…I posed as a visiting S/A musician- gang leader

By Evelyn Usman

He bowed his head in shame, unable to look into this reporter’s eyes when approached.   By the time he managed to lift up his head after much persuasion,   it revealed a tear- filled eyes.

•Other suspects (From right: Musa Akeem, Ikechukwu Collins, Uche okafor and Uche John

He quickly dabbed   the tears rolling down his cheeks   with his index fingers and in an emotional laden tone, he said, “ I wish to have a one-on-one session with my boss, at least, to apologize to him because he does not deserve this betrayal”.

McDonald Simeon,   is a graduate   of Computer Engineering   from   the   University of Lagos, UNILAG . After graduation in 2017, he took some   online courses   on Computer Soft Ware   development , hacking   and   E-commerce.

After much toiling for a job, he got a manageable one with one Mr Michael, who owns a studio in Lekki phase 1, Lagos, in 2017. All was going smoothly between him and his employer, until April 4, 2019, when the employee introduced some visitors to his boss as musicians from South Africa who turned out to be robbers!

Crime Guard gathered that the employer, his wife and eight-year-old daughter were   brutalized by the robbers, who   visited the studio   to   shoot a music video. They compelled him to transfer   over N300,000, at gun point. Thereafter, they made away with valuables which included some hard drives, a camera worth N800,000, laptops, jewelries   among others. As if that was not enough, the hoodlums were said to have striped the woman and taunted her while the operation lasted.

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I did it to raise money—Simeon

On why he masterminded the robbery,   Simeon, bowed his head again and   said, “I did it because I had plenty issues confronting me. Last year, I   raised some   money to travel out of the country but I was duped. I had to move out of my place and rented an apartment at a ghetto settlement in Jakande, Ajah, where I met   Akeem Musa,   one of my neighbors.

Knowing he was a street boy, I approached him and told him about my boss.   He said I shoud call him (his boss) and tell him that I was bringing some South African musicians to come and shoot a music video in his studio.

After fixing the appointment with my boss,   we went to his house on April 4, 2019. While others stayed outside, I called my boss on the phone to instruct the gate man to open the gate of the house. I then ushered the gang of nine in.   At that point,   I could not look into the face of my boss because I felt I had betrayed him. I also could not turn back the hand of the clock. I just watched as they went about the operation.   After the operation, we drove to Awoyaya, lodged in a hotel where we spent four hours to share the loot .

“Unfortunately, I did not get as much as I had anticipated. I got only N40,000 from the entire deal. During the operation, my boss was forced to transfer N350,000 into Godwin’s account. But he (Godwin) came back with only N100,000 saying that was what he found in his account. I got N9,000 from N100,000 that was shared among nine of us. I was given an apple laptop, as my loot for giving them the information which I   sold for N80,000. I got extra   N30,000 from the sale of other   equipment we made away with”

I acted as body guard —Ikechukwu

On his part,     Ikechukwu Collins, 21, from   Imo State, said the part he played in the robbery operation was to act as a body guard to the supposed South African musician, Musa Akeem. He further stated that he   stood   by the door of their victim’s wife, while one of their fleeing gang members whose identity he gave as Terry ‘G’ stayed with the woman inside the room.

He said, “This is my first time of joining the gang. I had approached Terry ‘G’ that I needed money and he asked me to accompany   him for a job. He gave me a gun and was also holding another gun.   At   the end of the deal, I got only N45,000″.

How we prepared for the operation —Musa

For 24-year-old Musa Akeem, who led the gang and also posed as the visiting South African musician, he said, “in order to make it look real, I had to work on this dread hair ( pointing to his head). The   night before we went for the   operation, nine of us met at   club 9, Alpha   Beach, between 11pm and 12 midnight   to finalise the   plan.   Thereafter, we moved to   Uche’s place at   Bale street, around Alpha beach, from where we   woke up next day   and headed straight for Lekki phase 1, in two cars.

•Suspect Macdonald

“  The guns we used for the operation   were kept   inside a   bag.   Before we alighted,   we shared   the guns among  three of us; myself, Terry ‘G’ and Godwin otherwise known as   ‘IG’. When we got inside, we saw the man . He greeted us and   said   he   would show us  round his studio so as to know the beat we would need . As he stood up, we pointed a gun at him and told him to kneel down. IG tied him and ordered him to transfer money into an account .

“But when we got to the   hotel   he, (IG) went to withdraw the money but said it was N100,000 the man transferred . Everybody started complaining because MC Donald told us we would   get up to N12 million there. We suspect he kept the rest to himself.     We had to sell other things we stole at the studio   and I got   N43,000 as my share”.

My regrets

At a point, the Kwara   state-born father of one, expressed regrets over his action. He said he was particularly moved by his seven year-old daughter’s tears when she came visiting , accompanied by his wife.  He said, “ My wife didn’t know I was a robber. I used to play football but it did not favour me. I went into sale of steel, yet it did not favour me.

Denial

Benjamin Okafor , 33 and Uche John, 25, however claimed they did not participate in the robbery operation. While Okafor, an Uber driver, said   he was hired to take the gang to its destination, John said his offence was that he organized the vehicles the gang used for the operation, insisting that they did not   know   the mission of the gang.

Okafor said , “ I am a taxi driver.   Uche called me to come and pick a musician to a studio . When I brought the car in the morning, I noticed they were not musicians but I   was scared to leave, in order not to be killed.   I waited     in the car while they went into the house and came out with some equiptment. Thereafter,   I took them to the hotel and   I was paid N5,000 at the end”.

Arrest

The suspects , were arrested   by operatives of the Special Anti robbery Squad, SARS while investigating a separate robbery   gang     involving Musa Akeem. He was arrested for allegedly snatching a vehicle from its owner around Ajah axis , three weeks ago. But during investigation, he opened up on other crimes he had been involved in, which included the operation at the studio where he posed as a South African musician.

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