LAGOS AUGUST 17TH (URHOBOTODAY)-The suspected armed robbery kingpin said to have terrorised the South West for almost a decade and half, Abiodun Egunjobi, known by colleagues in crime as Godogodo, has disclosed how he lost one eye during a robbery operation at Ijoko area of Ogun State four years ago.
He topped the Lagos State Police Command’s list of most wanted criminals and was arrested by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad led by Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police (SP), in Ibadan, Oyo State, fortnight ago.
During an interview with Saturday Independent, he explained why it took security operatives so long to arrest him. He also revealed how he used to treat injuries he sustained during robberies without going to the hospitals.
The Ada-Atan, Ogun State-born Godogodo told Saturday Independent that : Bullet hit one of my eyes. It was at Ijoko, Ogun State, four years ago. I don’t know the particular area in Ijoko but it was about 8p.m. when we were operating in a residential area. We were six armed robbers. In that operation, we got money, phones and a laptop computer before O’dua Peoples Congress (OPC) vigilantes blocked us. It was during the shootout between my gang and the OPC men that I was injured,” he confessed.
He also revealed that he sustained another injury on his hand in another robbery in Victoria Garden City, Ajah, Lagos, where they killed five policemen.
Godogodo said that for security reasons, he did not treat the injuries in hospital. He also disclosed that he did not treat them in Nigeria but in neighbouring Republic of Benin.
“I treat my gunshot injuries in a village in Cotonou, Republic of Benin. One of my wives is from there but we are no longer together . I had three wives but two are no longer with me. I discovered that the two had a penchant for going out with other young men, so we separated. I had a child from each of the three women, but the estranged Benenoise wife did not know that I used to sneak into her village to treat gun shot injuries. Whenever I went there for treatment, I lodged in a hotel.”
He was surprised that he was caught in spite of all the precautionary measures he put in place to ensure he was not arrested. He said he denied himself pleasure to ensure that he was not caught.
“I do not smoke, I do not drink like other robbers, I do not live a flamboyant life like other, I do not wear expensive dresses and gold chains like others, even though the money was there. I do not use expensive cars like others and I do not go to parties and nightclubs. Whenever we go for operation and I had to go back to Ibadan in the middle of the night, I do not lodge in hotels but look for a busy motor park with my rickety but sound car, park, buy food and eat inside the car and even pretend as if the car is faulty. Sometimes, I open the burnet until the time I feel it is safe to move, then I will leave.”
All these, according to him, were to ensure that he was not caught by the security operatives. “I do go to church, my wives do take me to these modern churches, and I do not attend any church twice. Once I come, I donate to the church like buying musical instruments for them or providing any of their needs and leave. I would not come to the church again and this was to avoid being caught.
“ I do not treat gunshot wound at the hospital because as soon as you arrive, the doctors will commence treatment, put you on the bed, fix you on drip and give you the injection that would make you sleep, by the time you wake up, you discover yourself in handcuff and leg chains and police surrounding you. Then you are arrested.”
He advised criminals to have a rethink and change for good advising that no criminal would operate forever without being arrested.
He was sad that he was eventually arrested.
When asked if he has a message for his wife, children and members of his family, Godogodo said: “ Not only them, I am regretting my atrocities, I am pleading for mercy. I am asking Nigerians and God to forgive me for all the sins I have committed. I am pleading for mercy, if it is life jail, let them give me.”
Source: Daily Independent