‘Spiritual attack forced my son into robbery’ -- Mother

A middle-aged mother of four sent shock waves into the the spines of police detectives in Lagos recently, when, on seeing her first son being paraded as a suspected armed robber, she broke down and started crying out loud, telling everybody that cared to listen that his son could not have, ordinarily, done any bad thing.

Taiwo’s background, by his mum:

According to her, ‘’He went into robbery after having spiritual attack. As a mother, I have done all I could to make sure that Taiwo becomes useful to himself. After his father died, I tried my best with the little I had to ensure that he completed his secondary school education.

After that, I enrolled him in a printing outfit as an apprentice. He was attached to his boss for about a year and six months when he stopped. That was when I began to notice these despicable behaviours of his.

‘’I started with prayers, no result. I took him to various native doctors and prayer homes for deliverance yet, nothing changed. Rather, he got worse by the day. He has not always been like this, which is why I strongly believe this is the work of the enemy to render my son useless in life. I have never collected anything from him because I know the source of anything that comes through him is not clean. Even when he buys a gift for me, I reject it because I am strongly against his way of life. ‘’

How he was arrested: Madam Oluwole is the mother of 30-year-old Taiwo Oluwole who was arrested by eagle-eyed anti-robbery detectives in Lagos State. The suspect and one Segun Ogunlodo aka Sangbere, 26, and Akeem Raji were alleged to be members of a five-man armed robbery gang said to be terrorizing Ebute-Meta, Oko-Baba, Oyingbo and its environs.

The arrest of Taiwo Oluwole at the scene of a robbery operation at about 2a.m. reportedly led to the arrest of the other two suspects while efforts are in top gear to apprehend other members of the gang.   Crime Alert learnt that Taiwo Oluwole was accosted by men of Anti-robbery at the State Criminal Investigations Department, SCID, Panti, Yaba who were on routine patrol and a locally made pistol and three live cartridges were recovered from him at the scene.

Confessions: Confessing to the crime, Taiwo Oluwole said: ‘’ I am an armed robber and I have participated in several robbery operations. I started out as a pick-pocket, later I started breaking into people’s houses and stealing their valuables. Thereafter I graduated into full-fledged armed robbery two years ago. I bought the gun from Segun Ogunlodo. He sold the gun to me for N18, 000.

‘’I really can’t explain why or how I went into robbery, because after my secondary education, I went to learn printing for a year and six months but I didn’t complete my apprenticeship.

Completion of apprenticeship

I can’t explain why I stopped, because there was no reason. I later became a labourer. I strongly believe that it was a spiritual attack that led me into armed robbery.

“My mother has taken me to several churches, prayer houses and native doctors for deliverance yet nothing changed. I plead with the government to tender justice with mercy, I promise not to continue in my old ways once I come out of this alive,’’ he stated amidst tears.

Other suspects speak

‘’I was arrested at Mushin area, and about six phones were recovered from me. I bought the stolen phones from Taiwo. I knew they were stolen items. I started buying and selling stolen items like phones and laptops from guys like Taiwo since 2011. I was arrested after Taiwo was caught. In his defence, 26-year-old Segun Ogunlodo, aka Sangbere, said he was arrested because he sold a gun to Taiwo as he had no need for it.   I got the gun from my brother who is currently serving a jail term in a Cotonou prison for armed robbery related crimes.’’ Culled