An ex-banker who was arrested alongside others for robbery has denied partaking in the crime.
Moses Keffi, 38, who was arrested last Thursday, Jan 14, on the Osu/Ile-Ife Expressway, said he was invited by a friend, simply identified as “Ibadan”, to Osun State to buy a car only to be caught up during the arrest.
Keffi and two others named Odeyemi Oluwafemi and Isah Lawal were arrested and accused of hijacking two trucks at gunpoint.
One of the trucks was loaded with toiletries and the other was loaded with empty sacks of cocoa beans.
While being paraded with the two other suspects, Keffi, who lost his job in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic said he has been into business since then and that’s what took him to Osun.
He said his friend “Ibadan” invited him from Lagos to check a vehicle he wanted him to buy in Lagere, Ile-Ife, last week Monday, Jan 11, Punch reports.
Keffi said: “I left Lagos on Wednesday around 4pm and got to Osun State very late. When I got to Lagere, I called but Ibadan said he was no longer in Lagere and said he would call a driver to bring me to where he was.
“After about 40 minutes, a vehicle came to pick me. Ibadan was communicating with me with the driver’s phone. I was taken to where Ibadan was waiting and I saw two trucks. He said I should check and choose the one I wanted to buy. But I told him I wanted to buy a car and not a truck.
“He said I should get into the truck. While that was going on, I saw police vehicles come to the scene and I fled into the bush. I was later arrested by the police.”
But the Osun State Commisioner of Police, Mr Wale Olokode said: “On January 14, 2021 around 4am, a gang of robbers fully armed with guns and other weapons invaded the Osu/lle-lfe Expressway and attacked innocent motorists plying the road and hijacked at gunpoint two trucks.
“One of the trucks, an Iveco with number plate DTM 19 AX, was loaded with toiletries worth millions of naira, and one DAF 75 truck with number plate JJI 445 XT loaded with empty sacks of cocoa beans were attacked by the suspects.
“The victims were also robbed of their valuables such as mobile phones and the sum of N130,000.
“The JTF and police patrol team in the area were quickly alerted and they immediately swung into action and arrested the suspects.”
