The Robbery At Ikorodu Roundabout

THE crowd was a thick surging mass at the gate of the Mainland police station. The gate had been locked to prevent them from coming inside, yet they still came pushing forwards, trying to get a glimpse of the drama going on inside the station’s premises. The officers of the station had tried in vain to disperse them and now the crowd was such that traffic on the expressway, along which the Mainland Division was located, was at a standstill. They had come to witness the end of Badiyo and gang, a band of notorious armed robbers that, for months, had terrorised residents of the city. So brazen and devilish was Badiyo that his infamy had spread not just within the city but across the entire country. His specialty was robbing banks and dispossessing people of their exotic cars. He was also notorious for killing police officers whenever his gang spotted them in any of their operations. Most Officers lived in dread of him and comedians often cracked jokes of how police men and women ran for cover whenever kids in play shouted ‘Badiyo is here! Badiyo is here!’. The media was awash with unsavoury comments and editorials on the need to overhaul the security architecture of the country and often called for the resignation of Usman Yisa, the police IG, if he did not have what it took to catch Badiyo and gang and bring the reign of the daredevils to an end.

Now the kingpin had been reined in and the jubilant crowd had come to see the end of the one who had made them have sleepless nights. They jeered and booed while some, who were directly affected by Badiyo’s criminal exploits, rained curses on him and the day he was born. Some even tried to pelt him with stones but were stopped with the threat of being tear-gassed out of the station’s premises.

All of a sudden, the sound of a siren could be heard blaring from the distance. The sound grew louder and louder until it became obvious a convoy of cars was coming towards the direction of the police station. Vehicles stuck in the traffic were now forced to clear off the main expressway into the service lane in order to make way for the convoy. A team of officers came to the gate, opened it and began to clear the crowd. Soon, a way was made and a black Mercedes jeep slowly rolled into the station, closely followed by two police patrol vans. Even as the vehicles were coming in, the Divisional Police Officer of the Mainland Division, Superintendent Adeola Disu, had come out of his office and was waiting for his boss near the entrance of the station. The state’s Commissioner of Police, CP Clement Agbaje, had earlier called him to say he was coming to the Mainland Division to get an on-the-spot briefing of the arrest. To the DPO, this was a great honour. Normally, the captured robbers were expected to be taken to the state command headquarters where the CP had his office but an elated Agbaje was so excited about the capture of Badiyo and his boys that he broke protocols. He wanted to see the captured bandits as well as the officers that recorded the feat.

‘Good afternoon sir.’ Superintendent Adeola saluted as the CP alighted from the jeep.

‘Congratulations,’ the other said, taking his hand in a warm handshake.

‘Congratulations sir,’ Adeola replied as he led his boss to a police van, parked at a corner of the compound, where Badiyo and his men were lying in a pool of their own blood.

Three of the armed robbers were lying motionless at the far end of the van. It was obvious they were dead. The fourth one seemed to have suffered severe injuries and was writhing in agonized pains. Badiyo himself had a bullet wound on his left lap but he was fully conscious and so was in handcuffs. A triumphant smile came up the CP’s face as he beheld the man who, for several months, had been on the Most Wanted list of the NPF. Unconsciously, his hand went up to caress the reddish scar on his left cheek as his mind went to that horrible night when this same criminal nearly snuffed life out of him in a dare-devil, unprovoked attack on his convoy. But for the special training he had taken in the UK on combatant defence, he would have been a dead man by now.

‘So, we got you at last,’ he addressed the handcuffed kingpin. ‘Now, you will learn the bitter lesson. You will learn that no matter how notorious or hardened you think you are, the long arm of the law will eventually catch up with you.’

Badiyo had been looking at an imaginary object on the floor but now, he turned to look up at the one person he had always wanted dead. The hatred flickering in his eyes was unmistakeable as he spat in the direction of the CP and then followed with, ‘Bastard!’

The officers around the CP were irked by this; before Agbaje could stop him, one of them raised his baton and hit Badiyo across the face. It was a smashing blow and Badiyo recoiled in agony at the impact. His lips were broken and fresh blood went down his cuffed hands as he tried to soothe the pain. The crowd at the gate cheered wildly at the officer’s action.

‘Don’t hit him again,’ Agbaje told the officers. ‘He will have his day in court. And then, he will go where his type have gone.’

With that, he followed Superintendent Adeola and both men went to the DPO’s office, located behind the station’s main building. As soon as they were seated, Agbaje made known to the DPO why he decided to come and see things for himself. 

‘I want to use this visit to commend you and the officers under your division for a job well done,’ he Told Adeola. ‘I also want to meet the gallant officers that did the job, to have a first-hand discussion with them. That’s why I decided to come even without the PPRO.’

