‘How we killed DSS officials, buried 370 vandals at Arepo’

Detectives go into creeks to make arrest

In the beginning of 2015, 23-yearold Idowu Sobijoh got himself in a fix. He got a young lady pregnant. The lady’s parents insisted he must marry her. Eager to please his family and the lady, Sobijoh accepted.

He desperately needed money to buy the necessary items for the marriage rites and also pay the lady’s dowry. He joined a pipeline vandalism gang. Before December 2015, the gang had killed some policemen, officials of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and caused several horrific explosions in Arepo, an Ogun State community bordering Lagos.
They also killed in cold blood, between nine and 12 officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) at Ikorodu, Lagos State, and buried them in shallow graves. On July 22, 2015, scores of suspected oil pipeline vandals and others died following explosion that erupted while they were scooping fuel from a vandalised pipeline. According to eyewitnesses, no fewer 50 died during the incident.

A detective on warpath against criminals

Sobijoh

Reliving the horror of that day, Sobijoh, an alleged notorious pipeline vandal, said that the NNPC, national dailies and even law enforcement officers got it wrong, saying those killed that day were over 370. He said that his cousin, Ayo, who initiated him into the crime, died in the explosion.
He added: “I would have died that day too, but I refused to go with Ayo because I was very tired. We carried the corpses of our people and buried them in three large graves. We counted over 370 corpses. I also saw my brother’s corpse because he wasn’t burnt completely.
“He and many others tried to scoop fuel from a vandalised pipeline, but were trapped by the mud. The incident was so tragic that I contemplated quitting. But I couldn’t because I had no other job. A few weeks after that, I witnessed how the gang killed nine officials of the DSS. I don’t know the reason they killed those agents. It was Igbala, a member, that first opened fire on all of them.
After that killing, I knew there would be trouble. I packed my things and left for Ijegemo. Ijegemo is at the Isheri- Oshun area of Lagos. At Ijegemo, I teamed up with Bright, who is a boy to TK, the commander.” Incidentally, Sobijoh’s group was part of those that had been killing law enforcement agents at different pipeline locations in Lagos and Ogun States and disappearing with their corpses. They were also behind bank robberies at Lekki, Ikorodu, Festac and Agbara.
The gang come through waterways to carry out its nefarious activities. Members are known for using military uniforms and blasting banks’ doors with dynamites during operations.
Since the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Special Intelligence Response Team (SIRT), led by Mr. Abba Kyari, a Chief Superintendent of Police, took over the investigations of the incessant bank robberies and pipeline vandalisms in Lagos and Ogun states, members of the gang are now being picked b y the team.
The de- tectives at different times risked going to the creeks to arrest some of the suspects. This week, SIRT team arrested eight suspects, including a serving lance corporal of the Nigerian Army, for allegedly supplying arms and ammunition to the bank robbers and vandals. Apart from the arrest of the arms suppliers, SIRT also arrested seven members of the robbery gang.
At present, another four suspects have been arrested for attempting to rob a Union Bank branch in Ondo State. Sobijoh is one of those arrested. Others are Ebibo Winoh (23) Michael Mipera (22) and Thankgod Sugha (24).
The four suspects met their waterloo after they broke into a branch of Union Bank, in Ilututu area of Ondo State. Although they gained access into the bank with the alleged connivance of one of the bank’s ex-security guards, Sunny Bobo, they were however shocked when they discovered that the bank’s vault was empty.
A police source said: “The Union Bank guard was fired last year by the bank. He approached one of the gang members called Michael Mipera, a native of Ondo State, and told him about the plan to rob the bank.
He told Mipera there was usually light security at night. Mipera, after conducting his own survey around the bank,  invited two of his friends, Sugha and Winoh. He rented an apartment for them. He also invited six militants based at a camp in Ijegemo-Isheri Oshun, Lagos State, headed by one TK, a notorious pipeline vandal and bank robber.
“The hoodlums from Lagos was led by Bright. Bright’s gang supplied the crew with two Ak 47 rifles and additional expertise on how to break into bank. They attacked the bank on December 24, 2015, a day before Christmas, but didn’t find money in the bank’s vault.” Police source said that a motorcycle operator, who ran errands for one of the suspects, was the first to be arrested.
He was later used as bait to catch the four suspects, including one of the militants from Lagos. Winoh and Sugha confessed that Mipera invited them for the job. Sobijoh, who has been singing like a bird, said that the recent disruption of vandalism operations in Ijegemo by some soldiers made him to venture into bank robbery. His words: “I have never been involved in any bank robbery before.
The Union Bank robbery was my first attempt. It wasn’t even my intention. It was some soldiers who stopped our pipeline vandalism operations at Ijegemo that made me decide to take part in that bank robbery.
The soldiers asked us to pay N5million before we would be allowed to resume our pipeline vandalism. We offered them N3million, but they refused. We were broke when Bright got a call from Mipera about the Ilututu bank robbery. “I didn’t get to Ilututu on time because I hadn’t enough money.
When I got to Ondo State, I was informed that the bank robbery was successful, but that they didn’t get any money. I was arrested on my way back to my village in Ajapa.” Further recounting how he became a pipeline vandal, Sobijoh said that Ayo introduced him to vandalism when he needed money to pay for his wife’s dowry. He stated: “After I impregnated my wife, her family insisted I must pay her dowry before taking her as a wife.
I was very broke; my cousin Ayo, who was into pipeline vandalism at Arepo in Ikorodu, asked me to join him. He said that I should stop being lazy. I followed him to Lagos. When we got to Ikorodu, I joined the Fatola camp; I was introduced to the commander, Ossy. I was given a gun to carry, but I declined. I told them I had never used a gun before. They asked me to leave the camp and I did. I was staying in Ishawo, but at night Ayo would call me.
We would move into the creek with our jerry cans to siphon fuel from the pipelines.” The suspect said that after working for two weeks, he was able to raise enough money for his wife’s dowry. He returned home and performed the marriage rite. Just days after his traditional marriage, he returned to camp and discovered that Ayo had bought additional 100 jerry cans for fuel. Recalling the night Ayo died, Sobijoh said: “On that fateful night, Ayo woke me.
He said I should follow him to the line where we used to siphon fuel, but I refused. To tell you the truth, I was very tired. I told him to leave me alone to have some rest. Around 2am, I heard a large explosion. When I looked out, I saw massive fire at the spot where they were siphoning fuel. We couldn’t go close to the place until the NNPC officials came and put out the fire.”