The tale of how of a new generation
bank at Akowonjo, Lagos, was robbed last year won’t be complete without the
mention of Eboma Onyeka, a sergeant who was at the time of the incident
attached to the Mobile Police Unit 20, at Ikeja.
Onyeka had allegedly conspired with
four others, including an employee of the said bank and robbed the bank he was
to secure of about N10m in April 2011. A security guard attached to the
bank, Sunday Ogundipe, was strangled in the process. Two months after, Onyeka
was arrested, tried and dismissed from the force before he was arraigned with
his accomplices on armed robbery and murder charges in July 2011.
However, Onyeka is once again a guest
of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Lagos, months after securing his bail. He is
said to have allegedly been involved in a series of bank ATM robberies since
his bail from Kirikiri Prisons in December 2011.
But Onyeka strenuously denied his
involvement in any bank robbery attacks and he was quick to give a recap of his
activities since his bail from prison.
“After I got my bail, I left Lagos
for my village in Delta State. I stayed there for about two, three months
because I was ill and needed to recover. When I was fully recovered, l went to
Benin City and met a friend whom I pleaded with for assistance. My friend
gave me an Audi car to use as a taxi, so I could earn a living. I also
underwent a 10-week course in producing insecticides and fruit juices.
“Upon the completion of my course, I
returned to Lagos because I needed to start a business of my own. Since
there was no place for me to go, I called a friend of mine who is a serving
police inspector and he asked me to see him. My wife had returned to her family
with my children after I got into prison, so I had no home in Lagos. All this
happened in August 2012. It was the very day that I arrived Lagos that I was
arrested by SARS operatives. I still had my toiletries on me,” Onyeka said.
However, the Lagos State Police
Commissioner, Mr. Umar Manko, told CRIME
DIGEST that Onyeka
was arrested after the spate of bank ATM robberies in Lagos metropolis went up.
He said, “In the months following Onyeka’s bail from prison custody, we started
getting reports of bank ATM robberies nearly every weekend. Prior to his arrest
last year, there were only two gangs responsible for bank ATM robberies in
Lagos: Onyeka’s and another gang. As at the time he went to prison custody, the
ATM robberies had reduced to the barest minimum.
“So when reports of ATM robberies
began to come in, we decided to check with the prison to confirm if Onyeka was
still in their custody but he wasn’t. We began investigations and we were able
to obtain his number. Through his phone number, we were able to track his
movements until he got to Lagos and thereafter we rearrested him. His gang was
responsible for the recent robbery of a new generation bank where a police
corporal lost his life.
“At the time of his arrest, Onyeka
had in his possession a fake identity card which portrayed him as a serving
member of the Mobile Police Force. When SARS operatives stormed the hotel where
he was meeting with a friend, Onyeka had flashed his card to the team, not
knowing that he was the target of the raid.”
CRIME DIGEST investigations revealed that Onyeka was granted bail at an
Igbosere High Court 14 in December 2011 through a motion on bail application
notice. His lawyer, who identified himself as T.J. Ajapuno, said, “In law,
everyone is considered innocent until proven otherwise. Onyeka’s wife
came to see me, requesting my services so that her husband could get bail and
due process was followed. If Onyeka went ahead to start robbing again after his
bail was granted, that is his own cup of tea. His wife and his pastor had stood
for him as sureties.
“We served the police and the State
Criminal Investigative Department at Panti got a copy of the bail application.
The Directorate for Public Prosecution got a copy too. I wasn’t even aware that
the DPP’s advice was out; I don’t have the facts of the case and the DPP
doesn’t even have Onyeka’s file. It is not as if the case is over, the
substantive matter is before Justice Okunnu at the Ikeja High Court.”
Onyeka, however, told CRIME DIGEST that since his bail, he had had no
further court appearance. “Although I was in touch with my lawyer and one of
his subordinates, they told me that they would contact me if anything came up.”
Before his arrest in July 2011,
Onyeka had just completed a training course for inspectors and was awaiting
promotion to same rank. Published reports (not The PUNCH) said Onyeka was arrested in
his private Hummer Jeep on his way to keeping an appointment with other members
of his gang around 1.30 am on July 26, 2011.
Onyeka allegedly had in possession,
an AK 47 rifle and a big bag containing a face mask and other suspicious items.
Before his dismissal last year, the 41-year-old had served the Nigeria Police
Force for 19 years.