- Evildoers Put Faith in God as They Set Out to Rob and Kill
- Untold Story of Gang that Killed Newspaper Editor
They could pass by as members of God’s true flock.
But the Devil rules in the heart of four suspected armed robbers, held by the police in Lagos for car snatching and murder of a Newspaper Editor.
Like the proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing, the body of a leading member of the gang, Babatunde Makinde, 25, is covered with religious tattoos. Boldly etched on the side of his shoulders is the most familiar of all the 150 Psalms in the Holy Bible – Psalm 23.
This is accompanied by the symbol of an angel on the right arm, alongside other positive and negative symbols including cross, scorpion, dragon fly and rows of incisions all over the bulky body.
One of the suspected partners in crime, Sunday Samuel, 22, was wearing thick beard like a Muslim cleric, piously clutching and counting Islamic prayer beads (Tesbih) while mumbling what sounded like a devotional verse from the Holy Quran.
Nobody had gone close enough to see the true nature of these men, until Chief Detective lifted the veil during an interview session.
Appalling as it was alarming, they spoke about their pact with the devil and faith in God, revealing how they would fast and pray before setting out to rob and kill.
On February 1, 2014, when they killed the Deputy Editor of Newswatch newspaper, Toyin Obadina, they had their usual devotion with Psalm 23, proclaiming the Lord as their shepherd and praying that goodness and mercy should follow them as they went on the rampage, snatching cars and sowing sorrow every step of the way.
Samuel recalled how they had formed the gang of hypocritical evildoers last year.
He said: “When we started last year, we were stealing motorbikes from where they were parked on rainy days. It was during Ramadan and we were fasting. We used to sleep overnight in the area at Odogiyan.
“Benjamin, who recently died in a shootout with the police, took us to the back of a house where motorbikes were parked. He had one flat metal that he would stick into the lock to break it. We stole three motorbikes on that day. He also brought a buyer for the bikes. We had three of such operations.”
The gang later moved on to car snatching and burglary, becoming more and more vicious as they progressed.
It got to a stage that the gang leader, who was identified as Oke, became a rabid and ravenous wolf baying for blood.
Members of the gang learnt not to argue with him after he shot one of them who dared to confront him.
According to the police, Oke and Benjamin were killed in an encounter with the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) at Mile 12, in Lagos.
The four suspects in police net accused Oke of killing 50-year-old Obadina who had left the office late heading home in Parafa area of Ikorodu, when he was cornered and gunned down along the pothole-ridden Itoikin-Old Ijebu Ode Road, at about 1am.
Reports say he was shot twice in the stomach.
The police had received a message on their Central Radio of a robbery and murder incident along the road.
According to the police, there had been a series of robberies in several parts of Lagos on that day. Obadina’s corpse was found inside his Toyota Yaris car marked AKD 701 CE, which was later taken to Sagamu Road Police Station at Ikorodu from where the case was referred to SARS.
A day after, the vehicle used in blocking the late Obadina was driving on a one-way into Alapere end of Lagos. The police unknowingly flagged it down. Two young men, Adeshina Festus, 21, and Ibrahim Adeokin, 22, were inside.
While they were being quizzed on the ownership of the vehicle, Festus named his boss as the owner. He asked the police to let him put a call through to him.
Under that pretext, he bolted and his action raised the officers’ suspicions. They chased and got him. But the officers didn’t realise he was a man they were already looking for.
During interrogation, he confessed to be a member of a robbery gang that has been terrorising Ikorodu and Ikeja areas of Lagos.
Adeokin, who was also arrested on the spot, told the police that he had only gone out twice with the gang to snatch vehicles, and that Festus brought the vehicle to him in the early hours of February 1, when they drove it down to Ikotun area. And they were moving from there towards Alapere and Mile 12 the next day, when the police intercepted them.
Adeokin had mentioned other gang members, and gave clues that linked them to the February 1 incident.
In the course of investigation Makinde was arrested at the gang’s hideout in Mile 12. And the jigsaw in Obadina’s murder case started falling into place when he admitted being a member of the gang that killed the Newspaper Editor, but denied being in that particular operation of February 1.
