What One Of Nigeria’s Deadliest Robbers, Ishola Oyenusi Said 51 Years Ago

Ishola Oyenusi stands out as one of Nigeria’s deadliest armed robbers. In the interview earlier published in ThisDay, retired Police Inspector, Joseph Itoto Ogodo, who was among the crack team of Police detectives that arrested the notorious robbery kingpins of the ‘70s, in Lagos, speaks on how the gangster and their cohorts were arrested

From all indications you spent most of your career with the police in Lagos. Why?

This was because I was in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). At that time, Lagos was the capital of the Southern Protectorate before it became the capital of Nigeria in 1959. With this, there was an influx of people both young and old to Lagos. This large movement of people into the new capital triggered several criminal activities that needed police investigation, being the capital of a new nation.

This, of course, was not enough to have made the force keep you for such a long time in Lagos. There must be something unique. Can you tell us what it was?

I agree with you. There were several incidents of crime and criminality, but we had two major breakthroughs which may have necessitated my long stay in Lagos, though I also found myself in other states and cities outside Lagos, but only on criminal investigation. Because of the increasing cases of armed robbery and burglary, the then Commissioner of Police, Joseph Adeola constituted a Special Anti-Robbery Squad made up of a team of detectives headed by a Superintendent of Police who was popularly called the ‘Flying Policeman.’ He got the sobriquet because he was a good sprinter and athlete. So when you hear SARS, it is not new. It has been in existence. It was founded many years ago. So he formed the squad known as SARS to investigate the numerous cases of robbery in Lagos.

There was this very robbery incident where a young police constable who was just six months in the service was shot dead at Ikeja. It was in connection with a company called Wahum, owned by one of these Asian countries on Allen Avenue. The company went to seek police protection to help convey their staff’s monthly salary. So a constable was assigned to accompany the staffers to the bank to withdraw the cash. He then escorted them back. Coming back from the bank to the company, the security man was hesitant to open the gate for them to drive in. This angered the police constable on escort duty and he went to meet the gateman to ask him why he was causing delay to open the gate for the vehicle to drive in. At that point, armed robbers opened fire and killed him on the spot, while the remaining bank officials scampered for safety into the company premises. The robbers went straight to the vehicle, a Citroen, and fired at the booth, got it open and took the cash box containing £10,000 meant for workers salary and drove off in another waiting car.

The matter was reported to the police. We had what was called the Lion Building in Lagos, housing the control room. The control room then called the Robot Cars (cars fitted with communication gadgets to look out for the robbers. Prior to this robbery incident, there was a reported case of car snatching along Ikorodu Road. A young man was robbed of his car at gunpoint. Upon investigation, it was discovered that the snatched car was the same one used to get away by the robbers at the Wahum gate. While investigation was still on after some arrests were made, the police learnt the leader of the robbery gang was Ishola Oyenusi who had been on police wanted list.

It was at this time that the then CP constituted an X-squad from the SARS and made available a separate police station for them at Panti in Onikan area of Lagos. This time, all the policemen there were asked to go to other divisions for the X-squad to enable them handle all robbery cases without interference. So as a member of that squad, we were moved to Panti and began the investigation. We were a 10-member investigative team headed by one Superintendent of Police (SP) Oyebisi who hailed from Ibadan then the capital of Western State.

In the course of investigation, we knew that members of the robbery gang came from different parts of the country, which first made the investigation cumbersome. Some were from the West, some from the Midwest, while some were from the East. But we were determined to do our duty. In the robbery gang was an Ijebu boy who happened to be the driver in all their robbery operations. There was also a member of the gang called Diokpa who, as gathered, was their armourer and in whose house the proceeds of each robbery was shared. While carrying out further investigation, we got all the gang members and accomplices arrested, including the Administration Officer of Wahum company. All of them gave us useful information.

