Chilling revelations: escaped chibok girl raped 15 times by 15 men every day

More chilling revelations have emerged to shed some light on the agonising experience of the missing Chibok girls, based on the account of one of the escapees.

Three of the girls have so far escaped from the terrorist group, Boko Haram, who abducted over 200 girls from a government secondary school in Chibok, Borno State on the night of April 14, 2014.
A clergy and expert on counter-terrorism, Oladimeji Thompson, of The Omoluabi Network, who has been working with other groups to assist victims of the abduction overcome their pains, gave a chilling narration based on an account of one of the escapees.

He said, “One of the girls I interviewed was being raped 15 times by 15 men every day.” He said the girl was traumatised and confused.
“It’s obvious this girl needs to be managed. She looked confused. She found it hard to talk to me but after much prodding, she confessed to me that she was raped 15 times by 15 men throughout the time she was with the Islamic insurgents before she could escape from their den.
“A girl who has been raped by 15 men every day, you say you negotiate and gave her back and release a terrorist who will go out and kill more. What negotiators do is to say that they must not tell their stories, they blanket all the information. In a situation like this, it is the Boko Haram that wins more.”

Asked if the girl was not pregnant after her ordeal in the hands of the insurgents, the pastor, probably in an attempt to protect the schoolgirl, declined further comments asking our correspondent to move to other issues.
Many of the mothers confirmed to our correspondent that against all trumped up figures in the media, only three girls have since managed to escape from Boko Haram’s den.
The Omoluabi Network is working with other groups such as the Unlikely Heroes, a United States based trauma management specialists and the Gabasawa Women Initiative, a coalition of women across Northern Nigeria led by Kucheli Balami, to provide psychological and emotional support for the escaped girls and their grieving parents.
He called on government not to negotiate with the terrorist group but explore every other option in rescuing the missing girls.

“The people who are talking about dialogue in the first place don’t understand that this thing is a merciless, unrelenting, non-negotiating monster. Those who have studied it globally and locally know that anybody who says negotiate is likely a mole that really belongs to the Boko Haram, pretending not to be part of them.

“If you look at the United States today, the reason it is a prosperous nation is because it refused to negotiate with the colonial powers that threatened it. Nigeria negotiated, look at where we are today. America stood by principle, look at where it is today. So, we are at a crossroads right now. If you claim to negotiate and make Boko Haram stronger, you have betrayed all the blood of thousands who have been slaughtered by these terrorists. If you negotiate, you are only prolonging the evil day, helping people who will eventually reach your own children.

Meanwhile, one of the grieving mothers, Esther Yakubu, has been in real pains since her daughter, Dorcas, was forcefully taken away together with over 200 others by the insurgents. Since then, Yakubu’s world has not remained the same. Life, she says, has lost its meaning.

As she settled into the chair in the tiny room, adjusting herself slowly before managing to look into your eyes, you could tell the severity of her pains. Heartbroken, weak and hardly able to speak, Yakubu is in real pains. Since “My daughter had never spent a day without me except when she was in school,” she told our correspondent in Lagos in a rare encounter in the course of the week.
“Anytime I remember her and what she could be passing through, I really can’t express how I feel. She is not an ordinary child; I carried her in my womb for 10 months before giving birth to her. I took good care of her because her father is an orphan. I assist him in taking care of our children because we believe they have bright futures.

“My daughter says she wants to be a teacher, her little sibling says she wants to be a doctor. But now, I don’t know what will happen to all that dream. Before she left home for school, she said to me, “mama, I am going to school, I will be writing my final paper, please pray for me to be successful and become something in life. That was the last conversation we had.”
Tomorrow, June 8, Dorcas would have been 16. There were plans to make it a memorable one especially as it would have been her first birthday after secondary school life. But sadly, the latest development means there would be no celebration in the home of the Yakubus – at least for now. Apart from taking away their first and most promising child, the terrorists also took the family’s peace and joy along.

“It’s been a miserable period for the family. Her younger siblings always ask me where their sister is. The small one who is four years old says to the other that the soldiers took Dorcas away, that they took her to Maiduguri. The elder one would say no, that it is Boko Haram that took her away and not the soldiers.

