A suspect, Qudus Adegbite who was arrested with one other,
Nurudeen Ogunsesan, has been finding it difficult to give a convincing
explanation to the police in Ogun State Police Command on how he came about the
gun found on him about three weeks ago. The two men, who were suspected to be
hoodlums who were allegedly preparing for a deadly operation, were arrested on
June 5 at about 3p.m. by surveillance personnel attached to Area Command, Ota
along Ilepa area of Abeokuta expressway.
According the police commissioner in
Ogun State, Ikemefuna Okoye, during a press briefing held last Wednesday, the
personnel sighted five men in a kiosk drinking.
“On sighting the police, the men
attempted to escape but two of them, Qudus Adegbite and Nurudeen Ogunsesan,
were arrested.
“When they were searched, a bag
containing one locally-made single barrel pistol, chisel, assorted charms, one
Nokia handset and two unregistered motorcycles were recovered from them.”
Adegbite however denied being
an armed robber, saying that he was only working with land speculators. On how
he got the gun found in his bag, Adegbite said he collected it from an armed
robber, who he nabbed as an OPC member many years back.
Adegbite (38), who hails from Imeko
Afon, Ogun State and is married with four children, told Crime Reports: “I was
a mechanic before I started riding okada when things were not going on smoothly
for me. I got the gun that was seen with me from an armed robber about
six years ago when I was still a member of the Oodua People’s Congress.
“I used to take the gun to
sites whenever I followed land owners and land speculators. I went with one
Ahmed a.k.a. Aboki to site on the day I was arrested. The gun was in my bag
when a patrol team came and arrested me.” When asked why he did not hand the
gun over to police when he collected it from an armed robber, Adegbite said
“that was the mistake I made.”
He denied being hired by land
speculators to harass people contending with them over land issues. “I was
going with them because they were used to me. I used to take them to sites with
my okada,” he stated. Adegbite also said that he had been using the
charms found on him since his OPC days and they were for self-protection.
Ogunsesan from Osiele, Abeokuta also
said he joined land speculators when he had no one to help him. “I was
working for a traditional leader at Egusi. I have my personal motorcycle which
I bought . We used to follow those who purchased land from him to sites
whenever they were laying foundation so that no one would trouble them. I
don’t work with Ahmed (Aboki) but I knew him as a land speculator. He
came to me in front of an agent’s office and said we should go to a kiosk to
take some drinks.
“We were drinking when the police
came. Since I had nothing to be afraid of, I stayed back while Ahmed ran away.
I was arrested with Adegbite. To my surprise, when Adegbite’s bag was upturned,
a gun and charms were found. Qudus told the police that the gun belonged to
Ahmed and when asked to take them to Ahmed’s place, Adegbite said he didn’t
know. He later confessed that the gun belonged to him.”
The police commissioner however said
that the suspects would be charged to court after investigations
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