The only person at large was their leader Oyenusi. In fact, they were the ones who revealed to us that Oyenusi was their leader. We didn’t know him nor had any of us set eyes on him. We were also told that it would be difficult to arrest him because he was always armed to the teeth. That he had a lot of charms in his possession. However, through further inquiries, it was revealed that Oyenusi was from Araromi in Okitipupa, now in Ondo State. We then had to embark on a journey to his home town through Epe boatyard. On getting to Araromi, Okitipupa, we were told that yes Oyenusi was from there but that for years they had not set eyes on him because he left the town long ago. We were in the town for three days and there was no further clue as to how to get him.

Somehow, information filtered to us that he was seen somewhere in Ibadan. Our team quickly mobilised and moved to Ibadan and succeeded in getting him through a commercial sex worker he usually patronised.

Tell us, how Oyenusi was eventually arrested?

Unfortunately for him, he was not armed when we saw him in the street of Ibadan. When he saw us, he started running and that was when we suspected he was the target and we started pursuing him. While we were chasing him, our leader, who incidentally was a native of Ibadan, began to shout saying “Egbami’o” (save me) the man running has been killing my people. At that point, everyone around joined in the pursuit and he was eventually arrested. To ensure he does not escape, he was first handcuffed and then tied with a marine rope inside a Land Rover jeep and taken to Lagos. The arrest was made on May 7, 1971.

We then contacted the control room in Lagos that Oyenusi had been arrested. In turn, the control room notified the Commissioner of Police, Joseph Adeola that the dare devil Oyenusi was in the police net. While on our way back to Lagos we were in constant touch with Lagos until we arrived.

We learnt he made some comments when he got to the Lion Building. Can you recall what he said?

Yes! He told the CP, “your men have tried but they are lucky I was not armed by the time they tried arresting me, otherwise I would have killed them.” These were his exact words. He also disclosed that when we were going through Epe boatyard to Okitipupa to look for him, he was in the boat that left earlier. He said he suspected we were policemen and decided to disembark on the next boatyard station. He said he saw four men and suspected they were policemen, but could not open fire in such a crowded place. This was true because by the time we got to the Epe boatyard, the boat driver told us it was filled up and that we should wait for the next boat. That was when we missed him because he was in that boat. Again, we didn’t know him. But in the course of investigation when we met him he said he recognised us at the boatyard and so had to get off at the next boat station knowing fully well that we were on our way to his hometown, which was also his destination, to look for him.

Was the method of interrogation voluntary or forceful?

It was voluntary, because we adopted persuasive appeals to extract useful information from them and also assured them all will be fine if they cooperate with us. It was then Oyenusi confessed that he never knew we could arrest him and bring him to justice. So he then gave names of those who were involved in the Wahum robbery and the role played by each of them, as well as other robbery operations they carried out in the past. He disclosed that the gateman of the company was aware of the robbery operation through the Administrative Officer of the company and that was why he deliberately delayed opening the gate. He told us that they also took the rifle of the dead police constable. He took us to the place where they threw the rifle away. It was a Mark-4 and we recovered it. From then, we became friendly with them because we never exercised any form of brutality. At this stage, we had to call for all the files concerning all the robbery cases he mentioned to see if we could get more persons arrested.

Before the arrest and prosecution of Oyenusi and his gang, did any of your team of investigators know who they were?

No, until the Wahum incident. It was in the course of interrogation that all of them confessed the role they played. Even the gateman told us he was made to play the hesitant role so as to get the attention of the Constable to come down and ask questions, since he was the only one that was armed. Also, the Admin officer confessed how he got the security man involved so that the operation would be smooth.

How many of the convicts faced death sentence by fire squad?

They were eight in number. So at the end, a case of armed robbery, murder was established against the eight involved to face firing squad. Before the firing was carried out, the then Military Governor of Lagos State, Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson signed the Execution Warrant and they were tied to stakes and executed by firing squad.

What was the scenario like on that day of execution?

There was a mammoth crown from all parts of Lagos and beyond that came to watch the execution. There was a 16-man squad and a commanding officer. Two soldiers to each of the convicted robbers. After the firing, it was discovered that Oyenusi was still alive while others were dead. A medical doctor who went round to ensure they were dead was the one who informed that Oyenusi was still alive and the commanding officer asked all the 16 men to concentrate on Oyenusi until his head dropped and he was confirmed dead.