Pastor goes to ‘mountain’ to pray for robbers’ success

• Colonel’s stolen phone led police to killers
• No regrets killing colonel, says gang leader

“If not for God, the colonel would have killed me. Luckily for me, the trigger fired and I shot him. I didn’t know he was an army officer. I was surprised that he was very strong. A few hours later, my gang member, Chijioke, called and told me what he saw in the man’s car. That was when I knew I was in deep trouble.”

These were the words of Emeka Okeke Cyprian, the leader of a gang of car snatchers that killed Army Colonel, Samalia Inusa, a Chief Instructor at the Nigeria Army School of Infantry, Jaji, Kaduna State. Cyprian however said he had no regrets killing Inusa.
According to him, it was either he killed Inusa or Inusa killed him. Although the gang members had been charged to court, they decided to unburden their hearts before facing the judiciary. Cyprian said it was as if he was destined to kill Inusa. He also said there was a time the gang went to meet another gang member, Pastor Precious Ebere, where he had gone on the mountain to fast and pray for days.
They had just bought some rifles and needed Pastor Ebere to teach them how to operate them. Ebere is known for frequenting prayer mountains to do intercession prayers for successful operations. They went to join him at the prayer mountain, smuggling in the rifles. After staying in the mountains, praying and fasting, they left to go and start training on how to use the rifles. The gang would have got away with the murder of Inusa, if not for the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase’s Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT).
Cyprian’s gang took Inusa’s phone after killing him. The police tracked the phone to a prison warden. The end for the gang started after they picked on Inusa. Inusa was abducted by unknown gunmen at the Kamazo area of Kaduna Refinery Road, on March 26. His corpse was found the following day.
The IRT operatives were deployed to Kaduna State by Arase to track down the bandits. Three month after the murder of Inusa, police authorities in Abuja announced that the IRT and men of the Kaduna State Police Command, Special Intelligence Bureau (SIB), have arrested four suspects in connection with the murder of the army officer.
It was later learnt that the IRT smashed the gang after it tracked a Techno phone, which was stolen from Inusa to a prison warden, Abdulahi Adamu. Adamu is a close associate of one of the suspects, Ibrahim Kabiru who was already in the custody of the SIB in Kaduna State by the time IRT got to him.
The SIB operatives, while trailing car snatchers terrorising the state, arrested Kabiru and his boss, Ebere. The SIB was unaware it had just caught those behind the murder of Inusa. The suspects’ confessions led to the arrest of Cyprian, who without mincing words, confessed to having killed Inusa. He was arrested along with one Chijioke Ugwuanyi.
Cyprian, 44, a father of three, claimed to have joined robbery three years ago. He first started by hijacking trucks on Katangura Road, Kaduna State. He said: “We used to barricade the busy road with broken down vehicles and logs. Whenever a truck loaded with goods stops in front of our barricade, we would strike! We used to attack drivers and conductors with machetes. We would drag them into the bush.” He said that the drivers and conductors would be held captive, fed only with water until the truck and the goods arrived Niger Republic.
This was where they sell the goods and snatched cars. He said they had hijacked and sold many trucks through that way. Once they hi-jacked any truck, one Dan Sokoto would smuggle it into Niger Republic. Cyprian said after they first started operation and made some money, they all went their different ways.
They didn’t work for five months until Sokoto called gang members and they regrouped. Cyprian said: “We had new terms for sharing our loots and because I’m the striker who goes after the driver and conductor, I insisted on getting the lion share.
On our third operation, we hijacked a truck carrying spaghetti and we asked Sokoto to get us two pistols with the goods and pay us the balance in cash. He got us two pistols and brought N1m which we all shared. Since we had two pistols, I decided to side-line other members. I formed my own gang and I brought in Chijoke, Ebere and Kabiru. We went fully into car snatching. “We once snatched a 2005 Toyota Sienna.
We told Sokoto that before selling any of our goods, he must ensure I speak with the buyer in Niger Republic, to negotiate over price. When he took the vehicle into Niger, I spoke to one Garuba and he paid us N700, 000. I got N120, 000 as my share. I told him that I liked the way he did the business. I promised to always get him vehicles.”
He said that after some critical operations, the gang decided to take things easy and watch the security situation. They monitored the situation for two weeks and discovered policemen in Kaduna were hunting for car snatchers. The gang leader said: “One of our members called and told us that he noticed policemen had been stationed at Abuja Junction.
