God have mercy! Akazue
Nwakonuche, 26, alias Akachkwu, a Gospel singer, has been arrested by operatives
of the Special-Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos State Police Command,
for being part of a robbery gang that used to snatch tricycles and motorbikes
from their owners.
Also in their custody are Okeke Christian, 29, and Paul Igwe, 20. Igwe is alleged to be the
leader of the gang. The fourth member of the gang, Monday Nwankpa is still
at large.
A police source
said: “The issue of tricycle snatching came as a surprise to us because most
robbers go for cars. To remove tricycles from park without being caught is not
easy. When information came to the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kayode Aderanti,
that a gang of robbers were snatching tricycles, he reacted immediately. The
operation was led by officer in charge of SARS, Abba Kyari. The first two
suspects were arrested at Ikotun. They were Okeke and Igwe.”
Nwakonuche, who
said he sings both hip-hop and gospel, said: “I was the first person to be
arrested because I was not able to escape with my colleagues. I’m a musician. I
sing hip pop and gospel music. I want to wax one of my songs called, ‘How I
suffered’ before I realised that the world is a school and every experience a
teacher. I could not complete senior secondary three (SS3) because of my
financial problem. I’m the first son of my parent’s eight children.
“I later went to
do house-boy for my uncle, Mr. Nonso Nwankwo in Onitsha Head Bridge Market,
where he trades on building materials. I worked there for five years. When he
could not help me by the year 2010, I went to Lagos to live with another uncle
called Anayo who sells clothes in Ikotun. I have two brothers in Lagos. One
travelled to India and left his shop to me. It was my friend, Paul who got me
into robbery. Paul told me about snatching tricycles. The next day he came with
Nwankpa and asked me to join them. I joined.
“The next day
being Thursday, they called me to follow them to do the job which put me in
this trouble. Paul gave me a toy gun and was holding cutlass, while Okeke was
not holding anything. We went to Ikotun Roundabout and chartered a tricycle for N300 to take us to Austino hotel. As we
were approaching the hotel, Paul gave me a sign to bring out my gun. I pointed
the toy gun to the head of the rider. But when he realised that it was a toy
gun, he refused to comply. He jacked up his tricycle, fought me and ran to
alert people, shouting thieves! Thieves!
“As I tried to
escape, I fell down and they arrested me and handed me over to Ikotun Police
while others escaped. They later transferred me to SARS and used me to arrest
Okeke and later Paul, while Nwankpa is still at large.”
