Juliana Francis
Enioluwa Adedayo was just 19-year-old when he took to stealing motorcycles in Oyo State. By the time he was 21, he had already made his first kill. He became dreaded and unstoppable.
Who or what do you think caused Adedayo to become a criminal? Who is to be blamed for his life of crime?
Today, he’s 23 years old and the police have described him as one of the most dreaded robbers in Oyo State. Police said Adedayo wouldn’t have been arrested if not that a bullet wound slowed him down, forcing him to seek healing in his girlfriend’s place.
Police alleged that the suspect was feared because of his penchant for killing victims who refused to cooperate with his gang during operations.
He started off as a motorcycle thief in 2016 and graduated into robbery in 2018. He told the Police that he has lost count of his robberies. Adedayo gave us an inkling into his life.
HOW I BECAME AN ARMED ROBBER
My father is a mechanic, working in Ibadan. He married three wives. I’m his first child. I left secondary school in 2013 and enrolled as an apprentice hairstylist. A year and six months into my training, my master asked me to go and raise money for my freedom. I took to commercial motorcycle riding to raise the money, but couldn’t. I then met Lekan aka Corporal, who introduced me to robbery. Lekan and I started stealing and selling motorcycles.
In 2018, I got information from Damola that a house owner around airport area, has money in his house. My men and I went to the house, but the owner of the house attacked me with an iron bar, leaving me bleeding. I asked my boys to hold the man to the ground and used a machete found in the man’s house to hack him to death. We were forced to abandon the operation because the man made too much noise. We left without getting the money we came looking for. The second person I killed was in March 2020. We attacked a woman, who runs a beer a beer parlor. We got to the place at about 11: pm. We were on ‘Stop and Search Operation’ when we saw the woman. She was about closing for the day. We entered her shop, pointed a gun at her and ordered everyone in the shop to lie on the floor. One of my boys, Tunde, grabbed the woman’s bag and when we were about leaving, she put off her shop light and doused our faces with drinks. She grabbed me and tried to prevent me from escaping. I got infuriated and shot her. She died on the spot.
We used to collect victims’ phones, Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cards and give them to our internet banking hackers. These hackers use the ATM and mobile phones to empty victims’ accounts. I make between N70, 000 and N80, 000 on every ‘Stop and Search Operation,’ but I spend all the money on women, clothes and hotels. I don’t have a house, reason I lodged in hotels. Hoteliers believe I’m a cyber-fraudster because of the way I threw money around.
There was a time we went to rob a man after we got information he had money in his house. We were six men that went for the operation, but we didn’t succeed. People heard us and chased after us. While running, I broke my leg and was caught and handed over to the police.
I spent a month in police detention and released when the pains from my leg worsen. The people that dragged me to police station stopped coming. I went home, where my colleagues, Corporal and others took care of me. Corporal and the rest of the gang continued to go for operations and would bring my own share to me. I rejoined the gang after I got well.
HIS ARREST
He was arrested by Operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT), headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari.
First Published 2020