“For the first two weeks, the little ones were not even eating. If we prayed and wanted to eat, I just burst into tears and so the others would start crying too. That’s how we would all abandon the food.
“Since this thing happened, my husband has never stayed in the house for even 30 minutes during the day time because if he sees me crying, he will also break down in tears. So, most times, he comes in to take his bath and goes out again. He has been thinking every day,” she said.
Recalling events leading to her daughter’s unexpected disappearance on that fateful day, the visibly troubled Yakubu told Saturday PUNCH that the girls were tricked by the insurgents and that there was a strange mood in Chibok shortly before the incident.

“We were confused at first because the girls used to shout whenever there was danger. But on that day, there was total silence. We never knew those people had arrested them, telling them they came to take them to a safe place because Chibok was not good for them. The girls never knew they were Boko Haram. There was no shouting; there was no noise, so we all thought it was a joke.
“By the time I got to the school, I only saw one girl in the hostel. There was nobody else. I thought children are spared during attacks, but at Chibok, they packed both elderly and little girls away.
“On the day that thing happened, there was nobody to help. The soldiers tried, but they were not many. There were only 15 of them guarding Chibok before that incident happened. We are too many for 15 soldiers to protect,” the mother of five said.

Though, the number of security personnel keeping watch over Chibok has since increased following Boko Haram’s latest onslaught on the community, for many of its residents, fear is still the order of the day. It will take a long time before the town dusts off the shock.
“Life has been miserable in Chibok since that period because we have been living in fear. Anytime children are playing and they hit drum or some other objects that produces a loud sound, we all run in different directions. We would be afraid, thinking they had come back again.

“I am afraid for the safety of my other children still in Chibok with their father but we have no choice. Where will we go to? My husband is not working for now, so we can’t talk about going to another place or state to start a new life. We have no choice at this time,” Yakubu lamented.
Yana Galang, 48, is another grieving mother. Her daughter, Rufkatu, the fifth of eight children, is among the around 200 girls still in Boko Haram’s captivity. She was 17 yesterday June 6 – one of several Chibok girls who have either marked or would be celebrating their birthdays in captivity. The situation continues to keep the family in distress.

“I am really worried about her wellbeing because she was not feeling well,” Galang said.
“Six months ago, she had a surgery to remove appendix and so had been on drugs. She was still on drugs when they were kidnapped.
“She was a very supportive child. She wanted to go to the university to become great in life. These were the things she always talked about. I am really worried because I don’t know what might happen to her in that forest.”
Like many Chibok households inflicted with the same wound, it has not been easy for the Galangs moving on with life without their precious daughter. For them, the entire episode is a big nightmare they are hoping to wake up from.

“I still find it hard to believe that my daughter is missing. I have not been able to sleep or eat well because it is very terrible for somebody who is as sick as she is to be taken away like that.
“She came home to visit her father who had come all the way from Maiduguri after three months. Her father has another wife in Maiduguri so he comes to visit and spend time with us in Chibok once in a while. That was the last time I saw her. It was immediately she got back to the school that this incident happened.
“We are believing God to bring all the girls back alive. She was a very gentle girl. She has a young sister named Esther who has not stopped crying since she was taken away. I keep assuring her that one day by God’s grace, Rufkatu would come back alive,” she said.

A handful of other mothers who interacted with our correspondent during the chance meeting in Lagos during the week, also expressed concern over the safety and health conditions of their daughters. Many of them are worried that if rescue efforts drag on, the girls could be afflicted with all manner of sicknesses or even lose their lives in the process.
In the wake of the girls’ abduction, there has been blame trading by the Borno State government and the West African Examination Council over whose laxity led to the sad development. While WAEC had claimed it warned the state government against staging the exam in the town, the administration had strongly debunked that allegation. But some of the aggrieved women revealed they were forced into allowing their daughters live in the hostel during the examination.

“We preferred our daughters going to school, write their papers and come back home but the people in charge refused, claiming the girls would be roaming about, that some of them don’t have anywhere to stay in Chibok so they should all stay in school,” one of the women who identified herself as Beatrice, told Saturday PUNCH. Two of her daughters were among those taken away by the extremists.
“We pleaded that the ones from the community should come home but unfortunately, nobody listened. The day the arts students concluded their papers, there were five days interval in between and so we asked for the girls to return home during that period but they refused.
“Some of the students disobeyed and went through the fence and that was their saving grace. That was how some of them escaped the kidnapping. It was those who obeyed the instruction of the school that are now the victims of this abduction.
“Nobody sought our opinion before deciding that the girls stayed in the hostel. Most schools in Borno have been closed because of Boko Haram, how silly would we be to allow our children into such danger? We were never aware of that arrangement.”

