22-yr-old exconvict, two others in police net over attempted robbery

For 22-year-old Torhile Philip, it may be a second journey to prison in less than four years. Phillip who was detained in 2011 for snatching a Hummer bus in Lagos and released after three years in June 2015 did not learn his lessons but returned back to his vomit barely seven months after his release. An indigene of Benue State, Phillip claimed he was diagnosed of diabetes and was asked to pay the sum of N17,500 before the commencement of treatment at a health centre at Oyingbo on Lagos Mainland.

“Well, since I was jobless, I had no means of raising the money, so I resorted to robbery as the way out.” “But luck however ran out on him and his accomplice, one Salifu Abbey when they tried to rob a taxi driver around Ijora area of Lagos. They were on the verge of perfecting their plan when men from the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) rounded them up. Upon a thorough search, police found a gun with them. Phillip who is the second of three children of his parents tells his story.

“I was detained in prison in 2011 for snatching a Hummer bus but was awaiting trial before I was freed after three years without trial; that was in June 2015. “While in prison, I wrote GCE which I passed and then enrolled for the National Open University Programme sponsored by some churches. I was in my second year when I was freed. “After my freedom, I had no one to go to and I could not return to my village to meet my aged mother who had not seen me for long.

I visited several churches in search of assistance but none of them gave me any hope so I went to stay with a friend pending when I can pick up the pieces of my life together. “Unfortunately I took ill. I had to go to a health centre at Ebute Meta. There the doctor diagnosed me of diabetes. He also prescribed some drugs and treatment and gave me a bill of N17,500. “I did not have such money so I went to my friend Salifu; he told me he did not have such money but that if I could give him the gun I had he could help me make some money.

So we strategised and chose to rob a taxi. Our intention was not to snatch the vehicle but to just get some physical cash and run. “We had stopped a taxi at Oyingbo heading to Ijora, but before we could carry out our plan, men of the Rapid Response Squad crossed us and that was how we were arrested.” Phillip explained how he came about the gun: “The gun is not mine; I actually picked the gun at a bush along railway line. I was walking pass through railway line at Oyingbo when I saw someone hiding something in a bag in the bush.

I stood somewhere and waited for him to leave, then I went to the place where he hid the bag and when I searched the content of the bag, I found a gun. “I just chose to keep the gun not for any criminal intention. I told my friends about it and when I needed money we chose to use it. It was not intentional; I just needed money to stabilise my health and move on with life. If I had found a helper I wouldn’t have ventured into such.” His accomplice, 23-year-old Salifu from Edo state, told a slightly different story: “It was Suliamon that introduced me to Philip. One day while I and Suliamon were taking a walk, we saw Philip. While they were discussing, he asked Philip of a gun in his possession belonging to a friend who has been arrested and in prison.

“Suliamon said he needed the gun. Philip told him the gun was still with him but had no bullet in it. He requested for the gun but Philip refused so Suliamon said he would use me to get the gun and sell it; that was on January 4th this New Year. “So one day while I was passing I met Philip along the road, he asked me to help him with N500 but I told him I did not have such amount.

He then started narrating his predicament. He told me he was just returning from the hospital where he did a test and was diagnosed of diabetes and that he needed money to pay for his treatment. “It was at this point that I suggested he gives the gun to Sunday to sell and fetch him some money. He agreed on the condition that I followed him to rob a taxi driver with the gun first before he hands it over to me to give to Suliamon who will sell it. Well, I agreed.

“He then went to his house, brought the gun and we went in search of a taxi. I even called Suliamon to inform him of the development. “We stopped a taxi and told the driver we were going to Ijora, he had given me the gun to hold because I was sitting at the back while he sat with the driver in front. “When we got to the National Theatre area, he stopped the driver and told him to collect money from me. “But for me to bring out the gun to threaten the driver, it became difficult since I had never done such before.

I then told the driver I had no money on me to pay that he should take us to Ijora, that my girlfriend was there who will give us money to pay him. “The driver was vexed and a serious argument ensued. While we were arguing with the driver, men of the Rapid Response Squad crossed the taxi. Immediately, I transferred the gun to Philip who hid it under the seat. The officers even thought we were smoking Indian hemp and they searched us for the substance and found none.

They then started searching the vehicle and found the gun. That was how we were arrested.” But the third of the culprits, 26-yearold Idris Suliamon, claimed he is innocent and had no hand in the operation. His story: “It was Salifu’s wife who came to inform me that her husband had not returned home since he left in the morning. I tried to call him but he did not pick his call. Later, he called me and told me he was outside my house. I went out to meet him but unfortunately, he was with the police and that was how I was arrested. “The truth is that I knew they were going to rob and also had a gun with them but I was never involved in the whole plan. I am a cobbler and not a thief.”