They usually hide their vehicles inside a dark spot. I told my people that we must be fast in our operations. We discovered new routes. After two weeks, God helped and blessed us with a Toyota Venza. “I told Sokoto that I wanted to go to Niger Republic. I wanted to see Garuba and Mustapha, our receivers.
When we crossed into Niger Republic, a man met us. He hugged me the moment he saw me and he shouted Shege Emeka. He said I was a strong man. I told him that I wanted a big rifle because of heavy presence of policemen. They told me that rifles were sold for N500,000 and loaded magazines were sold for N250,000. Garuba said he was going to pay us N500,000. He said he would smuggle the rifles into Nigeria for us; that we should just go back to Nigeria and get him a Toyota Hilux. I told him that Hilux was difficult to steal because they were mainly used by security operatives.”
Cyprian continued: “Dan Sokoto asked me to go; he said he would call me the following day, to meet him at Abuja Junction. He said I should come with Ebere whose bus we used for operations. When he arrived, he called me. I called Ebere who told me he was at the mountain praying. He asked us to come to the mountain. When we got there, we hid the rifles under the seat of his bus. The next day Ebere taught me how to operate the rifle. Ebere later broke out of our gang to form his own group.”
Recollecting how he killed Inusa, Cyprian said: “It was a Saturday evening. We saw a Mercedes Benz Jeep. We followed the vehicle to Kamazo area, down to a house. When the driver stopped to open the gate, we went after it. We discovered that the driver was a woman.
A was with her. I suspected that the man was the owner of the vehicle. I ordered him into our own car. I asked Chijioke to move the Mercedes to Dan Sokoto, while Kabiru drove our own car.” Cyprian said he tried to reassure Inusa that it was only his car, the gang was interested in. He told Inusa they wouldn’t kill him. But before he knew what was happening, Inusa jumped on him. He said: “I told him that he was a ‘big guy’ and could always buy another vehicle. He asked for water, but when I was about giving him the water, he jumped at me while I was with the gun. I was shocked.
He gave me a head-butt. He beat the hell out of me. But I held tightly to the rifle. We rolled on the ground. I don’t know what he touched, but the trigger of the gun refused to fire but I later shot him. We sold his car for N900.000.”
He said they later heard the news of Inusa’s death almost in all the papers. Apparently scared, Chijioke told Cyprian that he wanted to quit. They however decided to go for one last operation. In the last operation, they stole an Avalon Jeep. But they couldnn’t contact Sokoto sell the jeep. He appeared to have disappeared. Chijioke had to take the car to Niger Republic.
It was there that Garuba told him that Sokoto had been arrested by policemen at Birnin Kebbi over a N250m case. Cyprian said: “Chijioke relocated to Enugu, while I stayed back in Kaduna, watching as things unfolded. Kabiru went and joined Ebere. Not long after that, they were both arrested by SIB in Kaduna. I was in my sister’s house, sleeping, when police came into our house very early in the morning and asked for Emeka. I told them I was Emeka.
They asked why I killed Colonel Inusa, I promised to tell them everything at the station. I assisted police in luring Chijioke back to Kaduna, where he was arrested.” Chijioke, 44, a graduate Economics, Enugu State University, said that poverty pushed him into crime. He explained that after his graduation, he couldn’t get a job. He even tried marketing for an insurance company, but it didn’t work out.
He later went into teaching and was earning N5000 as a graduate. He later decided to become a commercial motorbike rider. It was in that process he met his old school mate. Chijioke said: “He was earning more money than me as a truck driver. I joined him as a conductor and I started making little money. It was through the job I started meeting criminals. I met Emeka, through one Alhaji in Onitsha.
They wanted to sell a trailer load of rice which they hijacked. I linked them to a buyer who paid N1. 5m for the goods. I was given N80,000. That was how I joined the gang. After we kidnapped the Colonel, I was taking his car to Niger Republic and decided to search the car. I saw his uniform, ID card and other military accoutrements. I called Emeka and told him not to kill the man.
But he told that the man was already dead. He said it was as if it was his destiny to kill the man. He said the man was stubborn and almost killed him. After that operation, I left Kaduna and went to Enugu State. I went to fix my truck. I wanted to start driving again. But I was arrested. I’ve always known we would be arrested because we were not supposed to kill anyone.”https://newtelegraphonline.com/pastor-goes-mountain-pray-robbers-success/