Robbery suspect says he wanted to have a bumper Christmas

The dreams of an armed robbery suspect to have live big and lavish cash to the admiration of his peers during the yuletide period has landed him in trouble as he was nabbed alongside members of his four-man gang.

Today, languishing in police custody, Chukwuemeka Obikachi, is full of regrets and is begging for a second chance to turn a new leaf. Crying bitterly and begging for mercy while in the detention in the cell of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, Ikeja, Lagos, Obikachi said that he joined a gang of car snatchers because he wanted to raise enough money for a bumper Christmas celebration.

He was already planning how to spend the money he had not yet seen before policemen arrested him and other on December 6, 2014.

The police said the gang was arrested by a team of policemen attached to the SARS team at its hideout at Kuramo, Lekki, and three locally-made guns were recovered from them.

lamenting his sojourn into the crime world, Obikachi said:

"God wanted police to arrest me so that I would become a changed person. The man who took me out for robbery told me to go with him so that I could raise enough money for Christmas celebration."

Obikachi said he to ‘hustle’ to sell jeans at Yaba Market, but he was lured into the crime by one of customers whose name he gave as Henry, adding that he was misled.

"Henry is my customer. After buying cloths from me that day, he took me to a place and bought me drinks. He took me to Small Kuramo at Jakande area of Lekki. We were still at the beer parlour when two other men came to join us.

They are Tunde and Chinedu. Henry said they were his colleagues. We were there till about 8pm.

It was Tunde who said we should go and meet one Ismaila, that he owed him some money."

According to Obikachi, when they got to Ismaila’s house, he was standing by the gate. The gang stealthily approached and attacked him. A Toyota Highlander car was snatched from the man. Obikachi added that Tunde grabbed Ismaila by the trousers and collected his car key and handed the keys to Chinedu.

"I sat in the front seat of the car. On our way, we got to a certain place where the victim was well known; he suddenly held the steering, put the gear to a stop and started shouting. He held me as he was shouting.

Henry and others started running. People living around the area rushed out. They started beating me and took me to Chevron Police Post."

A police statement said:

"The owner of the jeep, Mr Ismaila, was attacked when he went to visit someone at Lekki. He was waiting for the gate to be opened, when the gang attacked him. He was even stripped of his clothes.

The robbers decided to take him to an unknown destination. As they approached Chevron Gate, Mr Ismaila struggled and pushed the car gear to a stop. He started shouting. Apparently scared, other members quickly fled, but Obikachi was not lucky. Police at Chevron Gate arrested him. Police searched him and recovered a Barretta pistol with three live cartridges."