How I became an armed robber —Suspect who robbed Fresh FM, Ibadan

A 29-year-old armed robbery suspect, Ayobami Erinfolami, whose gang invaded Fresh FM in Ibadan, Oyo State, on April 10, has confessed to the crime, opening up on how he allowed friends to influence him again after he had served six years in prison for a similar crime.

Erinfolami was arrested by the Monitoring Unit in Oyo State Police Command after he and two other members of his gang currently at large stormed the radio station and dispossessed the staff members of their valuables.

Parading the suspect at a press briefing, the Commissioner of Police, Ngozi Onadeko, said the gang, which specialized in robbing hotels, hospitals and other public places, went to Fresh FM, Ibadan, broke into its studio, attacked and robbed employees on duty of huge sums of money, cell phones and one FM Radio Transmitter laptop at gunpoint.

According to Onadeko, the incident was reported at the Monitoring Unit, leading to the commencement of investigations led by the Commander, CSP Olusola Aremu.

She disclosed that before the attack on the radio station, the gang had carried out similar operations at various hotels within Ibadan metropolis.  She mentioned the robbery committed by the gang at a private hospital and fertility centre located at Ring road area, Ibadan where patients, their relatives, the owner and employees of the hospital were dispossessed of cash, cell phones and some other valuable items at gun point.

Erinfolami was nabbed at his hideout.

The police boss said that the suspect confessed to the crime and series of other criminal activities he had participated in with his gang members. He added that investigation which was still ongoing to crack the criminal network and arrest other members of the gang.

The suspect, in an interview admitted all he was accused of, but said he was only an arms bearer who also played the role of watchman to guard against being apprehended during operations.

He said: “I’m Ayobami Erinfolami. I’m 29 years old and an Ibadan indigene. I was arrested for armed robbery.

“Moving with bad friends pushed me into crime. They were the ones who asked me to go with them on operation.

“Before my recent arrest, I had once been arrested for armed robbery in 2015 because my friend, known simply as Junior, and I went to burgle a house. He was the one who invited me. Initially, I didn’t know he was into crime.

One day, I followed him to steal a plasma TV from a residence at Monatan area in Ibadan while armed with a cutlass. We took the cutlass from the residence and used it to break in. I was arrested by security guards who handed me over to the police. Junior was able to escape. He was also discovered to be a cultist.

“I was arraigned in court for armed robbery. I was sentenced to prison for six years before I was released in February 2020.

After regaining freedom, my friends abandoned me. They avoided me like a plague. I had no help. I was returning home one day, about seven months ago, from where I went to seek help when I met an ex-convict, Rasheed at Mokola. We were in the prison together before my release.

“He introduced me to armed robbery, telling me that was what he was doing for survival. I decided to join him because I did not have any job. We exchanged phone numbers and called ourselves regularly.  That was how I started following him to robbery operations. I didn’t own a gun. We were three gang members going for the operation, with Tomiwa being the leader.

“At first, I was not following him, but he used to give me between N3,000 and N4,000 out of proceeds from his robbery operations. I’ve gone with the gang three times.”

On how they operate, he said: “We had two motorcycles for movement to operations. They were owned by Tomiwa and Rasheed. We went to robbery operations with two guns. My own role was to keep watch outside the scene of operation and to convey some of the loot after the operation. I was with them at an operation at about 10pm once, but we went to two operations in the morning.

“The first time I followed them, we went to New Garage area but couldn’t carry it out because we noticed many okada riders there and it could jeopardise our operations. I was given N1,000 to buy food.

The second time, we went to a hospital at Challenge area at about 7:30am. Actually, we were going to relax at a hotel when we passed by the hospital and thought of going in there. I was given N23,000 and MTN recharge card of N2,000. It was after my arrest that I learnt that they got over N1 million and gold jewellery.

“The third operation I joined in was at Fresh FM. We got in at almost 6am though we wanted to go a nearby hotel to sleep after leaving a night club. When was saw a car driving out of the radio station, the gang members then decided that we should go to there to see if we could get some things. We went there and my gang leader and member brought out guns to threaten the people while I was  on the watch outside. We got laptops and phones, and I was given N30,000 as my share after the items were sold. But I was eventually tracked to Muslim area of Ibadan where I was arrested.”

Though married with two children, the suspect said that his wife was not aware of his criminality because they live separately. He said that they had a child before going to prison and got the second one on his return.

Ayobami pleaded for mercy and promised not to engage in crime anymore. “When I saw Yinka Ayefele, I begged him and promised not to do such again. Please help beg his wife too. I will never do such a thing again. I plead for mercy,” the suspect said.