Clement’s gang was recently rounded up in Lagos. The state’s Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, told Saturday Sun that his men arrested the suspects when one of their girlfriends led policemen to their hideout.
In the raid, several guns were recovered from the robbers, including a bus, an AK 47 rifle and a pistol earlier snatched from policemen.
Revealing how he became an armed robber, Clement said: “About five years ago, I wasn’t a robber. I worked as a furniture maker at Agbedo. That was before I met Sule Fatai. After awhile, we became friends. One day, he brought a commercial bus to me and asked me to keep it. He said he would come occasionally for it whenever he had need for it.
“While it was in my care, I made use of the bus for transportation and whenever Fatai asked for it, I would release it. He never told me what he used the vehicle for on those occasions. Then, one day, I searched it and discovered some guns hidden under the back seat.”
From that discovery, Clement became the official armourer of the 12-man gang. The bus became an easy means of transporting the weapons to the scene of any operation without drawing the suspicion of law enforcement agents.
Clement revealed that when members of their gang were arrested, lawyers would help them regain freedom. He cited the case of one of their members, Sule, who was arrested sometime ago but regained freedom through bail application. He said that Sule spent six months in Kirikiri, before being freed, after which he organized a robbery attack at Oshodi, where he was killed.
“While he was in prison, he also coordinated some of the robbery attacks, as his own share was always kept,” he revealed.
On how Sule managed to secure his release, from custody, Clement said: “Normally, we have seasoned lawyers on our payroll. Once you are lucky to be arrested alive, all you need to do is to insist that you be charged to court. From Kirikiri, our lawyers would apply for bail, with the excuse that we were arrested during a police raid. As I said, those lawyers are professionals; so they can easily persuade the judge to grant bail. Suleiman paid N700, 000 to the lawyer who secured his bail, while Fatai, now dead, paid N1.2 million to secure his release. Most of the top members in the gang have pending cases in different courts in Lagos.”
Clement further revealed the several operations his gang carried out. “We were responsible for the Oshodi, incident that led to the death of a pregnant woman and two policemen. It was our gang that robbed the recharge card distributor on Allen Avenue, Lagos, the Thermocool office at Oshodi and a big department store at Igando,” he said.
Commenting on the suspect’s revelation on how armed robbers regain freedom, a police source said: “More often than not, the police prosecutor is never aware of the application for bail. We are never served. The suspect’s counsel will go to court to say what he likes and the state is never represented. Definitely, if the police are notified of such applications, we would make our case before the court on why such suspects shouldn’t be released on bail because they would go straight back to crime.
“You can imagine when we heard that the criminals we had laboured hard to arrest are back in the streets, more daring. Usually, once these suspects get out, it is difficult to get them back. They would go underground.”
He revealed that one notorious armed robber, Muyiwa, aka Big 90, was arrested by SARS in 2011 and charged to court for armed robbery, murder, theft and illegal possession of firearms. He was remanded at the Kirikiri Prisons, while the prosecution awaited the DPP’s advice.
He said: “We eventually learnt Big 90 had been released on bail by a high court. We were never served concerning the bail processes and since then, Big 90 has remained elusive.
“There was the case of Segun, aka Shaggy, who was arrested by the SARS for an alleged armed robbery attack and murder and subsequently charged for both offences. Okpere is a free citizen today. Also, one Niyi, who was arrested and charged for alleged criminal offences, is currently a unit chairman under the National Union of Road Transport Worker. He was released by the court behind the back of the police.”
The source said that none of the suspects ever went on trial, after they were granted bail.
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