Members of the five-man armed robbery gang that raided the Jos, Plateau State home of Super Eagles midfielder, Ogenyi Onazi, where they attacked his aged father, Pa Wilson Onazi, and stole valuable properties including cash and a Toyota Highlander Sport Utility Vehicle, have confessed that they robbed the man because he and his son are very stingy and does not share in the goodies his son send to him.
The suspects who were arrested in Lagos State a few days after they committed the crime, while being paraded by the State Police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni, at the state command headquarters in Ikeja, said they wanted to use the proceeds from the robbery to enjoy the Eid-El-Kabir.
The suspects, Kingsley David, Ugochukwu Ebuka, Osita Ezeamu, Ali Audu and Joseph Ozo, were arrested at the hotel they lodged in the Ajangbadi area of the state while attempting to sell the SUV, by police detectives led by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), CSP Alim Musa, following a tip off by residents in the area.
While confessing to the crime, the suspects, some of whom were found out to be neighbours of the victim, said they had carried out the operation primarily because Onazi and his father made no move to help them in their quest to seek for greener pastures abroad after approaching them for help several times.
The leader of the, David, said the victim was their neighbour in Jos, adding that he was the one that brought up the idea before others bought into it.
“My team members are my neighbours and friends. We were just discussing when the idea came up. Contrary to what they said, we did not beat him up. We only used the knife to threaten him and take the car that we wanted to borrow for the Sallah break.
After the operation, we left Jos and came to Lagos to meet our contact person. We were on the way when somewhere in Ajangbadi, the police stopped us. The rest is history.”
Ozo, a graduate of the University of Jos and the gang’s driver, said the team called him because he is an expert in driving.
“I am a graduate but I was invited into this operation by Kingsley. I followed them for the operation but my job was to drive, which I did after I had collected the key.”
Ebuka, on his part, said although six of them planned the attack, only three of them participated in the operation.
“It took us one week to conclude plans on how to carry out the attack. It was Kingsley who brought the information about the house. On that fateful day, we arrived the house around 10:00a.m.
Joe knocked on the gate and a few minutes later, an elderly man emerged from inside the compound. He opened the gate. At first, we did not know that it was Onazi’s father.
Three of us tried to force our way into the compound but the man resisted. He appeared drunk that morning, so we overpowered him. We wrestled him to the ground.
We told him we were not going to harm him and that we only wanted his money. We discovered that the old man lived alone. There was no guard at the gate. No cook or wife, but just him alone in a big house.
Joe held a cutlass, but we did not use it on him. We asked for money but he said he had none. We searched the sitting room. Later, we went into his bedroom.
I think he gave us just N5,000 and his ATM card. We took a bag containing two pairs of canvas on our way out.
We collected the keys of the Toyota Highlander packed in front of the house and drove away. We threw the ATM card away because it was not functioning.
It was Kingsley who organised the operation, but he did not participate. Kingsley was angry with the old man because he felt that he was not assisting anybody. He lives alone and never bordered about any other person.
It was Kingsley, who also planned our movement to Lagos. He told us that he had contacted someone. When we left the place, we hid the car at Farin Gada area of Jos to allow the heat to die down. Three hours later, we headed towards Lagos.
We arrived Ajangbadi on Tuesday and we stayed in a hotel. We met Osita Ezeana at a drinking joint at Ajangbadi. We told him we had a car to sell. We had not agreed at a price when the police arrested us.”
CP Owoseni, while parading the suspects, said the criminals were probably heading to Seme border, Badagry, where they intended to sell the car, adding that they would soon be transferred to the Plateau State Command for further investigation and prosecution.
