Six years after 9-year-old Aminat Lateef, was
gruesomely murdered by a gang of
hoodlums, at Tiaminu Street, off Ereko, in Idi-
Oro area of Mushin, Lagos State, succour
seems to have come the way of the family,
as operatives at the D9 Section of the State
Criminal Investigation Department (SCID),
Panti, Yaba, during the week, apprehended a
leader of the gang, Wasiu Akinade, a.k.a.
Oloriesho.
The suspect was arrested last Tuesday,
when the SCID operatives trailed him to his
hideout at Tollgate area of Mushin. It was
gathered that a shootout ensued between the
operatives and some hoodlums who
attempted to prevent the police from
arresting the suspect.
Police sources disclosed that Oloriesho has
been on the police wanted list for a long time
following several gang-related killings and
other violent crimes around Mushin and its
environ for a long time.
A source at the SCID, who spoke with
Saturday Vanguard on the condition of
anonymity, stated that since 2009, Oloriesho
has it signatures in almost all gang-related
killings within Mushin, Fadeyi, Shomolu,
Bariga and Ilupeju areas of Lagos State.
The source explained that Oloriesho and his
gang were recruited in 2009 by a faction of
National Union of Road Transport Workers,
NURTW, who were locked in a battle of
supremacy to wage a bloody war against
their opponents. The police source
highlighted that Oloriesho and his gang
carried out several killings around Tollgate,
Idi-Oro, New Balogun, Ogunjobi and Railway
areas of Mushin before his arrest.
The source added that five members of his
gang were arrested by the SCID operatives in
January 2016 and an AK47 belonging to the
police which was snatched from a policeman
murdered at Daleko area of Isolo, Lagos, was
recovered from the suspects and the
suspects provided intelligence that aided the
police in apprehending Oloriesho.
According to the source, Oloriesho and his
gang were alleged to have taken part in the
killing of the nephew of former Inspector
General of Police, Sunday Ehindero, Niyi, in
2012. It was alleged that Oloriesho and his
boys attacked some residents of Bada
Street, who weren’t loyal to them and they
had a clash with some soldiers who were
responding to a distress call within the area.
“Oloriesho has been on our file for a long
time and we have been working very hard to
arrest him but we made our first
breakthrough last January when we
apprehended five members of his gang and
they gave us information on how to
apprehend him and since we made that
arrest, Mushin has been relatively peaceful.
There have been no news of violent clashes
or killings within that area and to make sure
we achieve a lasting result, we went all out
for Oloriesho because he is the leader of the
gang. Before his arrest, we had got several
information about him, detailing how he led
his gang to carry out several killings against
persons that are believed to be his
opponents.
They have also killed innocent people in the
process. “One of such killings was in 2011,
a few months after they killed 9-year-old
Aminat. They also attacked and killed one
Akeem Adeleye, alias Chiroke. He was
attacked close to his house in Idi-Oro and
killed. One year after, while his friends were
observing his remembrance, Oloriesho and
his boys stormed the place, opened fire into
the crowd and had a shootout with some
soldiers who were around that area.
At the
end, they killed one Niyi Ehidero, who is a
nephew to the former IGP. In 2013, we had
report that he killed one Morufu Bakare at
Olosha Bus stop in Mushin. He was reported
to have shot Bakare on the face.
“In 2014, we received reports that he carried
out two killings; one in January, while the
other in December. In January 2014, we
learnt that he led his boys and they shot one
Segun Oladunjoye to death around Toll gate
area Mushin. We were informed that Segun
was formerly part of his gang and he
switched camp after he was released from
prison. We were told that Oloriesho killed him
because he felt Segun betrayed him. In
December 2014, he was also alleged to have
killed one Lekan Akinshola at Oyegbola
Street, Ilupeju, Lagos. Based on these
reports, we went after him and members of
his gang and the result is what you are
seeing now.''
Jubilation in Mushin over arrest
Last Wednesday when Crime Guard visited
Mushin following news of Oloriesho’s arrest,
residents were seen in different areas
celebrating his arrest. A resident, James
Balogun, told Crime Guard that with
Oloriesho’s arrest, Mushin will be peaceful.
He said Oloriesho had been enjoying
protection from some influential politicians
for a long time.
“He also worked for politicians and they had
been the ones shading him from arrest”,
Balogun Stated. “Last January, he was
arrested by the police and taken to the Area
D Command, Musihn, but less than four
hours after his arrest, an influential politician
came and bailed him. We learnt that the
police at the area command took N500,000
bribe and they released him, but we are
grateful that policemen from the SCID has
moved in and arrested him.”
When Crime Guard visited Tiaminu Street,
where Aminat was killed, her father, Saheed
Lateef, who was filled with joy when he
spoke with Crime Guard, said he had waited
for six years for justice, and was grateful to
God that the police had gone after the killers
of his daughter.
“I have waited for six years for this day and I
am grateful to God that I am alive to see my
daughter’s killers pay for their crimes. I
thought there was no law in this country
because this people who killed my daughter
were walking the streets of Mushin as free
men and each time I saw them, I wept and
begged God to give justice to my poor child
whose life was cut short prematurely. I can’t
fight them because they are usually armed.”
Narrating how his child was murdered,
Saheed said, “Aminat was a Primary 3 pupil
of Ola Emma Nursery and Primary school,
Mushin; she was shot dead at about 7.35
p.m on Tuesday, December 9, 2010, which
was the eve of her birthday. I had sent her
to buy food when these hoodlums saw and
sprayed bullets on her. I was told by people
who witnessed it that Aminat on sighting the
hoodlums, who were on a revenge mission,
hid behind a car, but the car could not
protect her and the hoodlums sprayed the
car with bullets and killed her instantly.”
Saheed who described the late Aminat as his
precious first daughter said: “She was very
humble and respectful. All I am asking from
the government is to allow justice to prevail
in this matter. I want the killers of my
precious daughter to be brought to book.”
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