Half a million naira is my share for each baby sold from the hospital- says cleric

Half a million naira is my share for each baby sold from the hospital- says cleric

But trouble started when Taiwo (fellow suspect) came to me and asked me to pray for a business he planned to do in a bank to be successful… he said he and his gang members had planned to carry out robbery operations in two banks (names withheld) and that they would reward me handsomely if my prayers made them to succeed. I agreed and prayed for them. They succeeded in the first operation and gave me N307,000 from the N8 million they carted away…

A cleric accused of belonging to a 12-man robbery gang who operated in two banks in Lagos recently, Muktar (42), has confessed that the gang paid him N307, 000 for praying for them to be successful in the robbery operations they carried out on the banks.

In a chat with our correspondent, Muktar, an indigene of Ibadan, Oyo State, who said he was married with five children, said: “I am an Alfa based in Lagos. I pray for barren women to become pregnant. I pray for impotent men or those with low sperm count to become complete men. I organised the disappearance or sale of babies aged between one and two years from hospitals and maternity homes in Lagos and got N500,000 per baby.

“I also helped poor people to become rich and struggling men and women to become successful. I prayed for the sick to recover quickly. I prayed for civil servants, policemen, customs officers and soldiers for rapid promotion. I prayed for politicians for landslide victory. I also empowered fraudsters to successfully obtain money from their victims.

“My customers paid me handsomely and I was very popular in Lagos. I made good money from my work as a cleric. But trouble started when Taiwo (fellow suspect) came to me and asked me to pray for a business he planned to do in a bank to be successful. I asked him the type of business he wanted to do in the bank and he said that he and his gang members had planned to carry out robbery operations in two banks (names withheld) and that they would reward me handsomely if my prayers made them to succeed. I agreed and prayed for them. They succeeded in the first operation and gave me N307,000 from the N8 million they carted away.

“Unfortunately, the second operation failed. Aremu was arrested by the police and he led the police to my prayer room to also arrest me. They also arrested my younger brother, Shuaib because both of us did the prayers together.”

Shuaib (38) said he was a cobbler. “My only offence was that I followed my spiritual brother, Alfa Muktar, to pray for the gang. At the end of a successful operation, he gave me N15,000 from his share of the loot. It was a single day prayer,” he said.

Aremu (26) said he finished secondary school before he secured an employment with a commercial bank as a driver and was placed on a monthly salary of N30,000.

He said: “It is my friend, Ramon, a panel beater, who put me in this mess. The whole thing started when he came to our office in Lagos to check one of our official vehicles. As I was discussing with him, he asked me to furnish him with information on the bank vault, security, the position of the CCTV, alarm signal and other vital information. He said he planned to bring his boys to attack the bank and promised to give me the lion’s share of the loot. I accepted.

“He later introduced me to one Ahmed and we fixed May 25 for the operation. I left the bank the moment they entered and pretended that I was running away from the gang. The following day, we gathered at Ladipo Canal and they gave me N900,000. They also gave me N307,000 to give to Alfa Muktar for his wonderful prayers and another N150,000 for Idowu for participating.”

Asked why he aided armed robbers to rob his own organisation, he said: “I needed money to buy a bus which I intended to use for transportation. When I regain my freedom, I will become a commercial bus driver because I know the bank would not take me back after what has happened.”

Ahmed, another suspected member of the gang who hails from Ayetoro village in Ogun State, said: “I am here because I committed armed robbery with the other guys. It was my friend, Taiwo , a driver with a commercial bank, who asked me to meet him at a Lagos street on September 26, 2012 at about 7.30 pm. He was with one Saheed when I got to the bank. We were six in number, namely Saheed, Ramon, Lukmon, Kola, Ahmed and Congo.

“It was only Saheed who entered. Within two minutes, somebody hit him with a stick, disarmed him and started shouting. His cry attracted the police from Area D who stormed the bank immediately and arrested Saheed and myself. The other four ran into Ladipo Canal and escaped.

“Saheed and I were later transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). When they brought us before Abba Kyari, Superintendent of Police in charge of SARS, he told us that we were at SARS’ Scorpion House where suspects don’t tell lies. We assisted him to arrest Luko, Kola and Taiwo.”

On why he joined the gang, he said: “I finished secondary school and passed all my subjects but I had no money or someone to sponsor my university education. I later learnt to trade in electronics items but I had no shop of my own. One day, I met a friend at a joint and told him about my intention to save money for my university education. He told me that the quickest way to get money was to join a powerful robbery gang. He assured me of being protected from the police. He even showed me a policeman who was coming to smoke with them at the joint.”

