We met in prison, formed robbery gang, suspects reveal

Members of a robbery gang accused of terrorising motorists along the Ife–Ilesha Expressway have revealed how they met in prison and formed the gang that allegedly robbed a prominent monarch of his crown and other valuables. Three members of the gang were arrested. Two of them, 32-year-old Ejike Ani and Chubuzor Anasihwe, had served jail terms for different offences.

Ejike, an indigene of Ebonyi State, blamed his involvement in armed robbery on debt and poverty. The former clothes seller said he joined the gang to raise money to repay debts his mother incurred while he was in a correctional centre.

The suspects were arrested by operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Lagos State Police Command, who had been on their trail for months following a directive from the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu.

Ejike said: “I was arrested by the police for armed robbery. I used to sell clothes on Lagos Island. When things became difficult for me, I became a motor boy at Jibowu. I was introduced to armed robbery by Chinedu.”

The suspect said: “I met Chinedu at Kirikiri prison when I was serving my jail term. He is also from Ebonyi. He was the one giving me soap to bathe and wash my clothes. It was there that we became very close.”

Explaining why he was imprisoned, Ejike said: “I was arrested for illegal possession of firearms. The gun did not belong to me. There was a boy I knew on Lagos Island, where I sold clothes. His name is Ifeanyi. He also sold clothes on the Island.

“One day in 2021, he called me and said his elder brother, Onyeka, who was in prison, wanted him to deliver a message to someone in Ketu. I did not know they wanted to sell a gun. He just told me we would go and enjoy ourselves after delivering the message.

“On our way to Ketu, we ran into a police stop-and-search team around Ojota. My friend quickly threw the bag to the ground and ran away. I was arrested after the police discovered that the bag contained a gun. After some weeks in detention, I was charged to court and convicted.”

The suspect further narrated: “I used to beg Chinedu for food while we were in prison. He also gave me soap to wash my clothes. He is from Ebonyi. Chinedu left prison before me. I came out in January 2026. When I was released, I returned to the village to stay.

“Before I returned from prison, my mother had been ill and had lost her sight. My younger sister took her to the hospital, where doctors recommended eye surgery. They said it would cost about 800,000. My mother also owed money borrowed to pay a lawyer to represent me in court. I became frustrated. There was nobody to help my mother and me.”

He continued: “When Chinedu was leaving prison, he left a phone number for me to contact him whenever I was released. I called him and told him I was in the village. He asked me to come to Lagos. When I arrived, he took me to Obinna. They told me they wanted to go somewhere to look for money. Obinna lived in Ketu. Chinedu picked me up at Iddo. We slept at a smoking joint in the Iddo area of Lagos. I was there for three days. Obinna also came to Iddo.”

Ejike said: “Six of us went to Iddo Bridge. Those involved included Obata, Chinedu, Obinna, Izona and me. I had no option. Our first operation was unsuccessful. Many vehicles stopped before reaching where we had positioned ourselves. They had already been warned that armed robbers were operating on the road.”

He, however, claimed: “We did not use a gun or any other weapon for our operations. We improvised a gun with a stick. We wrapped the stick with adhesive tape to make it look like a gun. We operated at night. After the first failed operation, we begged for transport fares to return to Lagos.”

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He added: “After about a week, we returned. There were six of us: Chinedu, Chubuzor Anasihwe, Obata, Osogwu, Obinna and me. The first time, we arrived at night. The second time, we got there around 8 o’clock. Along the road, we saw a broken-down vehicle. Another motorist and a mechanic were assisting the occupants. We robbed them of a Toyota Corolla, phones and the little money they had. We brought the vehicle to Lagos.”

“When I discovered that Chubuzor had been arrested, I fled to Ebonyi. I returned to Lagos after three weeks and went to Obinna. Four of us went on another operation. We used fireworks to imitate gunfire. There was heavy rainfall, and we saw a broken-down bus. We snatched it. On our way, we saw a man. We did not know he was a king. His vehicle had also broken down.

“The monarch and his driver escaped. We took everything in the vehicle. I only heard that he had N850,000 inside the car when the police arrested me. They dropped us at Bariga, and I went to Iddo. When I called them, they lied that there was no money in the bag. They sent me N10,000 twice as my share of the proceeds.”

The second suspect, Chubuzor, also admitted accompanying the gang on one of its operations. He, however, denied participating in the robbery of the monarch.

Chubuzor, a former clothes seller, said he was sentenced to prison following a fight with some of his passengers. He said: “I spent three years in prison, between 2023 and 2026. I met Odogwu while serving my jail term.

“I left Lagos Island when the clothes business could no longer meet my needs. I became a commercial motorcyclist. One day, I had a quarrel with two passengers, and one of them fell into a coma.”

The 31-year-old suspect said: “I met Ejike in prison, and we became friends. After leaving prison, I was at a drinking joint in Ijora one day when I heard somebody call my name. When I looked back, it was Ejike. We spoke and exchanged phone numbers. We met again in Ijora, and that was how we went on the first operation. I did not accompany them on the second operation because the police had already arrested me.”

Speaking on the arrests, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Tijani, said operatives of the command’s Anti-Kidnapping Unit arrested the suspects at two locations in the state.

“Preliminary investigations linked the suspects to alleged robbery operations on August 20 and September 20, 2026, along the Ife–Ilesha Expressway in Osun State, during which about five vehicles were reportedly snatched and valuables estimated at approximately 50 million were stolen,” he said.

Tijani said the arrests were in line with the directive of the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, to all police formations and commands to intensify operations against criminal elements across the country.