A masquerade that allegedly engaged policemen in gun duel during a robbery operation in Ado-Ekiti last Saturday has been arrested along with four others.
The Police Public Relations Officer )PPRO) for the Ekiti State Command, ASP Victor Babayemi, while briefing journalists yesterday afternoon, said the bearer of the masquerade had been identified as Sunday Osalusi.
Osalusi was paraded along with others arrested by the police.
Osalusi, a driver, was said to be an ex-convict who had been allegedly terrorizing the people of Ado-Ekiti for many years.
He had once been jailed for robbery.
The suspect, who was in his masquerade costume as at the time he was paraded at the police command headquarters with all the arms they used during the operation, was alleged to be fond of using his family masquerade attire to rob contrary to the traditional purpose it was meant for.
Masqueraders in Yorubaland are believed to be celestial beings who come into the world occasionally and expected to pray and entertain people who see them as ancestral spirits.
The leader of the gang, Odunayo Kolawole, 24, was shot dead during a robbery operation at Abebi Street, Stadium Area, Ado-Ekiti on September 1.
Other suspects are: Oluwatosin Adefemi, 23; Deji Owolabi, an 18-year-old vulcanizer; Ayodeji Obamoyegun, 28; and Peter Akinwale, an ex-convict.
Two other members of the gang, who were said to be on the run, are Danjuma Saheed and Oguntayo Saheed.
The PPRO said: "While the gang members were dispossessing their victims of their valuables, a policewoman sent a distress call to the police and men from nearby stations and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad descended on them. Kolawole, the leader of the gang, who was on the rooftop, keeping watch, was gunned down in a shoot-out and others were arrested."
Babayemi explained that the gang members inflicted machete cuts on some of their victims and attempted to rape some ladies among them.
Explaining his role in the robbery, Osalusi said it was his family tradition to allow the masquerade come out on specific occasions.
He added that he put on the garb to disguise himself during the operation and that it was his elder brother that was initially bearing the masquerade.
Items recovered from the gang members included two locally made single barrel guns, two locally made pistols, 10 live cartridges, five expended cartridges, three machetes, six handsets, masks, two wrist-watches and charms.
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