SEGUN George, the notorious armed
robber who snatched N500,000 from the
driver of the wife of former governor of
Oyo State, Mrs Oluwakemi Alao-Akala
and killed him after trailing him from a
bank, made startling revelations after his
arrest on Tuesday, August 26, 2014, as he
confessed to have belonged to a cult
group while he was a student of The
Polytechnic, Ibadan, and started handling
guns as a cultist.
George also said he never believed that
he could be arrested as he was very
careful in evading the police, describing
the way he was arrested by Special Anti-
Robbery Squad (SARS), Ibadan, as a
dream that he would like to wake up
from. George was described as a
notorious armed robber who was using
motorcycle to terrorise Ibadan by moving
about the city to snatch vehicles and rob
bank customers.
In an operation that led to his eventual
arrest, George’s gang had trailed one Mr
Oshodi to his house on July 11, 2014 at
Challenge area of Ibadan and forcefully
robbed him of his Hyundai Elantra car
valued at N3.5 million, but two of the
armed robbers, David Ida and Fatai
Olowookere, were intercepted by
policemen from Kwara State Command
same day and were arrested with the car.
Crime Reports learnt that after the case
was transferred to Ibadan, detectives
from SARS, led by the Officer-in-Charge,
Superintendent of Police Michael Eneji,
acted on the confession of the arrested
duo and went after other members of the
gang. Their efforts paid off when they
went to Inalende and Opoyeosa areas of
Ibadan and arrested Kolawole Lasisi and
Sikiru Olayiwola were arrested on July 30.
Olayiwola led the police to George’s
house at Ile-Aperin, Aremo area, Ibadan
on August 7 but on sighting the police,
the notorious armed robber scaled a
fence, jumped on the roof of another
building and shot his way out. However,
other two suspects, namely Babatunde
Oyelakun and Adebayo Kehinde were
arrested while George’s armoury was
discovered. Two locally-made double-
barrel cut-to-size guns, three locally-
made single barrel cut-to size guns and
two rounds of live cartridges were
recovered from the gang leader’s house.
It was further gathered that after
George’s escape, he went to Ile-Ife in
Osun State but sneaked into Ibadan,
unknown to him that the SARS operatives
were still on his trail. He was eventually
arrested with another gang member,
Nurudeen Sodiq (22) on August 26 at
about 8.30 p.m. when he went to pick his
girlfriend from her shop at Aremo area of
the city.
Arresting George on that day was not an
easy task as he reportedly drew his
Beretta pistol tucked into his knickers and
engaged the SARS operatives in gun duel
when he sighted them, after they had laid
ambush for him for hours. But he and his
partner were halted in their tracks as hot
lead was pumped into their legs. Though
they were rushed to hospital to save their
lives, the two suspects later died as a
result of the injuries they sustained.
George was a man dreaded by his gang
members as they shiver at the mention of
his name, even in the cell at SARS unit.
But before his death, George opened up to
the police on the reason beside his choice
of profession, saying that he engaged in
crime because his parents were poor and
he saw people living ostentatious lives.
He confessed that one Abraham initiated
him into cultism at The Polytechnic,
Ibadan, from which he graduated into
armed robbery. He also said he had
gangs in Ile-Ife and Onitsha in Anambra
State.
When asked whether he depended on
charms to carry out successful robbery
operations, George was quoted to have
said: “It is not like that, you will not
understand,” adding that “I have now
asked God to forgive me. I will not ask
anyone to toe my path.”
www.tribune.com.ng/quicklinkss/features/item/15339-my-arrest-is-like-a-dream-says-armed-robber-who-killed-akala-s-driver