Indeed, the last seven weeks have brought plenty of sleepless nights and agony for mothers, fathers, siblings and relatives of the missing girls. The incident has sparked a global outrage with millions around the world demanding for their immediate release. The Nigerian government and military overwhelmed by the enormity of the operation, had sought help from its African neighbours and the West in wrestling the girls away from the grip of the insurgents. That move hasn’t brought the expected results as many of the girls, apart from those reported to have escaped at different times, remain in their captors’ den – away from the glare of the world.

Mary Paul Lalai, one of the mothers of the abducted girls, died on hearing the news of her daughter’s kidnap. Aimu Fonan, a member representing Chibok constituency in the Borno State House of Assembly, broke the news to journalists few days after the sad event. According to analysts, many mothers like Yakubu and Galang risk similar fate if urgent measures are not taken to ease their pain.
Erica Greve is the founder and leader of Unlikely Heroes. She told Saturday PUNCH how they hope to help the Chibok mothers and girls overcome the trauma caused by the incident. She is worried about the girls still in captivity.

“It is very important for us to keep in mind that the longer these girls are in captivity, the more trauma they are experiencing. That every second, every moment, everyday matters to these girls and they want to be rescued as soon as possible. We all need to remember that the longer they stay in captivity, the more support services and care they will need after they have been released.

“The abduction of these girls is not only affecting them, their mothers and families, it is affecting their communities and the nation as a whole. I just spoke with a mother here in Lagos and she told me that her daughter is afraid of going to school because she fears she could be kidnapped as well.
“Once the girls in captivity return, the reality is that our work has only just begun. These girls are going to need trauma therapy, immediate medical care and all the things they will need to properly stabilise and overcome this trauma. It is mostly likely that when they get out they will need up to 10 to 16 weeks to be able to recover from the shock.

“It is also important that they are placed in a very safe environment. The safer the environment that they are placed in, the quicker they will be able to heal. The more specialised care that they are given immediately upon return, the easier it will be for them to recover and be re-integrated into their normal communities and everyday life,” she said.

Thompson agrees with Greve. He concedes that the real job has only just begun.
“It is not good for the girls to come back and find out that their mothers are dead. Care for the girls starts with care for their mothers. That’s why the women are here, doctors are here with them and they are being taken good care of. We have also invited Unlikely Heroes who are global experts in trauma and child psychology and they have been talking to the mothers and some of the girls who managed to escape.

“They have a proposal for the Omoluabi Network and there is a likelihood we are going to build a trauma centre in Osun State if all plans fall in place. They have advised that nobody should try and re-integrate the girls back directly into Chibok when they are released. We need to quarantine them, we need to bring them into a setting where they will be debriefed and processed properly.”
US Congressman, Louie Gohmert, told Saturday PUNCH during the meeting that the girl’s abduction now came tops in major delibrations within the country’s political circle in recent weeks. Gohmert who played a major role in ensuring the US government designated Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, howeever chided the White for not using its intelligence and technology to crush the sect and rescue the girls from captivity.

“We must all rally behind the families of these missing girls. The international community must step up efforts to free the girls. If the US does not use its power to stop Boko Haram, God will use someone else to do it. We will not relent on our calls until these girls are safely released to their families,” he said.

Last week, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, told newsmen that they had located the whereabouts of the young girls but that they were taking all necessary precaution in freeing them from captivity. Earlier this week, the Australian government, through its Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, offered to allow its special forces partake in the search for the girls. The Nigerian

government, according to Thompson, is yet to accede to that request. Mothers and family members of the abducted young women would be hoping for a quick resolution to the problem even as they look forward to wrapping their daughters in their arms sometime as soon as possible. But for now, they are living with the pains and wounds brought by the sad incident.



Source: Punch

Cult clash leaves one dead, 50 vehicles damaged

Some hoodlums suspected to be members of the Eiye Confraternity invaded at least three streets in the Somolu area of Lagos and destroyed about 50 cars.

