We don’t rob on Fridays and Ramadan - Notorious Ibadan Robbers who disguise as women(Photo)

An unsuspecting womanizer would easily fall
into their traps seeing their feminine faces
made-up with cosmetics, with weave-on hairdo
that dangles on both sides of their broad
shoulders.
Their coated lips look inviting. No doubt,
countless men must have fallen prey to them.
Though, their chests were flat which should
convince doubting Thomases that the suspects
were not women, some still insisted on seeing
their private parts due to their looks.
But, behind these deceptive looks are more than
meets the ordinary eye. The hearts of both
Omooba Oyewole and Lawal Kabir are fortified
with cold steel. They are suspected dare-devil
robbers. If they have conscience, it must be
made of solid concrete.
One of the suspects, Lawal Kabir whose eyelids
blink momentarily like
a doll in the old Kingsway Store claims to be a
devout Muslim and
considers only Fridays and the Ramadan period
as sacred days in the
whole year when he thinks he should not
engage in armed robbery.
These days, especially Fridays, he said, he
would go to the mosque to pray to God to
forgive all his criminal tendencies only to
continue his devilish acts thereafter. In fact, the
suspect said he was arrested on Friday after
observing the Jumat prayers.
Given their looks, one needed no soothsayer to
discern that the suspects had carried out
numerous deadly attacks on their victims even
though they admitted to have participated in no
fewer than four successful robbery operations.
According to them, they had made people cry in
places like Osun, Sawmill, Iyana-Agbala and
other places when they unleashed terror on
them. Knowing their days of reckoning had
finally come, the eight-man gang confessed
some of the crimes they had committed to
Crime Alert.
Ayodele Olaitan, who wore a mask, one of the
tools they use in their nefarious activities shook
his head in regret and told Vanguard “It was my
friends that pushed me into this. I joined the
gang sometime ago and I have participated in
at least three robbery operations.I am not the
owner of the mask you see on me. It belongs to
one of us called pastor. He is dead now. I regret
all my actions. I didn’t realize we could be
caught. But, now the game is up, “ he said as
he burst into tears.
Like other criminals, Lawal Kabir said he was
pushed into the criminal world as a result of an
unsuccessful business venture.
“I took to robbery when my plumbing work was
not booming.Three years after my freedom as
an apprentice, I tried all I could to make both
ends meet, but things did not work for me. I
first stayed in Lagos before I later came to
Ibadan where I was introduced to a gang of
armed robbers. I have participated in four armed
robbery attacks.I went with them to Osun State,
Ibadan, Sawmill and Iyana -Agbala. I was
arrested on Friday after I finished praying in the
mosque. Somebody we call a pastor,also a
member of the gang called me without knowing
the police had already arrested him.
I don’t rob on Fridays and during Ramadan. I
used those periods to pray to God to forgive me
my sins. I know what I was doing was wrong
but it was difficult for me to break away from
it.” Another member of the gang, Biola Alaba
who wore a weave-on hairdo said they were
eight in number and that they were arrested at
a drinking joint while preparing to carry out a
robbery operation at Bodija area of the city. He
denied ever killing any of their victims.
“How can I commit two sins at the same time. I
cannot rob and kill at the same time. It is unfair
to rob someone of his belongings and kill him.
We don’t even rape our victims, “
As for Sunday Omooba from Ogbomoso who
says he is a member of the Oodua Peoples
Congress, OPC, he narrated how he took charge
of the armoury for the gang “I helped them get
bullets through one man. I just call the man any
time I need bullets for the gang.I don’t rob with
them. In fact, I did not know that they were
using the bullets to rob. I also supplied that
pump action gun to them. I bought the gun for
N70,000 from a friend. If I knew that they would
use the weapons for robbery, I would not give
them.”
The Investigating Police Officer in charge of the
case alleged that Omooba supplied the pump
action gun and killed the owner of the gun so
that he could get the gun from him and did not
give the money he promised to give him.