It was not until Samuel’s arrest much later that the police received information that a member of the gang named ‘Shina’ had been arrested for another robbery and been charged to court.
“So, we had to bring him back,” an officer told Chief Detective. “When we arrived at the station, he said: Oga let me explain.”
He revealed that there were six of them in the gang that killed Obadina and among them were Oke, Benjamin and one Ola Sheu.
Chief Detective obtained all the gory details as the police, victim’s colleagues, and the suspects recreated the chronology of Obadina’s last hours and the killer gang’s movements on that day.
As Deputy Editor on the Saturday Desk of Newswatch, Obadina had to ensure that all the pages were okay before leaving the office. And the time was far spent, when he left late on Friday hoping to get home before midnight, but he had to face the challenges of bad roads in his part of town.
It was the numerous potholes that bogged him down on the spot where the gang had cornered him.
According to the suspects, Oke was the gang leader who had led the series of robberies on that day.
They said that Oke ordered them to block Obadina’s vehicle, when it was sighted. The gang was operating in three vehicles – Toyota Sienna, Toyota Camry and a yellow Nissan Xterra SUV, which they had snatched at Ikorodu.
They had used the SUV to block Obadina’s car.
Samuel said. “Oke and Benjamin got down from the vehicle and went straight to the man. After ransacking the car, they wanted to take his laptop and he resisted; the next thing we heard was gunshot. Then, they dashed into the car saying, ‘Let’s go! Let’s go!’
“I was part of the gang. I was inside the second vehicle. Oke and Benjamin were inside the Toyota Sienna that blocked the journalist’s vehicle.
“After shooting the journalist, we immediately drove away. We were all furious with Oke for the shooting. But we were afraid because he could shoot us too. He was a violent man. He had shot Babatunde in the hand before. After two weeks, we went again to Mile 12 for another robbery, and it was in the process that police nabbed us and killed Oke.”
Two members of the gang identified as Omo Alhaja and Ola Sheu were still at large.
The police recounted the dramatic experience they had in the course of their investigation that went on for several months. This included how SARS officers looked for Adeshina Festus for several weeks, unaware that he was all the while in their custody following his arrest for an unrelated crime.
According to the police, they had Adeshina Festus in the net for a different offence, while they were searching for a suspect simply known as Shina, in connection with Obadina’s murder.
The earlier arrested suspects who shared the cell with him kept the police in the dark about the identity of the big fish in their net.
It was a big secret until Festus was charged to court and he was to be remanded in prison.
And his partner, Adeokin who finally gave him away, told Chief Detective why he didn’t do it earlier.
His words: “He (Festus) said if I should identify him, they would kill us. He said the offence for which he was arrested was not armed robbery; that until the police could get him the case against us is still weak and would not attract the maximum punishment. He said we should be praying for God to see us through. He was in the cell with me for three weeks before he was taken to court.”
And when the game was up, Festus told Chief Detective his version of the story of how the gang went through the day when Obadina was murdered.
He said: “On that day, Benjamin, Oke, Babatunde and Junior called me that we should go and work. As they called, I answered them. I met with them at our hideout at Mile 12.
“We moved along the road and snatched some vehicles. Along Ikorodu Road, we snatched a Toyota Sienna. I drove it first. We continued to work along Imota Road. Before we reached Imota, we snatched a Camry. So, another person drove the Camry. As we were coming back again from Imota, there’s one bad spot along the road at Parafa side. The car was going along Imota Road, and I was coming towards it with the Sienna. As it was about to enter the pothole, we blocked it.
“The Camry blocked him at the back. Oke and Benjamin then came down. I stayed behind the steering. I was always behind the steering. I didn’t know what they were dragging. I just heard gunshots. But as Oke came back into the vehicle, we asked him why he shot the man. But, because of what he had done to one of us before, I was afraid he could kill me.
“I was working as a driver before and Babatunde was my conductor. I was a commercial bus driver. There is a place where we used to smoke at Ikorodu garage. One day they asked me to come and drive them to a birthday bash. That time I didn’t even know Oke and Benjamin. So, I told them that I was using the bus to work and I would not use it to take them to a party where they could fight and smash my windscreen and my Oga would get angry with me.
