu bank robbers. This arrest came barely two weeks after the attack.

The man the soldiers arrested was driving a new car. It would be later discovered that the suspect bought the car with his share of the money from the Ikorodu bank robbery.

When Aderanti and his men took over the suspect, it turned out to be one of the bank robbers. He was identified as Promise Abiwa. Abiwa was used as bait to catch three others. But for reasons yet unknown, police have refused journalists’ access to Abiwa for an interview. On the parade day, after flashes of camera, Abiwa was led away, leaving his three gang members.

Police worry over another bank robbery

SARS detectives have expressed fear that the bank robbers are likely still going to strike, along as the Ijaw men that led the operation are at large.

A police source said: “When we got the four, we were thinking we would use them to get others. We don’t believe they reside in Lagos. The removal of Aderanti and subsequent posting of Fatai Owoseni put paid to that idea. Aderanti should not have paraded those armed robbers! He jeopardized investigation. He didn’t want Owoseni to take the glory for the work and achievement that occurred during his tenure as CP, thus he paraded them to portray his achievement.”

Another police source added that most of the suspects arrested so far are boat riders who used to ferry the main robbers to robbery locations.

The police source said: “As long as these Ijaw men have not been arrested, there may very well be another bank robbery! Since they use explosives and one of them is called general, it’s possible they are militants.”

The police have also started making moves to increase patrol of the waterways. The former Officer in Charge of the Marine Police was ordered to be arrested and detained by Arase after he was nowhere to be found on the day the robbers stormed Ikorodu. Lagos Command and Marine Police are now synergizing, while everyone waits, fearing the worst.