The
notorious
robbery
kingpin,
Abiodun
Egunjobi
a.k.a.
Godogodo,
who was
arrested on August 1 with a great jubilation among
operatives of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS),
Ikeja, has said that he has given his life to God,
adding that he was grateful to his creator for
allowing his arrest, else he would have died in his
sins.
Godogodo, in a recent interview, also said he
believed that his life changed for negative as a
result of the spiritual manipulation of destiny
destroyers who might have seen that he was
destined for greatness in the future but decided to
thwart it.
He disclosed that he never had the intention of
killing policemen during his reign in the underworld
business, but shot at them to aid his escape.
Godogodo had become so popular within the SARS
premises that SARS officers and civilians around
started hailing him as ‘chairman’ as he descended
the stairs of the SARS building within Lagos State
Police Command for an interview with Crime
Reports.
As at the time of this interview, It was learnt that a
total of 27 AK 47 rifles belonging to policemen and
one pump action gun, with several AK 47
magazines and ammunition had been recovered
from him.
Godogodo spoke of how he started the journey into
big time armed robbery and delved into few of his
escapades:
The beginning
When I was working at Nigerian Bottling Company,
makers of Coca-Cola products, I was being called
Abbey Golden but when I became an armed robber,
my name changed to Godogodo because of my
height.
How I got boldness to rob
I don’t understand myself. I believe that I was
targetted spiritually for destruction. In 1995, all you
would hear about me was that I was thriving in the
sale of Cocacola products. From Iyana Ipaja to
Abule Egba in Lagos State, I was known as Abbey
Golden and my star was shining in the business.
Suddenly I stopped going to work and started going
to dumpsites to pick scrap plastic and metals. I
abandoned home and gathered disused tyres to
make a room for myself on the dumpsite. Early in
the day, I would wake and start picking scrap
aluminium with rented wheel truck. My mother was
still alive then and would be crying, wondering at
what was wrong with me. We were living at Oke
Odo at Abule-Egba area then.
I was introduced to robbery by people that I met at
the dumpsite at Katangwa. I thank God for the way I
was arrested by SARS operatives; otherwise, I
would not have known God and would have died in
my sins. I was just living my life as if being
propelled by unseen forces.
I never went to Oyo State to carry out bank robbery
operation. I was living in Ibadan before my arrest so
I didn’t operate there. When I went out to operate, I
always carried out my plans in a perfect manner so
that my operation would be successful. When I went
for bank robbery, I would have snatched vehicles to
be used the night before.
The only bank robbery I carried out was at Oro,
Kwara State, in 2012. We arrived at the bank at
about 4p.m. We used to call the person who gave
us the job Omo Olona. He is from the town but lived
in Ibadan. He had gone to do necessary
surveillance before we struck. He even asked me to
go with him but I refused to go. He showed us the
way we could take to get inside the town and
another way of escape after the operation. That was
why we did not pass through the major road till we
got to the bank.
When we got to the front of the two old generation
banks we targeted, we got down and started
shooting in all directions. One of us called Dynamite,
because of his role, also threw dynamite at the
bullet-proof doors of the banks. I stood outside
while the youths of the town started shouting that
we should give them part of the money, telling us
that they would not allow us to go away with the
entire cash.
Some of them were putting on charmed wears
though they could not move near us. They were
about eight poles away from us. They gathered logs
and used them to block the expressway so that we
would find it difficult to escape. I was angry and
wanted to shoot into their midst to disperse them so
that we could remove the logs but Dynamite said I
should not bother myself as we would not take that
route.
We operated simultaneously in the two banks. We
were about 11 people that went for the operation.
Actually, it was not my job, I was just invited
because they knew I was good at such operations.
After spending some minutes, we left the banks.
We moved through different routes to avoid the
police. In the process, the sump of Toyota Previa
we took for the operation broke and engine oil
poured out. We had to use the oil from the Toyota
Camry car we snatched in front of the bank. We did
this because all the arms and ammunition we took
for the robbery were in the Toyota Previa car.