‘I am grateful for the visit sir,’ his host replied. ‘It will serve as a further boost to the morale of the officers in the division. As for the officer that captured Badiyo, I’ll send for him in a minute.’

‘Wait a minute,’ the CP said. ‘You mean it was just one officer that captured him?’

‘Yes sir. Even though there were actually five of them at the scene of the robbery incident, it was one of them that accomplished the feat. I’ll call him so that you can hear the story from his own mouth.’

‘This is incredible!’ Agbaje said.

‘Incredible but true. And that’s the most incredible part of it, the fact that it is true. And this is the same officer I have been telling you of, the one who has been instrumental in the success stories this division has been recording in recent times.’

The DPO ordered his secretary to call Corporal Eric Gboneme. Eric was at the officers’ mess, located at the back of the station’s main building, narrating his encounter with Badiyo and gang to a group of wide-eyed officers, when the secretary came to fetch him. They were soon in the DPO’s office and Eric was standing before the Number One police officer in the state. It was the first time Eric was meeting the CP. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) was the one that had always attended to him whenever a sensational arrest was made by his team. It was thus a rare privilege to stand before the much revered Commissioner of Police.

‘Good afternoon sir,’ he saluted.

‘How are you my boy?’ Agbaje ignored the salute and took his hand in a handshake. ‘You have made the force proud today. Come and sit beside me. I want to hear the entire story before you brief the PPRO. Come and sit here.’ He indicated a space beside him on the couch.

Eric hesitated. ‘You want me to sit there sir?’ He pointed.

‘Don’t be afraid,’ Agbaje told him with a fatherly smile. ‘Haven’t you heard that when a child washes his hands clean, he can eat with kings? You have washed your hands clean; you will now dine with kings.’

‘Thank you sir,’ Eric said and hesitantly took the offered seat.

‘Now, tell me the story. I want to know how one officer, just one officer, was able to round up such a notorious kingpin as Badiyo and his boys.’

‘Sir, I was actually not the only one involved in the operation. At about 1200 hours, I and my team were at a roadblock near Ikorodu roundabout when we got a distress call that armed robbers were at a nearby junction, robbing a bank. There were five of us: three constables, myself and one inspector who was leading the team. We immediately mobilised and drove towards the junction. But the road was blocked by empty vehicles. The drivers and passengers had abandoned them and fled into nearby compounds for safety. So, we alighted from the van and began to sneak towards the premises of the bank where the robbery was taking place.

‘It was from the people fleeing past us that we got to know that it was Badiyo and his boys. And as soon as they heard this and also heard the sound of gunshots coming out from the bank’s premises, the three constables suddenly developed cold feet. Before we knew what was happening, they had pulled off their uniform and were running for cover with the rest of the people. When I tried to stop the third officer from running, he asked me if I could not hear the gunshots, that they were not coming from ordinary rifles but automatic SMGs. He said he had a wife and three children and did not want to die and leave them to an uncertain future.

‘So, it was now only me and the inspector. We called for reinforcement but realising  that before it could come, Badiyo and his boys would have made a success of the robbery and escaped, we decided to attack them even though we were outnumbered in terms of weapons and personnel. By now, we were before the bank, behind a parked car in front of the compound. One of the robbers was standing on the bonnet of a car in the compound, releasing bullets into the air and shouting “This is Badiyo! This is Badiyo!”. Everywhere had been deserted save for the abandoned vehicles along the road. Other members of the gang were moving cartons of money from the bank into some motor bikes parked by the side of the compound. It was obvious they intended to escape with these bikes as there was no way they could drive a car through the main road.

‘Now, there was only one strategy we could use to win the day: bring down the man standing on the bonnet, engage the others inside the bank and keep them busy until reinforcement comes. But there was no way we could take a perfect aim at the one on the bonnet from our present position. So, I told the inspector to provide me with a cover so I could move to a position where I could take the aim. He obliged and in the next minutes, the air was rented with the sound of shots and counter shots between the robber and the inspector. I quickly took advantage of the cover and dashed to another part of the compound from where I took a careful aim at the man. The bullet got him on the chest and he fell down and gave up the ghost immediately. This got the attention of the men inside the bank. One of them came out and began to fire at the very point from which I had taken the shot. But I was no longer there. I had rolled under another car behind which I now took a shot at the man. I got him on the head and he, too, fell down dead.

