These were the lamentations of Joseph Michael, who was being held by the police for robbery. He was nabbed and taken to police headquarters after he attempted to rob a shop at the Ayobo area of Iyano-Ipaja, where traders sell handsets. He was said to have tried to rob with a Brownie pistol, loaded with four 6.5mm bullets.
Michael was said to have stolen his master’s (a soldier) pistol from a cupboard drawer, in his Abuja apartment. Michael ran to Lagos, after stealing the pistol.
In Lagos, he stormed a handsets shop, brandishing the pistol.
He, however, soon realised that the shop owners were men from hell, for rather than hand their goods over to him, one of them engaged him in the mother of all fight, while the other quickly called the police.
Michael, from Benin Republic, claimed that he had always been a good boy, until for reasons he could not fathom, he started turning bad.
He recollected that an Alfa, whom he did not know from Adam, once stopped him on the road, telling him that his destiny had been changed by his Uncle, who allegedly was jealous because Michael and his siblings were doing well in life, while the Uncle’s children were simply going from bad to worst in life.
As far as he is concerned, the plight of his life and his present abode in police custody, was the handiwork of his uncle’s spell having further effect.
Michael, 22, was arrested along with Taofeek Mufutao, 28, a commercial motorbike rider who allegedly brought Michael to the shop to steal.
Michael said: “I don’t even know what made me to commit this crime, but I can sense that it’s not an ordinary thing, because I can’t explain what pushed me to steal the gun from the home of the man I used to work for as a cook, and later used that gun to rob. I was told by an Alfa that it was one of my father’s elder brothers that is behind all the problems that had been happening to me and my other brothers.
“My uncle sensed that things are going better for us than his own children. To me, I think the man wants to destroy our future. You can see where I am now. I don’t know what I had done to deserve this from the man whose happiness seemed to be my destruction.”
Police spokesman, Frank Mba said the incident happened at about 7.30p.m., when Ujebi Okechukwu, the owner of the phone accessory shop sent a distressed call to Ayobo Police Station, that there was armed robbery attack in his shop.
According to Mba, immediately the police got the information, a team of policemen, led by the Divisional Police Officer [DPO], one Mr. Julius, quickly moved to the scene and arrested the suspect before he could escape.
Michael, who claimed to have worked with a Colonel’s wife, as a farm assistant, further buttressed his argument that his uncle was behind his travails, explained that he was doing well in his job as a farm assistant, when for no reason, he was accused of a crime he did not commit.
It was after the accusation that he left the work and traveled down to Abuja to seek for another employment.
He said: “After losing the farm job, I had nothing doing again. I told all my friends to inform me whenever they see any vacancy. One day, I received a called from my friend Femi who live in Abuja. He said there was a job in Abuja. I told him that I didn’t have transport money, and he sent me N4000. When I got to Abuja, where the bus stopped me, I called him to come and pick me up. The second day, he took me to the house of a soldier, to work as a cook.
“I discussed with the soldier and he promised to pay me N15, 000 as my basic salary. At the end of the first month, he did not pay me; but at the end of the second month, he paid me N20, 000 instead of N30, 000. I approached and told him that the people he asked to pay me only gave me N20, 000 and that it was not what we agreed on. He told me that was what he could afford.”
Michael was furious at what he perceived as cheating, but he had no other job to go to.
He continued his job until one of the soldier’s brothers told him that the man used to keep guns in the house. Michael said he never knew, especially since he was the person that used to clean the man’s room. But armed with this information, Michael searched his master’s room until he stumbled on two guns.
His words: “When he told me about the guns, I searched the house. I went to his room to search for it. At first l found one big gun under his bed; when I saw it, something told me in my mind that I should search further, then I saw a pistol inside one of the drawers of his cupboard!
“The moment I saw the gun, l could not take it because I was afraid. But after a week, l thought of how the soldier cheated me. I decided to take the pistol, just to punish him.”
After stealing the pistol, he ran to Lagos.
“When l got to Lagos, it was already late, so l could not go home. I tried to seek for assistance from a security guard that I met. He allowed me to pass a night in his post and the next day, I went to visit my cousin that accommodated me before l traveled to Abuja.”
Few hours later, he told his cousin that he was heading to Ayobo, to visit a friend named Wasiu. When he met with his friend, they went to a hotel and got drunk. After Wasiu saw Michael off to a certain point, he went back home.
Michael claimed that it was on his way home that he walked pass the handsets shop and recollected that he had once bought a Samsung handset there, which he had loved very much. Though the phone was gone, he thought he could buy a replica of it in the shop.
According to him, when he got into the shop and saw the various phones, devil started playing pranks with his mind, biding him to rob the shop since he had a pistol in his bag.
He said: “When I got into the shop, I asked one of the men if he didn’t remember me, that I had once bought phone from them. I said I wanted to buy Samsung phone. He said N7500. The devil told me to bring out the gun and rob them. As I brought out the gun, my hands were shaking. I ordered them to give me the phones, but one of them tackled me. I started struggling with him. My main aim was to escape. We struggled until we got to the show glass, I fell against it and it shattered. The noise alerted some Okada riders, who ran and held me. They started beating me. They even wanted to burn me alive, but God saved me! Somebody even poured something like petrol on my body, but God did not allow their match stick to light. A man came from nowhere and begged them not to kill me, but to hand me over to the police, which they did.”
The owner of the shop, Ukechukwu, said: “It was on Thursday, around 7p.m., when the suspect came and pointed at five pieces of phones. He said he wanted to buy them all. The fact that he said he wanted to buy five phones suddenly made me suspicious. Since I opened that shop, nobody had ever come to buy five phones at once. I called my younger brother to pack the phones for him, which was N37, 700 in all. He asked me to write out a receipt and put Johnson on the receipt, which was not his real name. When I put the phones and the receipt on the counter, I asked my brother to attend to him while I went to hide myself in a corner inside the shop and quietly called Ayobo Anti-robbery squad to come to our rescue.”
Mufutao, who claimed to be innocent of robbery charge slammed against him by some commercial bike riders in the area where Michael was arrested, was seen praying fervently to God to deliver him from police net because he had never seen Michael before in his life, let alone to be a partner in crime with him.
“I have never seen Michael before in my life!” cried Mufutao. “The incident happened as I was on my bike, going home. I saw people gathered, I tried to stop in order to know what was happening and I discovered they were beating a thief. While trying to start my bike, I saw some people suddenly surrounded me and started beating and shouting that I was a thief, that I brought armed robber to rob a shop where they sell handsets. I am not a robber! yes, I smoke Indian hemp, but I’m not a robber!”
Michael also denied knowing Mufutao. He said: “I have never seen this man before, and I have told police the same thing. This man did not take me to the shop on his motorbike, I went there alone as I was returning from my friend’s place. If I’m going to die for this crime, let me die alone. I don’t want innocent blood to be shed because of my family problems.”
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