A 20-year-old man, Opeyemi Tajudeen, who was arrested at Olomi Adejare, Academy area of Ibadan, Oyo State, for disguising as a female to attract attention from men and deceive them to get money, has said that his act was aimed at feeding himself and siblings to eliminate hunger.
Tajudeen said that aside himself, the responsibility of feeding his siblings fell on him after his father’s death, with no one to cater for them after his uncle and aunt had tried their best.
Tajudeen was apprehended by the Oluyole Security Surveillance Team, Oluyole Local Government Area, led by the Commandant, Olusegun Idowu.
The Commandant informed Saturday Tribune that his team was called by the community members when Tajudeen’s deceptive dressing was exposed during a visit to his newly-got boyfriend. Tajudeen was said to have been discovered to be a male during an attempt by the boyfriend to caress her.
But the supposed boyfriend, a member of Amotekun surveillace team, said that he became suspicious that Tajudeen was disguising as a female, and decided to play along. An attempt to caress her breasts led to the discovery of their being stuffed with pieces of clothing and cellophane bags.
Unpon the discovery, the community members were said to have descended on the boy before vigilante team was invited. The Commandant said that when the boy was interrogated, he initially said that he was sent by a man he identified as Aji to go after Amotekun surveillance members who once arrested him and others. Tajudeen later said that he mentioned the name when the beating by the community members was too much, but he told the vigilante group again that he was actually sent by Aji. According to Commandant Idowu, since then, Aji had been on the run, refusing to make himself available to clear his name.
In his confession, Tajudeen said that he began the deceptive appearance in Lagos State where he was taught by a lady he called Adijat. “Aunty Adijat taught me this line of crime at Ikotun Egbe area in Lagos. I have been doing this since after my father’s death about three years ago.
“I have done this with over 20 men. I started it in Ibadan three months ago. I used to go to Ogunpa, Agodi Gate, Oje and many more places.
“I had to do this because my siblings and I were starving and there is no one to help us.
“After living with my father’s elder sister who owns a business at Agbeni market in Ibadan for a while, she asked me to go to my late father’s property and collect house rent from tenants for survival.
“I was there with my siblings but the tenants refused to pay a kobo. We had to go round people begging for food. I tried working in a bakery I saw but they asked me to bring a guarantor, and I couldn’t get anyone to stand for me. That was why I decided to start disguising as a female to get money.
“I have four siblings namely Ranti, Fathia, Waris and my brother, Sunday, who is not feeling fine. Sunday is going to be 23 years old; Ranti almost 18 years old; Fathia going to 12 and Waris almost 10 years old. I am 20 years old.”
Tajudeen said that he got to know his latest boyfriend through a female friend who never knew he was not a female.
“I knew the man through a friend but I didn’t even know my friend’s name. One day, I followed my friend to see her boyfriend who was doing Amotekun job. My latest toaster saw me and liked me. I told him there was no problem if he could be giving me money to feed myself. He gave me money for food and some days after, he asked me to come to his house. When we got there, he wanted us to have sex but I refused.
“At a point he started beating me, asking for those who sent me to be monitoring him. When the beating was too much I had to lie against someone that did not know anything. The person name is Aji at Muslim area. He is a caterpillar driver. I also lied against Saidat living at Muslim also.
“I used to go to my father’s house at Oke Offa Atipe to check up on my siblings once in a while so that they would not know what I was doing. I gave the man Yusroh as my name.”
My first arrest
“My father’s elder brother in Mushin, Lagos, must not hear of what I have done now because I once did it in Lagos and was arrested and taken to a police station at Mushin. My uncle and aunt later bailed me and got me released after spending two weeks in the police station.
“If both of them hear of what I just did, they would do as if nothing happened or would just leave me alone.
“When I went to my uncle to tell him what was happening with the attitude of tenants, he said I should leave him alone as he had a lot he was also facing,” he added.
The man said he was a multi linguist as he could speak Yoruba, English, French, Hausa, Egun and some languages in Cotonou, the capital of Republic of Benin, where he had also lived.
Giving his side of the story, the Amotekun surveillance team member, Ahmed Kabiru, said: “I saw Tajudeen who dressed like a lady and we talked. ‘She’ told me ‘she’ was an Egun from Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). I asked ‘her’ for friendship and since then, ‘she’ had been wanting to visit me at home.
“I reasoned that it was too early as I just met ‘her,’ so I was suspicious of ‘her.’ With style, I made ‘her’ to go. A day after, ‘she’ came alone. ‘She’ told me that since ‘she’ left me a day before, ‘she’ had been having an urge for a man ‘she’ had fallen in love with.
“By then, I had told my elder brother of my uneasy feelings about ‘her’ and showed him ‘her’ picture. My spirit kept telling me that this ‘girl’ was a boy but I did not notify any of my surveillance team members.
“A couple of days ago, ‘she’ had wanted to come to my house but I did not answer ‘her’ because of the nature of my job. Two days after, ‘she’ said ‘she’ wanted to follow me home and I agreed, just to catch ‘her’ red-handed. I informed my elder brother that I would invite him to my house because the boy had an evil mission he might want to carry out.
“As we got to my house at about 11:30pm, I told ‘her’ I only had garri at home. ‘She’ agreed to take it, but while drinking it ravenously, I marveled but did not say a word. I was just looking at ‘her,’
“After that, ‘she’ told me’she’was an Arugba (calabash carrier for Osun goddess, saying ’she’ would help me. Then I asked ‘her’ why one of ‘her’ breasts was bigger than the other and ‘she’ replied that ‘she’ was from the marine world.
“That was when I went to tell my elder brother what was going on where he was hiding. By the time I returned to the ‘girl,’ ‘she’ had finished eating the garri. I pretended as if I was sleeping and ‘she’ started touching my face and body.
“At a point, I stood up but I did as if I didn’t know what ‘she’ had been doing. I asked ‘her’ to show me ‘her’ breast and ‘he’ replied that ‘she’ could not because ‘she’ was a virgin and Osun calabash carrier. ‘She’ said that something would happen to ‘her’ if ‘she’ did. That was when I called my elder brother out. We started questioning ‘her’ and ‘she’ confessed being a male who was sent by the boys we arrested when we went for an operation at Muslim area. With a ‘she’ becoming a ‘he,’ Tajudeen mentioned the co-conspirators’ names as Aji and Ope.”
Saturday Tribune learnt that the boy had been taken into custody by a popular radio presenter in Ibadan for rehabilitation.
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