‘I was arrested because my mother placed curse on me’

An armed robbery suspect, Usman Fashola, alias Awolowo, who was arrested by operatives of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Intelligence Response Team (IRT), has blamed his woes on a curse he believed his mother had placed on him. The Lagos police command described Fashola, who was arrested with three other members of his gang, as […]

An armed robbery suspect, Usman Fashola, alias Awolowo, who was arrested by operatives of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Intelligence Response Team (IRT), has blamed his woes on a curse he believed his mother had placed on him.

The Lagos police command described Fashola, who was arrested with three other members of his gang, as the most wanted armed robber in Lagos and some states in the South-west for quite a number of house-to-house and expressway robbery.

He was said to have been sent to prison but formed a formidable armed robbery gang there and became come vicious.

Fashola, speaking yesterday with journalists on the parade ground at the Command Headquarters, Ikeja, claimed he had given up crime and was about disposing of his weapons when he was arrested.

According to him, he had met with his mother and wife to confess his criminal activities, after which his mother placed a curse on him that he would be arrested if he dare embark on any further criminal activity.

“I was a notorious criminal; I won’t deny it. But I have repented. I have even robbed in front of the Alakara police station, Mushin, Lagos, where my boy shot someone. I am a strong man. I have been to prison three times. I was released from prison through the help of my aunt. After my last release from prison, my wife reported me to my mother.

“My mother was furious and held my neck and placed a curse on me that if I rob again, I would be arrested. And I said amen. To do away with the crime, I contacted a friend who promised to buy my gun. I was taking the gun to him when the police arrested me. I swear with my late father’s name that I have stopped robbery,” he said.

In a similar development, the IRT also arrested four armed robbery suspects in their hideout at Ayodogo Street, Ijoko road, Sango, Ogun State.

Edgal said the suspects confessed to robbing the residence of one Anthony Onyawune at the Lekki Garden estate while Onyawune had travelled to the South-east.

Allegedly recovered from the suspects were a Toyota Avalon car, an unregistered Subaru SUV and 10 different bank ATM credit cards.