These were the words of Sagamu, Ogun State-born Muideen Odufuwa popularly known as Omuta (39) while speaking with Saturday Tribune on Wednesday May 31. As he spoke, he was shedding tears and sniffing, as mucus ran down his nostrils.
It was a moment that he let his guards down to show that behind his tough exterior and hard looks, he could still exhibit some emotions.
Omuta was one of the suspects paraded by the Oyo State Police Command on that day. But before his arrest, Omuta was said to be dreaded by his gang members and residents of communities he had attacked as a land grabber and armed robber.
It will be recalled that the suspect’s name was mentioned by some suspects arrested by the police in connection with a robbery operation carried out at Ogbere area of Ibadan.
One of the suspects, a female identified as Adediran Folasade, had told the police that Omuta used to keep his guns with her and always referred to the gun as ‘Ankara’ anytime he needed them for robbery operation.
Being a tailor, the woman used the code with ease with no one guessing that she meant more than the fabric that Ankara is known with.
Though Omuta had been evading police arrest since he had been coming into the state from Lagos to carry out robbery operations, he was apprehended with other members of his gang by the operatives of Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Oyo State, led by their commander, after they went for a robbery operation in Ilora, a town in the state, and killed a security guard before carting away the property of their victims.
Aside being involved in armed robbery, Saturday Tribune learnt that Omuta was a ruthless land grabber/speculator who operated within Lagos and Ogun States.
Parading Omuta and eight members of his gang, the Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude told Saturday Tribune that the suspects had operated at Amuloko, Ogbere, Olorunsogo and Oyo town, among other areas, before the last operation that nailed them.
He gave the names of other suspects as Waheed Rauf a.k.a Okere (23), Fatai Ojo a.k.a Alausa (21), Kazeem Adesina a.k.a Stubborn (24) who got blinded in his left eye during a previous robbery operation, Samuel Ayeni (29), Asimiyu Rilwan a.k.a Layemo (21) (gang’s armourer), Semiu Adewale (30) (supplier of information about victim), Rotimi Taiwo a.k.a Gbego (39) and Shina Aina a.k.a Ijebu (29).
Odude disclosed that the gang invaded the residence of one Chief Samuel Afolabi at Ilora town on May 27 and robbed him of cash and valuable property. Not only that, the gang also shot the night guard employed by the Chief, killing him.
He said that based on information received about the robbery operation, the SARS Command and his men went after the gang members’ hideouts in Ibadan, Oyo State; Ifo and Abeokuta in Ogun State where the suspects were picked up one after the other,
Exhibits recovered from them included three cut-to-size locally-made guns, 20 live cartridges and a Volkswagen Golf car with registration number LSR 185 BR.
In an interview with Saturday Tribune, Omuta and some of his gang members opened up on their past criminal exploits and what led to their arrest. Below are the excerpts:
Muideen Odufuwa a.k.a Omuta
I worked as a land grabber. I was previously working as a driver but I became a land grabber 12 years ago. I joined the armed robbery business when one Femi introduced me to Kazeem Adesina a.k.a Stubborn, who later introduced me to one Geleti.
I got to know the woman I kept guns with in Ibadan through her son-in-law known as Ewu. He has been arrested by the police in Lagos. It was the woman’s son who was bringing in the guns, and he sold to anybody who needed them. When I bought guns from him, he took me to his mother-in-law’s shop, and that was how I knew the woman.
I decided to be keeping the guns with her, and would call her whenever I needed them. There was even a time she brought the guns to me in Ifo, Ogun State, when I needed them for an operation. I gave her N5,000 anytime she brought the guns to me.
Because she was a tailor, and whenever I wanted her to bring the guns, I would tell her to bring the ankara, so that people would not suspect I was talking about guns. It was a code between us.
On Ilora robbery:
Semiu Adewale went to one Kola that he had a ‘job’. Three people had gone earlier, but could not accomplish the mission. That was how I was called by Kola to help them secure more hands for the operation. I invited some people from Ibadan and others from Isara-Remo, Ogun State.
We travelled down to Ilora by public transport. I didn’t go with any gun, because I had none at that time. The guns I had had been seized by the police when they arrested my armourer, but four members of the team were with guns. Samuel and Waheed were with guns, as well as Baba Sule and Kola, both of whom are still on the run.
We got to the targeted house at mid-night and I discovered that the fence was high, so I asked that a piece of plank be brought, which Semiu used to jump into the compound. After Semiu, Samuel and Waheed followed, I heard somebody shout, and I heard a gunshot. Our members opened the gate for the rest of us.
On getting in, we discovered that the owner of the house had opened the backdoor and escaped. We entered through that door and began searching the house. We found money and a double-barreled gun in the house. We didn’t count the money, so we don’t really know how much it was. Even after we left the house, we just started sharing it; we didn’t count the money. I got N157,000 from the operation. After the operation, we returned to Ibadan.
How I was arrested
I was familiar with a lady in my neighbourhood and I was arrested in her house at Canvas area, Ifo, Ogun State.