A resident of Popoola Street, who did not identify himself for security reason, said the hoodlums invaded Popoola, Bashorun, and Ogunbadejo streets, shooting continuously into the air.

He said, “We were outside our houses on Tuesday. But around 9pm, people started running helter-skelter as the cult boys entered the street. We all ran in, but the shooting continued. As there was no light, nobody could confront them.”

Some residents told our correspondent that the hoodlums were over 100 and wielded weapons like ax, mortar and shovel, which they used to destroy the vehicles.

A lady, who did not want her name in print, said, “I saw them and they were not less than 150. There were so many young boys among them.”

When our correspondent visited the affected streets on Wednesday, he saw splinters of shattered windscreens on the road, while some affected owners cover up their damaged vehicles with nylon.

Our correspondent counted 26 damaged vehicles on Bashorun Street, eight on Popoola and two on Ogunbadejo.

A car owner, John Edith, whose Ford Jeep, Toyota Previa and Honda CRV were damaged, told PUNCH Metro that over 50 automobiles were affected.

He said, “On Bashorun alone, 40 cars were damaged. Some of the car owners have taken them for repairs. Seven of those cult guys carried guns and shot sporadically into the air.”

A panel beater, Tajudeen Abdulsalam, said three cars under his care were damaged and his clients had told him to get them back in shape.

“They told me they wanted their cars back the way they brought them to my workshop. I am now heavily in debt,” he said.

Our correspondent learnt from some sources that the hoodlums were on a revenge mission.

A source said the battle started on Sunday when a leader of the Eiye group was killed, a day after his wife put to bed.

The slain man, identified as Small, was said to have been dragged down from his motorcycle and hacked to death, while his remains were dumped on Fadipe Street.

The source said, “The man’s wife gave birth on Saturday and he was killed on Sunday. Some Aiye boys were said to have carried out the attack. They dismembered him and took his corpse to Fadipe Street. It was from that time that there has been trouble and we cannot rest.”

A woman who lives on Ogunbadejo Street, said policemen from the Somolu Police Division arrived at the scene after the hoodlums had left.

The resident, Mrs. Eniola Kogberegbe, lamented that instead of going after the gang, some innocent people were rounded up and residents resisted the move.

“It was one hour after the incident that the police came. They wanted to take three of our people, but we resisted them. They came back this morning and took one person in the area,” she said.

She added that a resident was badly injured after hitting his head on a pavement, while running away from the hoodlums.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, said nine suspects had been arrested.

Braide said, “Around 9pm yesterday, the Divisional Police Officer received a distress call that some boys numbering about 50 were destroying things within the streets you mentioned. He mobilised patrol vehicles and also requested back ups from neighbouring stations.

“On sighting the police, they took to their heels, but some of them started fighting with the police. At the end of the day, the police were able to arrest nine of them, and they will be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for prosecution.”

-Punch

Death toll in Borno village attacks hits 100

About 100 persons were reportedly killed by insurgents during Tuesday’s attack on three border communities with Cameroon.

The Tuesday’s attack, it was learnt, was a retaliatory one on the three villages of Attagara, Agapalawa and Aganjara in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State.
Though a security source revealed to journalists that 83 persons were killed in the attack, residents of the area insisted that about 100 persons were killed.

A resident of Maiduguri, who lost his brother in the attack, told journalists anonymously that the armed men, dressed in military camouflage, drove into the three communities of Attagara, Agapalawa and Aganjara in military vehicles.

They subsequently gathered the unsuspecting villagers and opened fire on them.
Gwoza is located on the south-east of Borno State and about 135 kilometres away from Maiduguri, the state capital presently ravaged by Boko Haram insurgency.
The security source said, “The community actually thought the gunmen were military personnel. It didn’t occur to them they were Boko Haram. It was too late by the time they found out as the insurgents had indiscriminately opened fire on them.

“As I am speaking to you now, over 83 corpses are laying in the villages now yet to be buried.”
An indigene of the area, who is resident in Maiduguri, Yohanna Ibrahim, said he had been in touch with three of his relations who were fortunate enough to escape being killed.

He said his fleeing relations were lucky to have escaped the attack but have to return to the village again fearing they could be traced into the bush by the Boko Haram.
Ibrahim said his relatives who were unaware of the level of killings were shocked when they found out the magnitude of the murder.

