Notorious armed robbery kingpin, Abiodun Ogunjobi (aka Abe Godogodo) has made more revelation on why it took the police so long a time to arrest him.
Godogodo told Saturday Sun that whenever he was sick, he used to take tratment in either Cotonou or Togo.
Drums were rolled out across the South West region on August 1, 2013, over the arrest of the 36- year-old man who has held sway as the kingpin of men of the underworld in the region.
For 14 years, he was said to have held sway having evaded several attempts to get him arrested before he was finally picked up by operatives of Special Anti- Robbery Squad, Lagos State Command. He is currently being detained at the SARS cell in Lagos where he spoke to Saturday Sun during the week.
When asked how he has for so long evaded the manhunt for him by the police, he said: “You are asking how I survive police arrest, well; if you see one of my eyes; you will see clearly that it is bad. It was gunshot from the OPC (Oodua Peoples Congress) men in Ogun State but I survived it because I was very careful not to have gone to hospitals in Nigeria especially Lagos because experience has shown that doctors in Nigeria while treating bullet wound would inform the police and before you know it, you will be sleeping and when you wake up, you will see your hand handcuffed on the hospital bed.
“I think I have told you before that I don’t believe in juju so I was not patronising traditional doctors because they make claims they cannot substantiate; you don’t know who is who among them; so I was not risking my life patronising them. What I was doing was to travel outside the country where the doctor will treat me and respect me. Once the doctor asked how I got the wound; I would tell them that armed robbers did it in Nigeria, the doctors won’t ask for Police report; they would be running up and down to save life. Even when I had ordinary malaria or typhoid fever and I sent for drugs in the pharmacy and after two days I was not okay, I would go to a hospital in Cotonou where I would be treated without the doctor asking me useless question on how I sustained the already healed wound in my body”, he disclosed.
On how he got the idea of travelling overseas to treat his gunshot wounds, he says: “You see, I had this experince after the Ifo attack on us by the OPC, one of us though not my member;he joined us from another gang, he also sustained a gunshot wound and he foolishly went to a hospital in Lagos and it was in that hospital that the police came to arrest him. Even when you lodge in a hotel in Lagos; you have to be very very careful because the hotel management may call in the Police. I don’t know how the police commissioner put fears into the minds of people that they give information any how to the police. In fact, I see Lagosians as cowards and betrayers. That was my problem with O4 hotels in Ajah, the hotel management betrayed us by inviting the Police to raid us. The Police killed two of my trusted members.When I sit down and remember the incident, I would be asking where we had wronged the hotel where we were spending our hard earned money.”
He said he was able to deceive and escape the police at check points or on patrol because he was not using posh cars. “You know the mentality of Nigerians if they see you driving exotic cars your neighbours will start looking into your private life, so also the police. If the policeman sees you driving big cars, he will start asking too many questions and you don’t know where you will goof. That was why I was driving not too good looking cars and the strategy worked perfectly well for me”, he stated.
He further disclosed some of his survival strategies to include avoiding social gatherings. “Well I don’t drink, socialize or womanise. I don’t smoke or drink. All these, if you avoid them, it will be difficult to expose yourself to danger. Moreso, none of my friends or relatives know my place. Not even my gang members knew that I live in Ibadan until I was arrested. My only mistake was bringing my in-laws close to me. My mother-in-law was used by the police to get me but I don’t blame her because the police brainwashed her”, he added.
The man Godogodo
Drums were rolled out across the South West region on the 1st of August, 2013, over the arrest of a 36-year-old man who has been described as an armed robbery kingpin in the region. His name is Abiodun Ogunjobi, aka Abbey Godogodo.
Godogodo, a well dreaded underworld hero, a picture which for years had been a nightmare to every security personnel, an inspiration to many aspiring miscreants and the most wanted by the past commissioners of police in the South West.
For 14 years, he was said to have held sway having evaded several attempts to get him arrested before he was finally picked up by operatives of Special Anti Robbery Squad, Lagos State command. His arrival at the police command saw officers jubilating over a job well done. Sad but proud to have him in their midst, inmates in the detention cell honoured him as each gang recognised the man who they claim inspired them to rob.
In chains and probably sober, Godogodo told his story from the very beginning with emphasis on his irrefutable taste and reasons for killing over 50 police officers.
Faulty background
Like so many children in Nigeria, his growing up days were filled with poverty and mystery. “I watched my father beat up my mother any time he came home drunk, till he finally left with another woman. My mother was a sickler and was in and out of hospital. The little money she made from her petty trade was used in the hospital till she died. I am the eldest and the responsibility falls on me to ensure that I give my siblings a better life.”
He, however, benefited from the free education and was able to finish his primary school education. “As soon as I was through with my primary school education, I decided to join my mother to hawk bread. I did that for years till a friend took me to a dump site. It was then that I discovered that I could make money picking and selling scraps rather than selling bread.
“In that job, you get to meet all kinds of touts and you need to be strong to survive out there. My greatest mistake was that I joined the bad faction but then no one should blame me because I was determined to survive. We had several clashes and because I was very tall, it was easy to gain their respect. In one of such clashes, I fought with one of the scrap collectors and in the process, I stabbed him. Although he did not die, the police accused me of murder and I was sent to prison at the age of 18, this was in 1999.”
His arrest
According to our police source, when all efforts to trace Godogodo failed, the team decided to arrest some of his close confidantes and business associates.
“All those interrogated by the police do not know where Godogodo lives” one of them told our reporter. The story that made the round, according to one of the suspects, was that Godogodo is beyond arrest and that he was battle ready for the police anytime they came after him.
Along the line, it was revealed that he paid surprise visits to his family members and met their needs without allowing them to come to him. Investigation also revealed that Godogodo had over 1000 registered Sim cards and he always removed each Sim after making a call with it. This, according to sources, is to avoid being tracked through phone calls.
To get to Godogodo, Kyari stormed the residence of his mother-in-law in Ifon, Ogun State and adopted ‘kidnap’ method in order to divert Godogodo’s mind from the fact that police were really after him.
Kyari did not only ‘kidnap’ Godogodo’s mother-in-law, he also picked everybody in that house so as to ensure that the operation remained a secret until the target was arrested.
The mother-in-law did not deny that her daughter was married to Godogodo or that she knew their residence in Ibadan; but the problem was how to get him at home. So, SARS along with the woman left the command headquarters at about 11pm in four unmarked vehicles like traders and farmers and proceeded to Ibadan and arrived at about 3 a.m.
The mother-in-law was made to call her daughter on phone and after a long discussion about the family, she asked if her husband was at home, to which she quickly said no even though the man was at home. This was said to be the usual answer by Godogodo’s wife. The SARS team was said to have waited till 10am.
They observed that throughout the night, the generator was on, an indication that the man of the house was at home.
SARS operatives laid ambush for him till 10 am, when he emerged dressed in a simple shirt and jeans came out to inspect a building under construction in the compound. That was when they struck.
His attempt to run into the main building for his weapons was foiled, as the policemen shot him in the leg, thereby demobilizing him. He was arrested and brought to Lagos
