Shina Rambo: Lagos terror kingpin who specialised in car-snatching
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By Our Reporter on June 8, 2014 Saturday People
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In terms of crime and criminality, the name Shina Rambo rings a bell. He was the kingpin of a notorious armed robbery syndicate that specialized in car snatching in Lagos in the early 1990s. Vicious and invincible, he could snatch as many as 50 cars in an operation. In the end, when the long arms of the law caught up with him, he turned his Shina blamed his parents for their alleged neglect. Hear his self confession: “Lackadaisical attitude of my parents in taking adequate care of my needs when l was growing up forced me into crime.

My father was a military man who married virtually everywhere he was posted to in his career. This gave him the opportunity to have many wives. One of the early memories l will never forget in my life was how he cut me with a cutlass. The moment a child lacks parental care, love and attention, such a child is being prepared for crime. In my own case, it was a combination of many factors. Lack of family care and the loss I recorded in my business when my goods were confiscated are part of the reasons that led me into crime.”

His mystical power

Rambo shared some common characteristics with the likes of Anini, another infamous armed robber who shook the country and took security operatives to task for years while he unleashed terror on innocent citizens. By horrible coincidence, they both hailed from Edo State. Although Rambo later claimed paternal links to Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, he grew up in Sanbongida-Ora in Edo State, his mother’s place of birth. He also confessed that they both caught their teeth under the same master. “When we were in Edo, we had our godfather who was always there for us anytime we went on operation. We sprung up from one source,” he said.

Knowing the danger of the delicate trade he had ventured into, the first thing Rambo did before he took a bold plunge into the world of crime was to fortify himself spiritually with the necessary charms. Giving a startling revelation of how he held down the country, he said: “I got power from the world of the devil, and l followed it to a logical conclusion. In the world of devil, the police or other security agents have nothing to do with us. There are certain things which an armed robber should have. The first is what you call Afoola.

We used many human beings to do this native medicine, including a foetus in his mother’s womb. The second is Ikiya (boldness). This will give you the audacity and effrontery to do anything at any time no matter how dangerous the venture is. The third one is that anybody who wants to venture into high level robbery must be ready to squeeze water from his eyes and use it for a powerful medicine so that nothing will make him cry no matter how devastating or big a calamity may be. I acquired my power from the various demons. I went as far as Ogoja to seek water power. All leaders of the world who are actually looking for power used to go inside water to ask for power.”

With all these combined, he said, he was able to overcome fears and assume different shapes and sizes depending on the changing circumstances. “I have magical power that allows me to look differently in eight places. The nine herbalists that did these for me were killed so that they won’t be alive to reveal the secret behind the power to any mortal. I was also at a place called Fiditi in Oyo State. Lawyers do go there too to look for power.

Beyond that, I joined the most powerful cults to get power. In the process of initiation, l was buried alive for seven days in the burial ground and my soul was kept in a small coffin. After the seventh day, l became powerful and more dangerous. Nobody could handle me. There was a time l was taken to a burial place with 15 human heads to consult with the spirit. Thereafter, I became so fortified that no bullet could enter my body. When I receive bullet, it will just be like pure water,” Rambo further revealed.

How he terrorized Lagos

The fear of Shina Rambo was the beginning of wisdom. Unlike most robbers, the notorious Rambo gang operated in the broad daylight without any fear or apprehension. The more the police tried to track down the syndicate, the more elusive it became. Because of its vicious nature, it could snatch up to 50 cars in a single operation. And most of these were taken across the border to Benin Republic for easy disposal. He attributed his bold disposition to his superior five power as well as a rich deposit of magical power in himself.

“I carried out my operation in the daytime because I knew that nobody dared challenge me. Even my wife never knew that I was an armed robber because we were always together throughout the night and I never for once left her side. The kind of weapon I used could be likened to the one used by Sylvester Stallone in the film, ‘First Blood’. This gun is capable of firing many rounds of bullets at a time. Besides, “I used three different masks to disguise and deceive security agencies. Some time, I looked like an albino and at some other time I appeared in two colours,” he said.

In a rare display of guts, Rambo was said to have taken a convoy of stolen vehicles from Nigeria to the Republic of Benin unchallenged by men of the Nigeria Police Force because of the superior arms and ammunition he had in his possession.
Another armed robbery kingpin of his era, Olusegun Kokumo Adaralese Raji known as Okuta, who also terrorized the country for about 20 years, gave a more vivid account of how he met Rambo at Cotonou in the course of their car snatching business and how the deal went.

“There was a man in the Benin Republic called Jibiti. He was a dealer in stolen cars. It was there we started fraternizing as we constantly met whenever we came to dispose of the vehicles we snatched. People called the man Jibiti because of ridiculous amount he always offered for stolen vehicles. When you take stolen cars to him to buy, he would inspect them one after the other.

Most times, he would tap their bodies and then insist that they were accident cars and then offer a ridiculously low amount for the merchandise. He could offer N100, 000 for a car of about N2 million. Even at that, he wouldn’t pay at once. He might give N30,000 and ask you to come back for it later.