“They said they had their own vehicle, that they just wanted me to drive. I accepted, but told them that I would go about my work from around 5a.m. So, I followed them. When we got to where their vehicle was, and we all entered, they showed me the guns; that we want to go and work, and I protested that they didn’t tell me this before.
“I was scared because I didn’t even know the man called Oke before. I feared that they could kill me if I should run.
“If only God could see me through this and I commit any other crime, God should kill me instantly.”
Festus, a primary school drop-out spoke about his background: “My father was poor and couldn’t send me further, but I’m a gifted driver. That Xterra SUV; they asked me to go and park it. I then told them that I had to reach Ikotun. He (Adeokin) said he would follow me, so we went together. We came back towards that Ajelogo area and ran into the police team that arrested us.
“I joined the gang around January. We had operated on Itamaga Road, Ikorodu Road and Ishaga. Our robbery was only on the highway. It was Oke who brought the two guns that we were using. We used to start from around 8pm till midnight. We were six in the gang.”
When Samuel was asked why he was clutching prayer beads, he said: “I’m not an Alfa, but I have converted to Islam. I’m just praying that God should have mercy on me; to forgive me. I’ve been reciting La ilaha illa Allahu…
“I used to be a commercial bus driver. That very day, I was at the garage in the evening. As I just finished working, I said let me go and hide myself so that I could be okay. That was when I saw that guy called Oke. I already knew him. He came with Benjamin. I bought them drinks. After they finished drinking, Benjamin told me that we should go somewhere, where he wanted to collect money; in one man’s place. He said the man was their chairman. I said no problem.
“We went together. When we got to the place at Sabo, in Ikorodu, it was like one estate. Before you can see someone, you must have walked for 10 minutes. That was when they told me what we were going for.
“Then, they brought out guns, saying that we were going to rob. I said what’s happening? They said we were going somewhere to rob. I don’t handle the gun. We always go with two guns. Benjamin and Oke hold the guns. My own role is that when we drop somewhere and there are many people, I would go and hold someone and discharge what is with the person.
“If we were to raid a house, when we get to where to operate, I stay out watching. Other members would break one of the arms of the burglary so that we could enter. We used to be three on such operations.”
When asked how many cars they snatch on a weekly basis, Samuel, who hails from Udu, Delta State, said: “In a week, we snatch one or two cars that we use for patrol. We’ll just move from Ikorodu to Ijebu or from there to Sagamu. We do this in the evenings.
“After our operations, we dispose (of) the cars. We take the vehicles to Ibadan or Ikire, and give them to one Kola to sell. The last time we gave him one Lexus Jeep and one Murano. We snatched the vehicles on Sagamu Road.”
Samuel said he attended Etuere Primary School at Ikorodu, and United High School.
Asked how much he got on the day that Obadina was robbed, he said: “That day, I did not receive anything because we argued with Oke over the shooting of that man. He said he would shoot us if anybody should talk again. He left with the loot, along with Benjamin.”
Makinde also told Chief Detective more about himself.
He said: “I’m from Igbore, Abeokuta. I didn’t attend any school. My Dad, Ganiyu Makinde, was a soldier. He had two stars. He died in the Liberian war.
“I grew up in my uncle’s house in Abeokuta. I learnt vulcanising as a trade. From there, I used to follow house painters. So, I learnt about that too. Then, I came to Lagos, but there was no job, and I started driving commercial vehicles. First, I started as a conductor, working on buses from Adeniji to Ikorodu. From there I learnt how to drive.
“I was a driver in the gang. I drive a Mitsubishi wagon that I bought from Oke for N150, 000. Benjamin was second-in-command.”
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kayode Aderanti said although investigations into the murder took months, the team of detectives led by Superintendent of Police, Abba Kyari, was able to eventually apprehend the suspects.
He said, “We were able to recover two locally made single barrel guns, 12 rounds of live cartridges, one Nissan Xterra SUV and one Toyota Yaris car from the gang.”
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