See This Graduate Dad’s Excuse For Taking to Armed Robbery

One of five Fulani men suspected to be members of a notorious kidnapping and armed robbery gang who rained terror on residents of Oke­ho and Iganna communities in Iwajowa Local Government Area of Oyo State and environs, has told police he joined the gang because his salary even as a graduate of mathematics was too meagre to take care of his two wives and children.

According to The Sun, the dad of three, Abdullahi Mo­hammed, 35, a Fulani from Kwara State, said after graduating from the university, he secured a teaching job which paid just N15,000 monthly and that was too meagre for him.

He said:

“Before I was arrested, I was a teacher and I quit my job because I wanted to join the Nigerian Army. I applied but I wasn’t admitted. I obtained an Ordinary National Diploma (OND) from Kwara State Poly­technic in Mathematics and Statistics in 2005 and I went further to obtain a BSc in Mathematics from Kwara State University and I graduated in 2009, before proceeding for National Youth Service. I started work­ing in 2011. I got a job at a private second­ary school in Okeho.

I taught Physics and Mathematics and I earned N15000 monthly. I was very popular among most residents of the area especially people of my tribe. I grew up in that area with my parents and siblings. I was also staying there with my wives and children. Though most of my friends who knew I was well educated, knew I wasn’t making enough money from my job.

Few years ago, two of them, Daman­ya and Abubakar, approached me with an idea, that since I was highly respected and well known in the community, that I could always make good money for myself, by giving them information about rich people residing in the community. I asked what they needed to do with such information, they said in most cases they will either rob or kidnap such persons. I told them that I can’t do such because my eyes are very bad, and I could barely see at night. Damanya told me that all they needed was for me to always look out for potential tar­gets and when it is identified, in the case of kidnapping I will be on ground to gather intelligence from relatives of the victims. In other cases, he said I will have to trail and give them information on persons they want to rob.

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We did a couple of jobs. I gave them information when they wanted to rob a cattle rearer after he has sold cattle. I informed them when the man came home and I followed him secretly until he mount­ed a motorcycle. I gave them that informa­tion, and by evening news went round that the man had been robbed and the money he made from the sale of his cattle was carted away. In that operation, I got N40,000 as my share of the loot.

There were several operations we did together and I usually get my share but last month they went and kidnapped on Alhaji Maikudi, who is a rich cattle rearer. It was his son, Hassan, who brought the job and I don’t know what his reason was. Hassan is also my friend, but he works with his fa­ther has a herdsman and they have several cows. He gave the information to Danma­yan and they kidnapped his father and took him into the bush and kept him there for one week before a N1.5million was paid as ransom before he was released. During the operation, I was in the community moni­toring what was happening. I was attending meetings and I took part in planning how we will go and look for Alhaji Maikudi. My father also took part in the search. He was also in the bush looking for Alhaji.

Some of my gang members were also with them and they were always relaying information to those keeping Alhaji. On my part, I was always giving them information about any plan that was to be carried out in the community. At the end, Hassan ensured that the sum of N1.5million was paid as ran­som after some of his father’s cattles were sold. He got N700,000 as his own share, while, I, Abubakar, Damanya and Saidu, got N200, 000 each. I had barely spent my own money when I was arrested by the po­lice. I was picked up in a bar, where I had gone to have some drinks…”