Suspect narrates how he created route to neigbour’s house day before robbery

A 21-one-year-old undergraduate of a university in Osun State, Rilwan Iyiola, said he created a route to the attic of his neigbhours’ apartment a day before he and his brother, Kazeem Iyiola, 19, robbed the victims.

Rilwan, a 200-level student of Political Science, said he was desperate to raise money so he could go to another institution because the course he was studying presently was allegedly forced on him.

The victims were identified as a couple, Oluwafemi Imafidon and Yetunde, who lived with the suspects on Oluwole Fagbote Street, Ota, Ogun State.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the brothers, who wore masks, stormed the couple’s apartment around 2am on Thursday, wielding cutlasses. They reportedly asked the victims to submit their laptops and other belongings.

Oluwafemi was said to have resisted the suspects’ request which resulted in a struggle between him and one of the brothers.

“I struggled with one and was able to push him to the wall, while the other cut me with a cutlass. Despite the blood coming out from my body, I kept struggling with him. I succeeded in removing the mask he used. That was when I realised he was my neigbour. He and his accomplice, who later turned to be his brother, eventually escaped. They came in through the attic of the store,” Oluwafemi, who is receiving treatment in a hospital in the area, told PUNCH Metro.

According to reports, it was gathered that the case was reported to the Divisional Police Officer, Onipanu Police Station, CSP Muyideen Obe, who led a team that arrested the suspects.

Rilwan said he took to the crime because he needed money to complete the processing of another admission to a university in Ekiti State.

He said, “Political Science is not the course I wanted. I told my father that I wanted to change my course of study, but he ignored me. I have been given admission in a university in Ekiti and I have started the processing. I need money to pay the acceptance and school fees.

“I came up with the idea of robbing the couple since the wife sells laptops. My initial plan was to stay in the attic till there was no one in the house, and then I would go down to steal their valuables. I created an entrance from our apartment to theirs a night before.”

Also, Kazeem, a National Diploma holder, said he bought into his brother’s idea because he needed a laptop.

He said, “I  needed a laptop and my brother suggested that we should rob our neighbours. Since I would be able to get a laptop for myself, I agreed to the deal.”

The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the suspects would be transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Eleweran, Abeokuta.

“The Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, has ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to SARS. He also assured residents of the state of adequate security before, during and after Yuletide,” Oyeyemi added.

[Afeez/Soyoye/Punch]