Segun Akande is a young, upcoming music artiste. All his life, he has dreamt of becoming a Grammy Award winner. Since he was not born with silver spoon in his mouth, Akande knew, from childhood, that he must work hard to actualise his dreams in life. His parents’ income could barely feed the family, but they managed to send him to school.
Right from his childhood, too, Akande has been a great member of the family church’s choir. In the choir, he mastered the art of singing. Akande’s musical prowess soon made him the toast of his entire family and neighbourhood. But Akande still craved for Western education. He gained admission into the University of Ibadan in 2009 to study Theatre Arts. But while in school, Akande shuttled between studios hoping to release an album and take the music world by storm. Things however turned sour for Akande when he had to drop out in his second year for financial reasons. As a university drop out, Akande still believed that he would make it big in life. No sooner had Akande dropped out of school and returned to Lagos than he attached himself to unscrupulous elements in the Ketu area of Lagos where his family resides. Akande is currently being held by men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos State Police Command in connection with illegal possession of fire arms.
Akande’s arrest was not sudden after all. Immediately he was declared wanted by the police, he fled home and placed his family in jeopardy as they were constantly harassed by the law enforcement agents. Hard as they tried, the police could not locate Akande, but he was given away by one his partners-in-crime, Nasiru Bello. It was Bello who claimed that the AK-47 rifle in his custody actually belonged to Akande and that he only hid the gun in the ceiling of his room at No. 8, Oregun Road, Alausa, Lagos. While the gun was in the ceiling of Bello’s room, his landlord had called in a carpenter to work on the roof of the house which was damaged by rainstorm. During the course of carrying out the repairs, the gun fell off the ceiling of Bello’s room and the carpenter alerted the landlord, who in turn, informed the Baale (traditional head) of the community of the development. In no time, Bello was handed over to the police and there he confessed that the gun belonged to Akande, who was by then, on the police wanted list. Speaking with Saturday Mirror, Akande said that a gang of armed robbers abandoned the rifle in his possession after he was lured into carrying it for them during a botched robbery operation. His story: “I have a friend called Peter whom I sold a motor bike to. One day, he took me to a beer parlour and bought drinks for me. As we were drinking, four guys came in and Peter introduced them to me that they were his friends. From there we exchanged numbers and I told them that I am an upcoming artiste.
I told them that if they have any help they could render to me that they should not hesitate to do so and they said ‘no problem.’ After three weeks they called me and I went to Obalende to meet them. On getting there they gave me a bag that they were going for an operation. I saw a gun inside the bag but I didn’t say anything because I was afraid they might do something bad to me.” Akande said that while they were going for the operation, they were accosted by some policemen on the way, which made all of them take to their heels. Akande said he fled with the gun he was carrying to his No 10, Aderibigbe Street, house in Ketu. He continued: “But my house is free for all. Neighbours enter my room unhindered. I know it would not be safe to keep the gun in my house so I talked to Charles, a friend who lives three houses away from mine and he agreed to keep it. When I told Charles about the gun, he was aghast but he later agreed to keep the gun for me. After some days, he informed me that he was travelling to Osun State. So, I collected the gun and gave it to Nasiru. When they arrested him, I told him to run away because I know they would lock him up and would not allow him to explain himself unless if he has big money to bail himself out. The old man that saw the gun in his house and reported to the police was locked up. He was later released on bail.
I had known that they would lock me up if I should report to the police that I have a gun.” Bello on his part, told Saturday Mirror that Akande was a member of the robbery gang and that he (Bello) was not. According to Bello, “Segun didn’t tell me initially that he had a gun. I recently met him at a beer parlour where I got drunk and some hoodlums stole my money. He was there when the guys came and he later told me he knew the guys who stole my money. From there we became friends. “I took him to my mother-in-law’s house at Oregun where they sell Indian hemp and dry gin. When he saw how the place is, he just told me that I would help him keep a gun there because it is a safe place for such things. I asked him why he wouldn’t leave the gun where he kept it before but he convinced me that the place was not safe enough and that he would just keep it with me for some days after which he would take it back,” Bello said. Bello’s confession to the police led to the arrest of Akande and Charles Ayinde, both members of the robbery gang, leaving close to each other at Ikosi, Ketu. But a police source at the Lagos Command, who pleaded anonymity, debunked Akande’s claim that he was not aware that the gang he followed for the operation at Obalende are robbers. The woman Constable told Saturday Mirror that Akande is a staunch member of a notorious gang who has for long perpetrated evil in the Ketu and Lagos Island areas of the state. Lagos Police Command Public relations Officer, Samuel Jinadu, DSP, told Saturday Mirror that Akande’s arrest followed a tip off by concerned citizens in the neighbourhood, even when Bello was not immediately ready to cooperate with the police. Jinadu however warned Lagos residents to watch the kind of friends they keep and watch before they keep luggage for anyone, no matter how close they are to the person.