‘It was at this point that the inspector made the mistake that cost him his life. Maybe he ran out of bullets. Or, seeing two of the men had been felled and probably thinking it was over for the gang, he rushed forward to snatch the SMG from the one who had fallen from the bonnet. He got to the man and was at the point of taking the gun when Badiyo himself rushed out and shot him dead. While Badiyo was at this, I engaged two other members of the gang who were coming from behind him. I got one of them on the head and he dropped dead. The second man was luckier; he did not die but got the bullets in his stomach and thighs. At that point, luck ran out on Badiyo because his gun ran out of bullets. Cursing under his breath, he threw it away and made straight for the gun of one of the felled men behind him. But I did not allow him to get that near. I shot him on his hand and, while he was still writhing in pain, I shot him on the lap and he fell down. I could have finished him there and then but knowing you would prefer him captured alive, I merely disabled him. At that moment, reinforcement came. Badiyo was handcuffed, together with the other wounded member, while the remains of the three dead robbers were carried into the police van. The dead inspector was taken to the command hospital. That was how it all happened sir. But permit me to say that if those three constables had not deserted us at that crucial time, we probably would not have lost that brave inspector.’

For a while, after Eric was through with his narration, there was silence in the office. The CP did not know what to say next. He now came to agree with the DPO that the most incredible part of the whole thing was that it was true.

‘Sir, you now see why I told you that even though there were five officers involved, it was actually one that did the job?’ Adeola said when Eric had gone out of the office.

‘You are right,’ Agbaje agreed. ‘As an officer who rose through the rank and file, I have been involved in many action operations but never have I been faced with such odds and still came out without a scratch. And this is the same officer who, even when he was just a constable, played a major role in the capture of Baba Lafe, Lamidi and Oscar the Terror?’

‘The same person. And those are the ones you know about. There are others which were too minor to be brought to the notice of headquarters. Even as a corporal, he has inspired his team to victory on many occasions despite the fact that there were senior officers in those teams.’

‘I think the rank of a corporal is too small for such an officer,’ the CP said. ‘If he can do all these at this level, imagine what he would do if he is made to lead a particular unit. Imagine the inspiration he would bring to the officers under him.’

‘Sir, that was what I wanted to say next. You know I brought up the issue of his promotion twice before. But it did not see the light of day. He has put in eight years of meritorious service and yet, he is still a corporal. Seeing how intelligent he is, I used my personal resources to enrol him for the Detective Course. He wrote the exam and came out with flying colours. Yet, he was not promoted to the rank of a sergeant which that course attracts but was retained as a corporal.’

‘The memo for his promotion stopped at the desk of the AIG,’ the other agreed. ‘But this time, I will by-pass the AIG and speak to the IG myself. As soon as I get home this evening, I’ll call him on his personal line and bring the matter before him. I think it is better if it is brought as an unofficial, informal discussion.’

‘If he can be promoted, it would help a lot in boosting his morale and those of other officers here because they would know that there is a reward that awaits them if they work hard,’ Adeola was not ready to let go of that angle of the discussion. ‘Already, I hear he is being mocked and taunted that, despite all his exploits for the NPF, he is still a corporal while most of his course mates are now sergeants and inspectors. This officer deserves double promotion if it is possible. Besides, he stays in a face-me-I-face-you one room in Bariga, where he is exposed. Someone like him, who has become a household name and a terror to the men of the underworld, deserves to live in a more secure environment.’

‘By the way, I hear there is a myth about him being invincible,’ the CP said.

‘Yes, I think it’s because of the fact that he has never sustained any injury in all those operations. And I am also sure that’s why they have not yet gone to attack him in that unsafe area where he resides. But just like you said, it’s only a myth and one of these days, one of those robbers would want to test the truth of that rumour. The earlier he moves into a more secure environment, the better.’

‘The accommodation part will be sorted out as soon as the new barracks are ready,’ Agbaje said.

‘Will they ever be ready?’ the DPO scoffed mildly. 

The CP shrugged helplessly. He could detect the sarcasm in the other’s voice but felt it was justified. The new barracks project had been on for many years and had passed through several IGs, with annual budgetary provisions allocated to it. But the project had remained a work in progress. The media had lately begun to accuse officials of the police service commission of corruptly diverting funds meant for the project into their private pockets.  

‘Don’t worry,’ the CP found his voice at last. ‘I’ll talk to the IG this evening. Call me around 8pm. By then, I will have spoken with him. Meanwhile, take the gang to headquarters. And as soon as the PPRO is ready, bring the young man along with you for the media briefing. He deserves a space in the media for his courage and bravery. As for the officers who deserted their duty post at that critical time, send their names to headquarters for the appropriate disciplinary measures.’

Soon after, the CP rose to leave.

Adapted from the novel, Why Are We So Dark?

Categories: Short Stories