Posted by By KENNY ASHAKA, Kaduna on
A 300 level student in the Department of Public Administration of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria has given a chilling account of how the seven-man gang he belonged to perfected the plan to rob residents of Kaduna.
• He was recently granted bail for a 2005 armed robbery case
A 300 level student in the Department of Public Administration of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria has given a chilling account of how the seven-man gang he belonged to perfected the plan to rob residents of Kaduna.
However the long arms of the law has caught up with him as the Police in Kaduna, acting on a tip-off that some suspected armed robbers were around the Kawo area of the metropolis, swooped on their hide-out and arrested members of the gang.
Francis Adam, 29, who belonged to a gang of robbers led by a dare-devil Soldier Corporal Adamu Usman, dismissed from the Nigerian Army for robbery, is among the two suspects who escaped arrest when the Police in Kaduna smoked out members of the gang after serial robbery of houses and work places in Kaduna .
For Francis Adams, the game of robbery cannot be over for the gang until the last of the seven-man gang is arrested.
The student-robber was first arrested in 2005 while he was still a student of ABU. He was docked for robbery and reminded in prison custody, where he met the trio of Ex-Corporal Adamu Usman, Festus Eze and one Baba Nura.
The bail granted the trio early this year however, provided the opportunity for them to regroup and return to what they do best: dare-devil armed robbery.
But Francis, a native of Oturkpo in Benue State, was caught between two careers -robbery and schooling - as he told Saturday Sun that he wrote the last Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination which he passed and subsequently the post UME examinations.
'We robbed in Mando, collected some money, about N16,000. We were just patrolling when we saw a house open. I once had a robbery case around 2005. In this case, we were arrested while we were in a car, preparing to go and rob.
'The Police intercepted us and brought us to State Criminal Investigation Department. They found guns in our vehicle. From the state CID, we were charged to court. I spent two years in prison but came out on bail on January 18th this year," he narrated.
However, his long absence from school made him lose his admission, despite getting to the third year of his four-yer programmme.
'But I wrote another JAMB in the first week of May this year and to the glory of God, I made the JAMB examination. I have even written my aptitude test and I was expecting to go back to school by January next year before I eventually fell into this one (robbery) again.
'The other robbery case is still pending in court and I have no reason to blame anybody but myself because I put myself into it. I now have the greatest regrets of my life;" he said.
Francis Adams was arrested along with Samson Simon from Oturkpo in Benue State, Sunday Otabor, from Edo State, Victor James, from Edo State and Michael Amoh from Kogi State.
Asked how they were co-ordinated, Francis Adams told Saturday Sun that one Baba Nura, a member of what Francis described as the original gang, who is now at large, was the main co-ordinator but that he brought in Sunday Otabor who eventually brought the other three suspects.
'We do not know Baba Nura's whereabout right now. We were arrested together but we do not know where he is now. I met Baba Nura in the prison when I had my first case. I came out before him.
'There was a day we ran into each other at the Central Market and we exchanged phone numbers. He (Baba Nura) said we will meet to arrange things (robbery) in fulfilment of our plans while we were in prison. That was how we met again," Francis narrated.
Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ernest Ibhaze, said upon thorough investigations, the suspects confessed to series of armed robbery operations in the Kaduna metropolis as well as the Zaria axis.
According to him, further investigations revealed that the same Francis Adams who is the ring leader of this gang was once arrested and charged to court here in Kaduna for alleged armed robbery in 2005.
Ibhaze disclosed that a search on the suspects led to the recovery of two locally made pistols, two locally made cartridges, one sharp Knife, one LG colour television set and one LG DVD machine.
He said the electronics recovered were identified by the owner, one Jennifer N. Gulbong of No L8 Musa Fari Street, Mando, Kaduna who was robbed by the same gang on November 4, 2007 in her residence.
The Kaduna State Police boss said the five suspects would soon be charged to court for alleged robbery offences.