Though attempts to get security operatives confirmation were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report, a security source disclosed that the communities lost 83 persons.

Source: Punch

ROBBERY SUSPECT HIDES GUN INSIDE DISC PLAYER

… Says ‘I only use it to scare people during election’
The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Lagos has arrested a suspected armed robber who concealed a locally made gun inside a disc player.
The suspect, Azeez Adebayo, a native of Ifo in Ogun State was arrested in the course of an undercover operation by the police.

According to the police, Adebayo is a member of an armed robbery gang, which normally comes to Lagos to rob and then return to the neighbouring states.
The source explained how the police were able to crack the case. “We had information that he is in possession of a locally made gun and that he is a member of a robbery gang, which usually comes from Ogun State to rob in Lagos and then return to their base.

“We then sent an informant after him. When we were convinced that he had a gun and a gang, we asked him to come with his gang and join us for a robbery operation in Ikorodu. We got his phone number and then convinced him that we were a big time armed robbery gang in Lagos.
“He even volunteered to help us get some people who have AK-47 in Sagamu. Later, when he couldn’t get them on time, we asked him to bring the one he has and let us go for the operation. He came with the locally made gun to join us, without knowing that it was policemen he was discussing with all the while. That was how he was arrested,” the police source explained.

Adebayo reportedly travelled to Lagos with the gun inside the disc player without any problems. The suspect, the police gathered, had been to prison before. Yet, after his release, he conveniently went back to crime. “He had been to prison before for armed robbery and conspiracy. So, he is a habitual criminal. He has made a useful statement which can lead to the arrest of so many people.”

Meanwhile, speaking with Sunday Sun, Adebayo who said he worked as a ticketer for a motorcycle riders union in Ogun State claimed that the gun was part of his tools as a politician. “I am a politician; a member of APC (All Progressives Congress). We normally use the gun during election. One of my ogas in Ifo, a member of OPC (Odua People’s Congress) in Ifo gave it to me. I explained to him that as a politician, I needed something like that. And he said no problem. That was how he gave it to me. I bought it from him for N10, 000.”

On how he gets cartridges for the gun, Adebayo swore that he never used cartridges with the gun. “It is not meant to be used in shooting. We only use it to scare people. (Ma pa e, ekuro ni bi o). It is just for something like that. It is not like we want to kill anybody. That is usually during election. I don’t have even a single cartridge.” The suspect, who admitted that he has been to prison for conspiracy and armed robbery in 2012; however insisted that he did not go back to crime. “It is only God that knows my mind. I did not do anything. I am not using the gun for anything.”
The police source assured that the case would be charged to court as soon as investigations were concluded.
Source: Sun

65-YR-OLD MAN RAPES, IMPREGNATES OWN TEENAGE DAUGHTER

Like hail, curses have been raining on Samuel Uba, a 65-year-old man in Kalabari Beach, Oguta Local Government Area, Imo State, who is alleged to have committed an abominable act by repeatedly raping his 17-year-old daughter, Hannah Uba and impregnating her in the process. The poor teenager is now saddled with a five-month-old pregnancy.

It was the timely intervention of the police that prevented irate youths in the community from lynching him when they got wind of the abominable act after the violated and traumatized teenager finally summoned the courage to report the matter to a neighbour, who in turn informed the leader of the youths.

Recounting the horrific experience she passed through, Hannah, a JSS 3 student of St. Michael Secondary School Obodo Oguta said: “I have been living in bondage. My father started having sex with me after his two wives died. He would always beat me before having sex with me. I told him to remarry but he refused. Every night he would come and rape me. Any day I refused to have sex with my father, he would beat me and then rape me. He always came when the other children were asleep. It was the fear of my father’s beating that made me not to tell anybody. But one day, I decided to confess to my neighbour. It was the neighbour who discovered that I was five months pregnant. Immediately the news spread, youths in the community gathered to kill my father, but policemen rescued him.”