In most cases, that is the end. It became so bad that all the gangs in Lagos started going for cash. That was why car snatching was not all that rampart around 1992 up till 1995. There were only seven gangs operating in the whole of Lagos then. I mean serious armed robbers and we knew one another. Shina Rambo was one of us,” he explained.

His arrest and born-again toga

Rambo took the police to task for years before he was eventually nabbed. Part of the reasons he literally had a field day while he unleashed terror on Lagos was alleged police complicity in crime. “Normally, we and the police are supposed to be enemies, but unfortunately many of them are our friends. There are some policemen who are saboteurs; they love money more than the job. Such police officers are moles in the force because they sell vital information to robbers and most of the time turned their backs when their “friends” are on the road. Although not all police are bad, but there are some moles among them that are spoiling their good work. These few ones know the real robbers and most of the time assist them (robbers) to achieve their deadly mission,” Rambo confessed.

There are different accounts of his arrest. One version of his story says he voluntarily submitted himself to the police, another account reports that he was nabbed by the operatives. These are two sides of the same coin. But in the end, he was sentenced to prison where he had spent no fewer than eleven years before ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo granted him pardon.

While serving his jail term, he claimed to have had an encounter with the late Prophet T.O Obadare and became a born again Christian during one of his visits to the inmates. He has since put on the toga of an evangelist.

He has taken it upon himself to rid Lagos Island of criminals through his soul winning ministry. Narrating his experience of the encounter, he said: “It was a miracle l did not expect. I met Christ through Prophet T. O. Obadare.

I made myself available to the police and l had to bear all the detention agonies l faced for about 11 years. A lot of Christian brothers rallied round me convincing me to give my life to Christ. Then, Papa Obadare came to me in the prison and told me that though l was expecting death, God would remove death from my neck, if I was ready to surrender everything to Him. In my own thinking, l thought all was over with all the atrocities l had committed. But God showed me mercy and gave me the second chance. So, when l slept, l saw the yoke and burden removed from my neck and l regained freedom from the bondage of Satan and a new cloth was given to me. By the time l woke up, l was talking in tongues. From that encounter, for the first time in my life that my soul would calm down, l learnt how to pray. I stopped taking cocaine and Indian hemp. Everything about me became new.”

Unresolved puzzles about Rambo

There are still some unresolved puzzles about the exact story of Rambo’s arrest and his born again toga. Okuta, one of his close associates in the world of crime, disputed the story of his self submission and insisted that he (Rambo) was killed in 1993 by policemen from Pedro Police Station. Giving his own account, he said, “He (Shina Rambo) was killed in 1993 by policemen from Pedro Police Station. But the policemen who killed him never knew that it was Shina Rambo they killed. He was on his way to Lanrewaju Motors to buy a Pathfinder SUV when he was apprehended by the police at Ojota New Garage Long Bridge.

There was a police check point there in those days. Rambo was not the one driving. When the police stopped them, they discovered a lot of money in a cartoon in the trunk of the Datsun car. When they started questioning him over the possession of such a huge amount, an argument ensued and he attempted to disarm one of the policemen. In the ensuing encounter, one of the policemen at the other side of the road shot him down.

They were able to get him because he was not with his charms. He was free of charms since he was not going for operation. As this was going on, the driver of the vehicle jumped inside the canal trying to escape. The police later recovered his body and took him away in their vehicle. They later dumped the corpse in the canal when it was dark.”

Okuta further vowed to challenge the man parading himself as an evangelist using the name of Rambo. His said: “Don’t mind him. He is a fake man. Let us meet face to face. There are a few questions I will like to ask him. When I heard in a particular year that a man snatching cars around Cotonou was arrested and that he was Shina Rambo, I told the people around me then that he was not Shina Rambo. Not that I just encountered Shina Rambo. He was a friend. His real name was Ayinla. He was from Ile Pako compound, Oke Koto. His mother was a fishmonger known as Iya Ayinla. She was from Abeokuta. We never operated together but he was my friend. Rambo was heavily fortified by his mother. It is confirmed that Shina Rambo was killed.

According to him, there are some people making cane chairs at the spot where Rambo was gunned down, adding that it was those people who perceived the stench of the decomposing bodies of Rambo and his driver that came to report to the police. “Incidentally, they came to the same Pedro Police Station where those policemen who killed him came from. While they were reporting their experience, those in the cell overheard them and retorted, “It was Shina Rambo’s body that you dumped there that is smelling.”

He explained that when Rambo’s partner escaped, he told the garage boys what happened. A fight later broke out in the garage and some of the boys were arrested. According to him, it was those arrested and put in the cell that responded to the police when the people making cane chairs came there to complain. Those policemen were later detained. “I still insist that the one parading himself around as Shina Rambo is a counterfeit. The police authorities were irked by their not knowing that Shina Rambo was the one killed.”

OK

Is that is pic And erm I saw Edo in that post, why always...

Thief thief thief.

By the way why did Davido sing ''Ema damiduro,emi omo baba olowo, Shina Rambo in his song ?''

... then she said. Let's go to shop rite...

shina Rambo no be HKN gang member?

The story too long jhor

Nawa oo