25-year-old ex-convict, two others arrested for alleged theft in Ogun

Men of the Nigeria Hunters and Forest Security Service, NHFSS, Ogun State Command, has arrested a 25-year-old ex-convict, Yusuf Olabode and two others for alleged theft.

The Command’s deputy commander, Fafore Abiodun, in a press conference on Thursday, said the suspects, Yusuf Olabode, Idowu Abiola, and Olumide are members of a gang and were arrested at Brewery and Olomore areas of the state.

Abiodun noted that they specialize in vandalising government and private infrastructure, stealing, raping, and terrorising law-abiding residents of the state.

One of the suspects, Olabode, an ex-convict of Ibara Correctional Centre, Abeokuta, was arrested while vandalizing cable wire in one Celestial Church of Christ, Ita Oshin.

The suspect, who was sent to prison in 2020 for stealing borehole facilities in his community, now specialized in stealing bags, phones, cable wires and iron.

Olabode said “I was arrested while stealing wires from a Celestial Church of Christ at Ita Oshin. If I steal plenty I can sell it for ten to fifteen thousand naira. Since I came back from Ibara prison I have stolen more than four times.

“I went to prison in 2020 for stealing borehole. I spent 2 years and 8 months. I also steal people’s phones and bag but I’m not among those who rape, it is the other guys and our operation site is brewery but I have a knife which I use to scare victims.” (sic)

The deputy commander noted that the suspects who after attacking most of their victims, killed and threw them from the bridge into Ogun River, would be handed over to the police for further investigation and likely prosecution.

He called for the support of the state governor and relevant stakeholders and appealed to president Bola Tinubu to sign the hunter’s bill into law as the service will effectively flush out kidnappers in the forest.

Members of the House of Representatives had reintroduced the Nigeria Hunters and Forest Security Service (Establishment) Bill to address the security challenges in the country.

The Bill was passed in the preceding (9th) session of the National Assembly but was not assented to by the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari.