•••“Na long throat cause am”, laments suspect

By Albert Akpor

LIKE the three musketeers, Abbas Abdusalam, Chigozie and Muyiwa were friends of a kind.   At their FESTAC Town residence, Lagos,  the trio were inseparable even though they never lived together under the same roof.  They were of the same age bracket  The difference in race and religion notwithstanding, these three jolly good fellows did nearly everything in common and of course,  spent substantial part of everyday together.

The reason for this strong tie which later metamorphosed into an unholy union is not far fetched: They all came to Lagos having dropped out of school in search of greener pastures.  But whereas Abbas hail from the Kwara North of Ilorin, both Chigozie and Muyiwa come from the eastern and south western Nigeria respectively.  However,  like it is commonly said that the idle mind is the devils’s workshop, these three popular friends soon began to think and plan evil.  They thought of making quick money and the option of robbery came handy and was unanimously agreed upon.

However, to be able to rob successfully, they needed arms and ammunition and the question was how to acquire them.  This poser was promptly solved by Chigozie who took his friends somewhere in Awka, Anambra state where they bought two locally- made pistol and another locally- made single barrel gun.

Mr. Marvin Akpoyibo, Commissioner of Police, Lagos State

With this,  they reportedly terrorized Festac and environs for sometime during which they made huge sums of money.  Said Chigozie, “When we made about N700,000.00 from one single operation, we decided to stop robbery and start up joint business of selling used clothes.  We all agreed because since we started robbery, we were never caught by the police.  So, we traveled to Cotonou where we bought plenty of Okrika (used clothes) and shoes and started selling at Alaba International market, Ojo.  Meanwhile, we had buried our arms and ammunition by FESTAC third gate with a vow never to go back to robbery.”

But perhaps because of an inordinate ambition to make it big, Abbas defied their earlier resolution.  Though  he did not go into armed robbery,  he surreptitiously sneaked into his sister’s bedroom and made away with gold trinkets worth several thousands of naira.  His intention was to sell it at a popular joint in FESTAC without involving his friends.  Meanwhile detectives attached to FESTAC Division had been on the trail of these notorious gang.  At the joint, the Divisional Police Officer, Ndambabo Usman and a team of anti-robbery squad were there incognito.  Suddenly, Abbas walked in with a bag in his hand, sat down and ordered for a drink.  “From the way he entered and sat down to order for a drink, I knew he was not a good boy; so I secretly sent one of my detectives to get closer to him and inquire what he has in the bag.  And because my detective could speak Hausa language fluently, they entered into a conversation and Abbas became relaxed and opened up”, said the DPO.

Continuing, CSP Ndanbabo said, “At that juncture, I was to immediately play the role of an Alhaji who buys gold and other jewelries and my detective beckoned on me that his friend has some gold to sell and I showed interest.   Inside of me, I was convinced that he stole the items but I was prepared to play along and of course,  there was nothing to show that I was a police officer coupled with the fact that we were conversing in a common dialect.  Again, the give- away price at which he was offering me the trinkets further confirmed my curiosity.  Then just in a twinkle of an eye,  the expected happened.  At the point of making payment, one of my detectives came and rounded us up.  That was how we were arrested and taken to the station.  It was during intense interrogation that he confessed to the crime and, of course, mentioned how other of his gang members operated saying they were into armed robbery.  That again,  took us to the arrest of his two friends and where they buried their arms.  Later when they w

ere brought before me for final interrogation, Abbas could not believe that the same Alhaji who was arrested with him was the DPO he was facing; and he screamed Alhaji!”

In an apparent resignation, Abbas Abdusalam the Ilorin- born school dropout revealed that it was his earlier atrocities that made him commit larceny;  having long resolved to abstain from criminality.  “Oga na God catch me, he said.  Continuing, a sober- looking Abbas laments, “Na long throat cause me this.   We had resolved not to rob or steal again but I think our arrest was a way to make us pay for our wrong deeds.”