Police in Lagos have bust a five-man robbery gang, six months after they killed a top female executive of a communication company on the Apongbon bridge on Lagos Island. The gang never believed that nemesis would ever catch up with them after they shot Clementina Saduwa on the chest in January and made away with two of her handsets and a handbag containing N28, 000.

Owoyemi

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After killing Saduwa, the gang went underground to wait out the heat of police investigation. Few weeks later, the men went back to their game of robbing, killing and maiming.

The gang was smashed after two of the members attempted to snatched a handbag from a victim along the Onike Yaba axis of Lagos using commercial bikes. They were intercepted by anti-robbery men attached to the Sabo police division. The two bandits, Bashiru Bello ( Dudu) and Ismalia Akande ( Asuma) were said to have confessed to their criminal activities. They were later used as bait to catch Biodun Owoyemi (Okele) and Fatai Sokunbi (Atere). The fifth member of the gang, Nonso, was said to have been shot on the Lagos Island area of Lagos, while on another robbery operation.

The media had reported how Saduwa was shot at the Apongbon Bridge in January after her vehicle broke down. She was said to have been in the car with her driver and had money valued at over a million naira on her. Saduwa died few hours later at the hospital.
Sokunbi, 23, the leader of the gang, told Daily Sun that the only thing found in the victim’s bag were two handsets and N28,000.

Recalling the event of that day, Sokunbi said: "On that day, Nonso called me, I was about going out when he came. He said he was broke. He said he was going on a mission. We call it ‘operation mission.’ We were five then using two motorbikes. We went to Apongbon. We saw where the car was parked by the road side. The time was about 8 pm’’.

According to Sokunbi , Nonso ordered Bello to ride closer to the car. They stopped near it and Nonso got down.

Sokunbi continued: " When Nonso got down, I followed. I had an iron cutter on me. I used it to hit the glass of the car. There was a man and a woman in the car. The man behind the wheel gave me two phones. Nonso started arguing with the woman. I heard him yelling, where is the money ? Where is the money? Where is the jewelry? She didn’t give him. He shot her on the chest. When we heard the gun shot , we all ran away. We came with two motorbikes. We snatched her bag and went to a bridge at Ebute-Metta to share the money. We found only 28, 000 in her bag."

Sokunbi collected N9,000, Bello, N2,000, Owoyemi N6,000, Akande N1,500, while Nonso took the rest.

Explaining his own side of the story of that fateful day, Bello tried to exonerate himself. He claimed he was keeping watch for passers-by and as such was not at the spot when Saduwa was shot . He said: " I didn’t know what happened. I was on the other side of the road. I only took them to the bridge on my motorbike. They hired my services as an okada man. I didn’t charge them because I knew they would do me well. I didn’t know they were robbers! Fatai only told me they were going to Lagos. That was the first time I took them anywhere."

Owoyemi also claimed that he was not close to the victim when the shot was fired. According to him, immediately he heard the gun shot, fear gripped him and he bolted. He later returned and went with others to collect his share of the booty.

Sokunbi revealed that Owoyemi had cutlass on that fateful night and was keeping watch behind the car while he and Nonso took care of those inside the car. While other members of the gang were reticent with their family background, Sokunbi was not.

Perhaps, knowing the days of crime were over, Sokunbi wanted Nigerians to understand why he took to crime. The gang leader revealed to Daily Sun that he had been robbing for more than 12 years. According to him, he was like any other normal child until his parents separated. He started his life of crime with pilfering before he graduated to breaking and entering into houses and shops.
"I will walk into any shop, look for what they do not have and ask for it. From there, I check out the easy way to gain entrance into the shop," he said.

With time, he became a full time robber.
Sokunbi, who is married and has a year-old baby girl, said he used proceeds from his robbery operations to set up a sound studio.

He said: " If there’s a party or ceremony like birthdays or weddings, people invite me and play. My wife doesn’t know I’m a robber. If there’s operation, I won’t go home. I‘ll just call her and say I was going to play at a party."