Semiu Adewale
I am from Oyo town. I first worked as a pick-pocket. I operated at bus-stops whenever people were struggling to board buses. However, I was arrested and warned. It was then that I went to Lagos to work as a bus conductor. After a while, I began to have problems with my eyes in Lagos, and I was brought to Ibadan to seek help.
The woman who took care of me stays around Amuloko area in Ibadan. After I became okay, I secured an apartment in Ibadan, and was living here. It was here that I met some of the boys, including Kazeem a.k.a Stubborn, who were always giving me money. One of them, Kola, was always taking boys to Oyo town to rob. He is from Oyo. I had known Kola when I was in Oyo, and we met again when I came to Ibadan.
We used to meet at joints where we smoke hemp here in Ibadan. One day, the guys asked me to give them a ‘network,’ that is, where we could go to rob. I told them about Chief Afolabi in Ilora. I once worked with the man; he has a poultry farm. So Kola organized the operation. I didn’t know Chief had money at home that day, but I know he is very rich, and that was why I said we should rob him.
I was persuaded to go and survey the area prior to the day of the robbery. In fact, Samuel gave me N3,000. We were three that went there, and when we got there, we realized that we needed more people for the operation.
Kola, who had lived in the area before, said the guards in the house were tough, so we needed more people for the operation. Kola then took it upon himself to arrange for extra hands for the operation, and that was how he brought in Omuta, who also recruited others, and we went for the operation the following day.
When we got to Oyo, we stayed at Eleekara, and when it was 11p.m., we moved to a cemetery close to the man’s house, and when it was 1:00a.m, we moved to the man’s house.
I got N72,000 as my share after the operation.
Samuel Ayeni (30):
I used to buy fake dollars at Oluwole area in Lagos. I was arrested in Akure, Ondo State in 2012 for spending fake dollars. I spent four years in Akure prison and was released in January 2017. I returned to Oluwole where someone I knew told me that those in the business of fake dollars had relocated to Mile 12. I went there and was introduced to a robbery gang. I joined Omuta and others for the Ilora robbery operation.
Waheed Rauf (23)
I was an NURTW member during Eleweomo’s tenure but after his death, I became a conductor. That was how I was introduced to Omuta by one guy called Obama.
How I got the gun I took for the operation
Me, a friend of mine, Abbey, and his friend, one Kazeem, were at a hemp joint planning an operation at Ikire, when police came to raid. While trying to escape, Abbey was shot, but he was pulled out of the area by Kazeem. Since I was with the gun we were to use for the Ikire robbery, I escaped with it.
Later, someone gave Obama my number, and we began communicating. He later introduced me to Omuta, who invited me for the Ilora operation.
My shooting the guard was not intentional. When we got there and heard the voice of the guard, I just shot at his direction. I didn’t even see him. I just wanted to scare him with the gun.
Kazeem Adesina a.k.a Stubborn
I got blinded when I was hit by a bullet in my left eye fired by our gang member during an operation at Amuloko area of Ibadan. Omuta and Geleti were part of the operation. While in Lagos, I had a friend, Banke, who was also a conductor. But he went fully into robbery in Ibadan. His area of specialization was transporting robbers to places of operation and returning to pick them.
When I first got to Ibadan, I was breaking into people’s homes to steal their valuables. I saw Banke at a hemp joint, but after buying drinks for me, he returned to Lagos. However, on the third day, he returned to Ibadan, saying a problem arose in Lagos involving the police, and that he would be in Ibadan for a while.
He was with Omuta, Baba Sule, Geleti and one Obodo. Geleti asked me for the area they could operate in, since I was into burglary, and I took them to Amuloko. We had operated in two houses, and while in the third one, we heard a guard coming towards us, but he didn’t see us. When he got to our side, we grabbed him, but he extricated himself from our grip. We started shouting ‘thief, thief’ to alert those inside the house. As they ran out, they thought we were guards, and Obodo just shot at us. The pellets hit me in the left eye; that was how I lost use of it. Others helped me out of the area.
When I got home, I told my people that some people were fighting and they broke some bottles and part of it went into my eye.
After that, we went to Olorunsogo area to operate again. We got about N45,000, and I got N15,000. After a while, Geleti called again, asking where we could operate, and I told him we should go to Airport area. We were seven who went for the operation, but it was only Geleti who was nabbed.
After that operation, I went to Iwo town to hide. However, before Geleti was apprehended, he had told me about the Ilora operation, so when Omuta called me that he was in Ibadan, I went to see him. I wanted to get some money from him because I felt he got enough from the Ilora operation. So when Omuta called me that he was in Ibadan, I just took a bus down to Ibadan, not knowing that he had been arrested by the police. That was how I was arrested.
Rotimi Taiwo a.k.a Gbego,
I was arrested by Ogun SARS operatives in 2011. After my arraignment, I was remanded in prison and only secured my freedom on May 6, before I was arrested again.
While I was in prison, my wife had to borrow money to secure my bail. When I returned, the person who loaned her the money was disturbing her, and that was the time Omuta asked me if I would follow them to an operation in Ilora, and I accepted.
Omuta asked me if I could find someone to join me, and I invited a friend, Shina Aina, a.k.a Ijebu
and then