Another suspect, Idowu (32), an indigene of Okeho town, Oyo State, said: “I trained as a glass cutter. Aremu is my friend. One day, he called me and told me that he would like us to be business partners in the building of skin doors. He said he would provide the capital and my own role would be to build the doors and sell them, after which we would share the profits on 50-50 basis.”

Asked how he would raise the capital, he told me he had planned to rob his bank and was sure of getting a reasonable amount for the business. After the operation, he gave me N150,000 to use as capital for our business. I built and supplied doors to some people, but they have not paid me.”

How was he arrested? He said: “I went for vigil in my church. When I returned, they told me that policemen came to look for me. I went to Area D to ask why policemen were looking for me. I was handcuffed and handed over to SARS.”

The sixth suspect, Ahmed (26) from Ayetoro, Yewa North, Ogun State, who said he was a phone accessories seller, said: “I only participated in the robbery of one of the banks. The operation at the other bank failed.

“It was Ramon and Azeez my friend who came to tell me that they wanted to rob the bank and that they needed one locally made gun. I asked Yusuf how the loot would be shared and he said 50-50. They asked me to follow the gang to the operation so that I would know the exact amount they would collect in the bank so that they would not be cheated. They gave me N900,000 as my own share and I was arrested at my uncle’s house where I was hiding.”

The seventh suspect, Rasheed (27), a driver with one of the banks, said: “I had been driving for the bank for two years and four months. My mother had an eye problem which needed to be operated upon. One had already been operated upon and there was no money to do the operation on the second eye.

“In my desperation to get my mother cured, I met my friend called Emma. He later introduced me to Alfa Muktar to pray for me to find a solution to my mother’s eye. The first week, Alfa asked me what I was doing for a living and I told him that I was a driver with a bank.

“He told me that for being a driver with a bank, my problem was almost solved. He advised me to go and come back the following day to enable him consult the gods about my problem. When I came back the following day, he asked me to bring my photograph. Later, he asked me to follow others to the bank to collect money. It was when they started operation in the bank that I realised that they were armed robbers. But there was no going back because the operation had started and I was expecting big money. Unfortunately, the operation failed and we were arrested. My mother has not gone to the hospital for the final operation.”

Another suspect, 24-year-old Adedokun, who claimed to be a 400-level Business Management student of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ayetoro Campus, said he was a member of a cult group called the Aye Fraternity.

He said: “I am a Fraternity member. Ahmed is also an Aye member. They knew that I was the armourer for my Fraternity. So, they begged me to bring one of the guns for the bank robbery operation. Therefore, I was the one who supplied the gun we used for the job.”

The ninth suspect, Kola (26), said: “I am an Okada (commercial motorcycle) rider. Taiwo contracted me to be carrying the gang members to any bank they wanted to rob. First, Taiwo asked me to carry them in twos. I first took Ahmed and Saheed to one of the banks. We robbed the bank of N8 million.”

The 10th suspect, Saheed (24), said: “I went to visit my friend, Ahmed, at Ifo town in Ogun State. There I met Ahmed who begged me to accompany them to somewhere in Lagos. When we reached there, it turned out to be a bank. That was how I followed them to rob.”

The 11th suspect, Lukeman (26), a commercial motorcycle rider, said: “Taiwo called me to assist him in carry his gang members to the bank they intended to rob. Initially, I told them to pay me N1,500 for each trip. But when I realised that the money they wanted to cart away from the bank was in millions, I changed my mind and told them that the money would be shared 50-50 because it was the same risk that everybody was taking. They accepted.”

The 12th suspect, Abdullahi’s whereabouts were not known as he was not among the suspects our correspondent interviewed.

Commenting on the arrest of the suspects, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, recalled that on September 26, 2012, at about 6pm, one Ahmed and Saheed were arrested by the Area D Command Headquarters, Mushin at a bank in Mushin, Lagos, after a shootout when the gang went to rob at the bank.

“Consequently, Ahmed and Saheed made confessional statements which led to the arrest of eight others and the recovery of one locally made pistol with one live cartridge. The case was subsequently transferred to SARS Ikeja for further investigation on October 2, 2012.

“When they were further interrogated, they confessed that their armourer and the gang leader, Adedokun and Ahmed , were in Ayetoro in Ogun State. Consequently, they led SARS operatives to Aiyetoro in Ogun State where the two were arrested and two locally made pistols with four live cartridges were recovered.

“The suspects, who normally operated with the aid of insiders, confessed to have robbed a bank in Mushin, Lagos on 25th May, 2012 where they carted away N8 million and another bank at Isolo on 29th August 2012.”

Manko said the suspects would be charged to court at the end of investigation.

Reporting GWD...................