by Adeola Balogun

The criminal mastermind said that he was able to evade capture many times because he never sought treatment for his injuries in Nigeria. Instead, he would go to either Cotonou or Togo, where no one would be looking for him.

The 36- year-old man who has been a thorn in the side of the police has been on a wanted list for the past 14 years.

According to reports, he evaded several attempts to get him arrested before he was finally picked up by operatives of Special Anti- Robbery Squad,  Lagos State Command. He is currently being detained at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) cell in Lagos.

When asked how he has for so long evaded the manhunt for him by the police, he said:

“You are asking how I survive police arrest, well; if you see one of my eyes; you will see clearly that it is bad. It was gunshot from the OPC (Oodua Peoples Congress) men in Ogun State but I survived it because I was very careful not to have gone to hospitals in Nigeria especially Lagos because experience has shown that doctors in Nigeria while treating bullet wound would inform the police and before you know it, you will be sleeping and when you wake up, you will see your hand handcuffed on the hospital bed.

“I think I have told you before that I don’t believe in juju so I was not patronizing traditional doctors because they make claims they cannot substantiate;  you don’t know who is who among them; so I was not risking my life patronizing them. What I was doing was to travel outside the country where the doctor will treat me and respect me.

Once the doctor asked how I got the wound; I would tell them that armed robbers did it in Nigeria, the doctors won’t ask for Police report; they would be running up and down to save life. Even when I had ordinary malaria or typhoid fever and I sent for drugs in the pharmacy and after two days I was not okay, I would go to a hospital in Cotonou where I would be treated without the doctor asking me useless question on how I sustained the already healed wound in my body”, he disclosed.

On how he got the idea of travelling overseas to treat his gunshot wounds, he says: “You see, I had this experience after the Ifo attack on us by the OPC, one of us though not my member;he joined us from another gang, he also sustained a gunshot wound and he foolishly went to a hospital in Lagos and it was in that hospital that the police came to arrest him. Even when you lodge in a hotel in Lagos; you have to be very very careful because the hotel management may call in the Police.

I don’t know how the police commissioner put fears into the minds of people that they give information any how to the police. In fact,  I see Lagosians as cowards and betrayers. That was my problem with O4 hotels in Ajah, the hotel management betrayed us by inviting the Police to raid us. The Police killed two of my trusted members.When I sit down and remember the incident, I would be asking where we had wronged the hotel where we were spending our hard earned money.”

He said he was able to deceive and escape the police at check points or on patrol because he was not using posh cars. “You know the mentality of Nigerians if they see you driving exotic cars your neighbours will start looking into your private life, so also the police. If the policeman sees you driving big cars, he will start asking too many questions and you don’t know where you will goof. That was why I was driving not too good looking cars and the strategy worked perfectly well for me”, he stated.

He further disclosed some of his survival strategies to include avoiding social gatherings. “Well I don’t drink, socialize or womanize. I don’t smoke or drink.  All these, if you avoid them, it will be difficult to expose yourself to danger. Moreso, none of my friends or relatives know my place. Not even my gang members knew that I live in Ibadan until I was arrested. My only mistake was bringing my in-laws close to me. My mother-in-law was used by the police to get me but I don’t blame her because the police brainwashed her”, he added.