The Ogun State Police Command has arrested one Fatai Balogun, a 29-year-old barber and his friend, Tayo Olowu, in Ijebu-Ode for allegedly robbing three houses in the town two weeks ago. Balogun, a one-eyed barber, who claimed to have dropped out from the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, as a 300-level accounting student because of lack of funds, was arrested with his accomplice on their way to Lagos after having successfully robbed their victims earlier in the day.
The two were arrested with a gun, which had been dismantled and concealed in a bag; cell phones; jewellery; and an undisclosed amount of money, believed to have been stolen.
Balogun and Olowu, who are now being detained at the state police command headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta, were said to have robbed three houses in Ijebu-Ode. The victims reported the incident to the police the same day.
The suspects were however, arrested when they attempted to flee the town with their loot in the evening of the same day as they were apprehended on Ijebu-Ode Road after they had boarded a vehicle to Lagos.
Balogun claimed to be an accounting student of OOU, but dropped out of the institution when he was at 300 Level in 2005 as, according to him, his parents could no longer support him.
He said, “I was attacked during the 2005 crisis between OOU students and Ago-Iwoye indigenes. The indigenes that killed my friends removed one of my eyes and inflicted machete cuts on my face. After spending so much money on my treatment, I couldn’t go back to school and that was why I decided to learn barbing.”
The suspect claimed to be working as a stylist with a salon in Ogba, Lagos, but was sacked as a result of customers‘ complaints about his bad eye.
“Whenever I was barbing, hair was always entering my bad eye and I used my hand to remove it or blow it away, but this is always offensive to the customers. So they always complained and that was why the owner of the place sent me away,” he said.
Interestingly, Balogun is from Agbole Olowu, Ijebu-Igbo, and lived with his parents in the town when the students/indigenes crisis erupted. He could not explain his claim that he was maimed during the clash by his own people.
Claiming that the robbery for which he would soon face prosecution was his first, the suspect attributed his entry into crime to frustration. He said he was able to get the gun that was used for the operation from a man he met at a pub in Ijebu-Igbo for N7,000.
Olowu, a resident of 5, Roundabout Karaka Street, Badagry, said he met Balogun at a local pub this year on February 14 when he was in Ijebu-Igbo to see his girlfriend during the Valentine’s Day.
He said, “I came to see my girlfriend in Ijebu-Igbo on Valentine’s Day. He requested a drink and I bought it for him. We got talking and he told me he was a student in Osu (OOU). He asked for my telephone number and I gave him, but I didn’t see him again before I went back to Badagry.
“He called me last week that I should come that he wanted to show me something; I thought it was a business deal. When I got to Ijebu Igbo, he took me somewhere and showed me the weapon (gun). He said we should go and ‘hustle’ that he was very ‘broke’ and I agreed because I was ‘broke’ too.”
The Police Public Relations Officer of the state police command, Mr. Olumuyiwa Adejobi, confirmed the arrest of the suspects.
Adejobi, an Assistant Superintendent Police, said the suspects were arrested by policemen from the Igbeba Divisional Police headquarters, Ijebu-Ode, adding that the suspects would soon appear in court.
Source:punchng.com
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