We were in the bush through the night and it was
there we used phone torch lights to count the
money which was spread on the ground. At the end,
each gang member was given between N250,000
and N300,000, but to be sincere, we were all
stealing from the loot while we were counting. From
the stealing, I got about N900,000. I was given
N250,000 as my share making N1.15million
The weapons were brought by Paul and Onyisi’s
gang. They were the ones who got the job. I don’t
know their residences because we used to lie to
one another about where we were based.
How we robbed bullion van
I love moving close to the Igbo guys because they
usually brought targi (target). They were the ones
who told me that a particular bullion van used to
bring in cash from Cotonou in Republic of Benin, and
that they had monitored it about three times. We
went through Imasayi and Ilaro to Ibeshe. We
parked a Coaster bus brought by the Igbo guys
loaded with arms and ammunition. We were there
when the person monitoring the movement of the
bullion van called to tell us that it was moving close
to us.
We jumped into the vehicle and moved towards the
road the bullion van would pass. It was a rough road
and we blocked some spots along it with logs. As
we sighted the van and the escorts, we started
shooting. The policemen jumped into the bush,
leaving the bullion van and its occupants. Since it
was bullet-proof, we could not hit the occupants but
we shot at all the tyres, so that it was moving with
only the rims.
The driver kept moving without stopping but we
were at a hilly place so we were seeing him down
the slope. We divided ourselves into two: a group
faced the policemen that were in the bush because
they were trying to repel our gang members; the
other group entered the Coaster bus and went after
the bullion van.
By the time we got to it, the driver, an elderly man,
came out and raised his hands in submission. We
demanded for the key and he said he was not with
the key. We saw a policeman running in the bush.
He was carrying a white suitcase which he held to
his chest. We ran after him and shot at him, but he
did not stop. He would fall down and rise.
We were determined to get the money in the van so
we descended on the van with different cudgels
until we succeeded in opening it. The cash was in
bundles. We took the money while others even
carried bags of rice found in the van. We went
inside the bush and stayed there. Paul said he
would need to burn his Coaster bus and deduct the
money to buy another one from our loot. I don’t
know whether it was his charms that worked that
day because he alone took N25million, claiming that
he needed money for the guns and bullets.
I got N4.8million, including the one I stole while
others were given N1.5million each.
Why I killed policemen
I have no defence, I am just asking God for
forgiveness. I never left home with my gun with the
intention of killing policemen; my target was always
money. That was how I was investing in buildings
and businesses. I only shot at them to aid my own
escape and I cannot say precisely the number of
policemen that fell from my hands.
If we had two operational vehicles, I usually led so
that I could pass through police checkpoints fully
composed but some of the boys from other gangs
were uncontrollable, especially anyone of them
holding an AK 47 rifle. He would see himself as a
boss too. Many of the AK 47 rifles found with me
were the ones I collected from my boys. I might not
go to operate for three months while my boys would
be doing whatever they liked, but once I got to
them, they would surrender all the weapons they
got to me.
How I treated bullet wounds
I used to go to Cotonou to treat my bullet wounds. In
the country, they believe so much in money and
once I paid, I would be treated. The hospital I was
using was a big one. A pal of mine called Ayo linked
me with the hospital. Ayo also used to join us for
robbery and his link at the hospital was a buyer. His
name was Sunday.
Ayo was the one who used to take any vehicle we
used for operation to Cotonou for sale and he used
to hand it over to Sunday. Sunday used to converse
in French with the doctors. Even at that, I was
always very careful and as soon as I had been
treated, I would leave the hospital without
recuperating there.
Achievements in robbery
I have 11 plots of land that I used for fishery. I have
52 fish ponds on the land. I also built six houses in
Ilaro, Ogun State; Ikorodu in Lagos State and
Ibadan, Oyo State. I relocated to Ibadan when I was
being haunted by the SARS operatives. I built an
adjoining shop with my house in Ikorodu. I spent
N500,000 on it with the intention of making it a
boutique.
I went to Dubai to buy goods for the shop but on my
arrival, one of the boys living in the area hinted me
that one of the SARS operatives had been to the
area. Immediately, I heard that, I left the vicinity
though those who gave the information didn’t know
about me or what I was doing.
I have given my life to God. I have nothing to hide
again.
Source: Nigerian Tribune
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