But for the timely arrival of policemen from Oyo State Police Command, a 21-year-old suspect, Olatunbosun Adeyemi, would have become history after a mob descended on him on December 22, 2014 and almost burnt him alive.
It was gathered that the mob had already placed tyres round his neck and doused him with petrol, awaiting a lighter to ignite fire, before the arrival of the police.
Crime Reports learnt that Adeyemi was nabbed when he was intercepted about 2-15p.m. on that Monday at Kara area, Ibadan, with a Bajaj Boxer motorcycle.
He and his gang members reportedly snatched the motorcycle with registration number JJS 630 QG from its owner, one Adedare Adedamola, along Oyo-Ibadan expressway, Oyo town after they had used a Toyota Previa car to block him. The bike was taken from the owner after the armed robbers threatened to kill him with the cutlasses they held.
When the information was received at Kara police outstation, the Officer-in-Charge, one ASP Fatai Bisiriyu, was said to have led a team of policemen to the scene where the suspect was rescued and taken into custody. The owner, Adedamola, who was also located, narrated his experience to the police.
When interrogated, Adeyemi confessed to have snatched the bike from an okada rider in Oyo town, in connivance with two others whose names he simply gave as Wale and Kazeem. He claimed that they operated with a vehicle and machetes to snatch the motorcycle.
In an interview with Crime Reports, Adeyemi who said he resided at 20, Oke Owa Street, Ijebu Ode, admitted to committing the crime he was accused of, but said he was an unwilling participant. The father of one, while giving an insight to his background, said: “I stopped schooling while I was in SS2 and started working with a trailer driver as an apprentice. Though my boss used to smoke cigarettes, I learnt how to smoke marijuana in 2014.
“I went to Lagos in December 2014 to look for a job to do so that I could get money to buy clothes for my wife and child for Christmas celebration. While in Lagos, I worked as a conductor in a Molue bus with Wale. We were plying Oshodi in Lagos State to Sango/Ifo/Papa in Ogun State along Lagos-Abeokuta expressway. I also knew Kazeem in the process.
“I was told that a guy wanted to hold a party in Ibadan, Oyo State so I followed both of them in a Toyota Previa car. But instead of going to the party in Ibadan, Wale and Kazeem headed towards Oyo town. Before then, they stopped at Academy area of Ibadan and bought two cutlasses. I asked them what they wanted to use the cutlasses for but they asked me to keep calm and watch what they intended doing.
“Along Oyo road, I asked them what we were going to do in Oyo when the party we were to attend was holding in Ibadan. It was then that they opened up and told me that we were going to snatch a motorcycle which I would ride to Lagos State.
“I replied that I had never done such a thing but they snapped at me. Something told me to get down from the vehicle at that moment but I did not obey the spirit; I went along with them. Along the road, Wale and Kazeem sighted an okada rider and used the car we were in to block the rider who was carrying a female passenger.
“The man abandoned his motorcycle and ran into the bush but they went after him, brandishing the cutlasses they bought. They threatened to kill him if he didn’t surrender the key of the motorcycle. They collected the okada and I was asked to ride it to Ibadan toll gate. They said they would soon join me there.
“Unknown to me, as I rode on, the owner of the motorcycle was following me in a car. Along the way, at Kara area of Moniya, I stopped. As the okada owner sighted me, he raised the alarm and I was apprehended by the people around the place. Two huge tyres were placed round my neck and petrol poured all over me. But I was rescued by the police who came after someone went to inform them that I had been caught. That was how I was saved from instant death.”
Adeyemi further revealed that his parents were committed Christians and his father, particularly, was a pastor.
“My parents warned me against misdemeanor but I never listened to them. They frowned at the choice of job I made and said it encouraged me to smoke marijuana. They complained of my recalcitrant attitude,” Adeyemi said.
Confirming the arrest, the state command’s Police Public Relations Officer, Adekunle Ajisebutu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said that the suspect had been transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad for further investigation.
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