Pastor Donatus Olisa, General Overseer of Christian Pentecostal Church, where the suspect and his daughter worship said he learnt about Hannah’s predicament from other members of the church.
Shocked to the marrow, Pastor Olisa told Sunday Sun: “The father of the girl, Samuel and his daughter attend my church every Sunday. Some people told me that Papa Samuel was sleeping with his daughter; they said the pregnancy that resulted from it had reached five months. I was deeply shocked. The following morning I went to the house of Papa Samuel and he confessed that he impregnated the daughter. He acknowledged raping her often.”

Hannah’s trouble started in 2012 after her father’s second wife died. As the old man, who hails from Ibiasoegbe in Oru West Local Government Area of Imo State, told Sunday Sun in an interview, he used to have sex with his second wife even when she was sick and on admission at the hospital.
He said: “I had two wives. My first wife died in 2011 while the second died in 2012. I have nine children, two girls and seven boys. When my second wife was on admission in the hospital, I used to have sex with her right in the hospital. But when she died I started sleeping with my daughter when the other children were asleep. I began having sex with my daughter because I didn’t want to be sleeping around with other women.”

Ever since the story broke, Imo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Abdulmajid Ali disclosed that the Command has made tireless efforts to conduct proper investigation into the case, which he described as an abomination. He further disclosed that youths in the area were so incensed that they wanted to lynch the alleged culprit, but noted that the quick intervention of the Divisional Police Officer in-charge of Oguta Police Division, Supol Ikembuchukwu Abugu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police and his men saved the day and rescued the suspect from the hands of the youths. Samuel was immediately taken into custody on April 30, 2014, pending the conclusion of investigations.

Although Samuel has appealed to his community for forgiveness, blaming the devil for the abominable act, the Imo State Police Commissioner, however, assured that he would be charged to court to answer appropriate charges for rape and impregnating a legal minor.
Source: Sun

Boko Haram Bombs Bar, Kills 60 In Adamawa

Members of the Boko Haram Islamic sect on Sunday bombed a bar and a brothel located near a major military base in Mubi, Adamawa State and killed over 60 people.
Sources told saharareporters that explosion rocked the popularly bar located at Kaban, a few kilometres to the headquarters of the Special Operations Battalion (SOB) of the Nigerian army in Mubi.

It was gathered that the SOB was at the centre of the Nigerian government’s counter-offensive against Boko Haram’s increasingly daring attacks on military and civilian targets.
Saharareporters reported that the blast occurred around 6pm at the brothel where both military and civilians used to unwind.

The agency reported that one of its sources said none of the casualties was a soldier, but another source told saharareporters that it was too early to determine whether soldiers were among the casualties or not.

Saharareporters added that soldiers based in Mubi “frequently join civilians to eat, drink and dance at the watering hole. It, however, added that military commanders had warned soldiers not to stay at the joint past 4 p.m.

In recent weeks, Boko Haram has carried out deadly attacks in the northeast Nigerian states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe despite the Federal Government’s declaration of a state of emergency in the three states.

Meanwhile, security forces in Cameroon have killed about 40 Boko Haram militants in clashes in the country’s far north on Sunday.
Cameroon’s state radio said this on Sunday shortly after the release of two Italian priests and a Canadian nun suspected to have been held by the Islamist group.

A government   source in Yaounde was quoted by Reuters as having confirmed the clashes which took place west of the town of Kousseri, in the region bordering Nigeria and Chad.
Cameroon, which had been criticised by Nigeria for not doing enough to fight the Boko Haram insurgents, deployed some 1,000 troops in the far North last week.

The two Italian priests and a Canadian nun kidnapped in northern Cameroon nearly two months ago by suspected Boko Haram gunmen were released on Sunday, smiling and apparently in good health as they arrived in Yaounde, the capital.

Reuters reported that Giampaolo Marta and Gianantonio Allegri, missionaries from the diocese of Vicenza in northeast Italy, and Canadian Gilberte Bissiere were seized on the night of April 4 from the parish of Maroua, close to the border with Nigeria.

There has been no claim of responsibility for their kidnapping but Cameroonian officials have pointed the finger at the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram, which has become active in a region that it had for some time used as a logistical base.

Reuters added that state television in Cameroon showed images of the priests and the nun arriving at Yaounde airport on Sunday in the company of heavily armed Cameroonian special forces.

My Boyfriend Made Me Dump Prostitution For Armed Robbery–Suspect

Twenty-four-year-old Sherifat Bakare, is a young lady one could describe at first glance as pretty. But as she sat on the ground in front of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Ogun State Police Command in Abeokuta, one cannot but imagine how deadly she might have been on operations with her robbery gang.

