'Give me a loan; I will stop stealing' - Suspect begs Lagos Gov

An ex-convict who was arrested for armed robbery by the Lagos State Police Command, Ayodeji Bakare, has challenged the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, to give him a loan to start up a business and see if he will go back to stealing.

The Punch reports that the 23-year-old suspect who had spent some years in prison for stealing was arrested during another robbery and handed over to detectives at the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigative Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, appealed to the number one man in the state to help him with the loan because it is the lack of job that leads him into crime.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Fatai Owoseni, who paraded the suspect at the command headquarters in Ikeja, said he was arrested on January 23 at Ebute-Meta area of the state during a stop and search operation by a team of policemen.

Owoseni said that it was during th search on th suspect that a locally-made pistol and six live cartridges were recovered from him.

The suspect, in appealing to the Governor for a loan so he can start a business, vowed never to go back to crime if his plea is met.

"We are a three-man armed robbery gang, robbing people with our motorcycle in traffic. I am an aluminium fabricator. I started my robbery operation in 2014 after I came out from Ikoyi prison in 2013. I am begging on the to help me with a loan so that I can go back to my business an I will not rob again.

I was sentenced to jail for stealing a white man's phone at Ikoyi Club where I was working. Our mode of operation is to stop people and search their bags in traffic after which we will rob them of their phones and other valuables.

My own role is to point gun at our victims while some of us would hurriedly collect the person's money or handsets. I have also made about N500,000 from the robbery operation," the suspect who also claimed to belong to the Eiye Confraternity Group, said he was initiated in prison.

"It was there that they gave me orientation on how to rob and linked me up with one Sefu at Seme who sold guns and ammunition to me.

When I was leaving prison, they gave me the name of the arms dealer who sold the gun and the bullets for me at N 30,000.

I used to buy one bullet for N1,000. We used to buy like 15 to 20 bullets. If my bullet finishes, I call Segun who is based in Cotonou. When I collect gun from Segun in Cotonou, I enter motor that does not carry load. They don’t search motor that does not carry load.

I have not married but I have a wife, she loves me. If I go to prison she will still wait for me because she waited for me the first time I went to prison,” Bakare said.