What could have prompted a 21-year-old man to send a gang of armed robbers, to which he belongs, after his own sister? The reason was revealed by a suspected armed robber, Amuda Lawal Najim, who was recently nabbed by the police in Osun State. OLUWATOYIN MALIK reports. Just like the blood of Abel cried from the ground when his brother, Cain, killed him, according to a biblical story, so did the the bond between a notorious armed robber, Amuda Lawal Najim and his sister, Mrs Sade Sonibare, cried out in protest early this month when the former led his six- man gang of armed robbers to the sister’s resident, but was caught few hours after the robbery operation. Information gathered by Crime Features had it that Najim (21), in company of Adewale Wasiu (28), Lawal Abiodun (27), Abiodun Emmanuel (25), Wale Osunleye (30) and another gang member popularly called KB, who is currently at large, invaded Igbo-Ile area in Ikirun, Osun State, on Wednesday, October 10 at about 12 midnight and attacked the residents while armed with a dane gun, a cut-to-size double- barrel gun and iron rods. About seven residents, among whom were Najim’s sister, Mrs Sonibare, her husband, Akeem, and an 80-year-old woman, Mrs Olasunkanmi Morufu, were
reportedly robbed of a huge sum of money, jewellery and other valuables. Not only that, Najim reportedly instructed his gang members to beat his sister who had just been delivered of a baby, an instruction they carried out, inflicting her with serious injuries. They were said to have also put a knife to her baby’s neck, threatening to kill him. Madam Olasunkanmi was also not spared, as the elderly woman was also thoroughly beaten, after which the armed robbers escaped with their loot. Or so they thought. Crime Features learnt that immediately the police were alerted to the gang’s activities, they went after them. This led to an exchange of fire between the police and the gang, with some of the gang members sustaining gunshot injuries. They, however, escaped into the bush. After sharing their loot, the gang members were said to have divided themselves into two groups and two of them had walked through hills in the town to link Iree, a nearby town, while others hid in the bush till dawn. Crime Features gathered that the okada man, who noticed the blood stains on the bodies of the two suspected armed robbers he picked at Iree, became suspicious of their personality . After dropping them at the motor park, the okada man was said to have alerted some people who in turn alerted the police. The policemen, led by the Divisional Police Officer at Ikirun, immediately swung into action and went ahead of the vehicle to block the road. After stopping the bus, they asked all the passengers to disembark for searching. They noticed the two men who had injuries on their bodies, as well as cash and some jewelry.
When questioned, they were said to have lied that they had an accident. Meanwhile, the other three who also hid in a bush in Ikirun were suspected by the people when they came out from the bush and the Divisional Police Officer at Ila was also alerted. When questioned by the DPO and his men after they were handed over to them, they also lied that they went somewhere and had an accident while on okada. The five armed robbers, however, opened up when they were transferred to the anti-robbery section of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Osogbo. It was there that Najim confessed to the police that he was the one who led his gang members to his sister’s house. He revealed further that he stole N75,000 from his sister in
February and ran away. The sum of N1, 144,000, jewellery valued at N120,000, charms and other valuables were also recovered from the suspects. Narrating how he became a notorious armed robber to Crime Features, Najim said: “When I stole N75,000 from my sister and her husband, I ran away. When I had no where to stay, I left for Ibadan where I met the gang. I joined them for robbery operation and we robbed at Challenge and Ago Taylor areas of Ibadan. “After following the gang to some operations, they asked me to suggest a ‘business’ they could do because I had been benefitting from the operations which other people suggested. That was how I remembered that my brother- in-law is a cocoa merchant and
he used to handle a lot of cash at home. “I knew there was no way he would not have money, so I decided to lead my gang to my sister’s house. When we got there, I stood outside with a gun while others went in. I also heard that my sister just delivered and held the naming ceremony of the new-born baby before our arrival. I then thought that it was an opportunity to get my pound of flesh back if someone who was not ready to take care of me could be celebrating. “I asked my gang member to deal with my sister very well. That was why they beat her. They even put a knife on the baby’s neck, threatening to kill him. I heard her and her husband begging my gang members not to kill the baby. “In the Ibadan operations, we usually invaded buildings in the dead of the night to inflict injuries on our victims and rob them of their valuables. We had four guns that we were using for our operations. All the guns were dane guns that we forcibly took from night guards. We usually targetted the night guards so that we could increase the number of weapons in our armoury. “Immediately we left Ikirun after the operation in my sister’s house, we went to Iree town. In Iree town, we mounted an okada and went to the motor park to board a vehicle to Ibadan. We were stopped by the police on the way and searched. When they found a lot of money on me and I could not give them a satisfactory explanation, I was arrested .” Confirming the story, the Police Public Relations Officer in Osun State, Mrs Folasade Odoro, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said that the case was still being investigated by the anti- robbery section, adding that efforts were still on to apprehend the sixth suspect who is on the

This might look like an act of buffonry but ........