“I was hustling before Raji, my boyfriend, told me to join his gang,” Bakare began.

But when she was asked to elaborate on what she did as a “hustler,” she explained that she meant prostitution.

Bakare in company with four other members of her gang, were apprehended on Wednesday, May 21, 2014 by the men of Ogun State SARS, who had been on their trail after receiving a tip-off about the gang’s plan.

It all began a few weeks ago, Bakare narrated. She said another member of the gang, Bola Onasile, (also in SARS custody) had approached her boyfriend about the availability of N70m in a wealthy man’s house in Joju area of Sango, Ogun State.

“I have only gone on two operations with them. I don’t know him (Onasile) well. I only know that he was the one who brought the job.

“Raji gathered other members and they snatched a vehicle (a Nissan Quest) around Iwo Road, Ibadan. We decided that the vehicle would be used for the operation.

“The gang asked me to sit in the front of the vehicle so that when we were stopped by policemen on the way, being a woman in the front seat would make them unsuspicious. But during the operation, the police cornered us and Raji was shot dead.”

Bakare did not betray any emotions as she narrated how the operation went.

Asked if she smoked Indian hemp like other members of her gang, she said, “I have never tasted it, I only smoke cigarette.”

But when our correspondent asked about her parents, tears streamed down her face.

“I am from Idofian in Kwara State. My father is late but my mother lives in Ibadan. She has no idea I do this kind of job and she does not even know I am in police custody.”

Bakare explained that she was a prostitute in Lekki where she was making up to N5,000 per day until about two years ago.

“I was living with a security guard in a house at Osborne in Ikoyi. The landlord of the house was out of the country. I was going from there to ‘hustle’ in Lekki every night.

“Raji was a good helper to me. That was why I decided to leave prostitution when he begged me. When he introduced me to armed robbery, I asked him if there would be no problem and he assured me that there would be none. When we started dating, I did not know he was an armed robber though.”

Asked how much she was promised out of the N70m they were going to steal, Bakare said whatever went to her late boyfriend would have accrued to her as well.

The young lady said she learnt photography when she dropped out of secondary school but had not been able to practise the trade because she did not think she could make much money from it.

During Saturday Punch’s visit to the SARS office in Abeokuta, 36-year-old Onasile, who brought the N70m job, was evasive when our correspondent asked him how he knew about the money.

He later said that an acquaintance of his, a man named Tunde, informed him about the money.

Onasile said, “Tunde is like a brother to me. He told me the man we were going to rob was his relation. He said the man had N70m at home. I told him I had no boys who could do the job. But he was always disturbing me about getting a gang together to do the operation.

“Few days later, I informed Raji about the operation and he told me he could get boys for the job. We planned to sell the vehicle we snatched after the operation but we did not know how police got to know about the operation. Tunde ran away when the police were after us.”

Onasile said he was a revenue collector for a local government council in Lagos before he lost the job when a new chairman weeded out excess employees from the council.

According to him, he got a job as a site thug getting assignments from land grabbers once in a while but the money was not coming as needed.

Meanwhile, a gang of robbers, who specialised in snatching motorcycles have been apprehended by the SARS in Ogun State after an under cover operation.

Paraded alongside the suspects were the receipts, which they told the police that they issued to buyers of the motorcycles they snatched from their victims.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ogun State, Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, said he believed that more members of Bakare’s robbery gang were still out on the streets. He said investigation was still ongoing to ensure that they did not escape justice.

He said, “We are on their trails. But we can assure the public that wherever they are, we will hunt them down and apprehend them.

“In the case of the gang who specialised in snatching motorcycles, our men were able to track them down after we got a tip-off that one of them wanted to purchase a gun.

“One of our SARS operatives who posed as a potential seller told him the pistol was N250,000 but the gang member said he could only afford N150,000.

“Criminals should understand that it is not a joke when the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikemefuna Okoye, says that crime would not be tolerated in any part of the state. We mean it and will track down any criminal that ventures into this state.”

The wives of the gang members were also arrested because they admitted that they knew their husbands were robbers.

Adejobi said the suspects would be charged to court as soon as possible.

-Punch