Police parade ‘killers’ of NewsWatch journalist

They were arrested at their hideout at Ajelogo/Akinmodo area of Ikorodu by detectives from the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS). The policemen were led on the operation by the officer in Charge of SARS, Abba Kyari.
The suspects were paraded before newsmen by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderanti.  
It was gathered that two out of the six-man armed robbery gang were killed at Mile 12 area of Ketu during a shoot-out with police, while the remaining four were arrested. The suspects who were identified as Adeshina Festus, 21, Babatunde Makinde, 25, Sunday Samuel, 22, and Ibrahim Adeokin, alleged that the deceased struggled with them while they attempted to dispossess him of his laptop and telephones.
Toyin Obadina was shot dead at Ikorodu on February 1, 2014.
In his confessional statement, one of the suspects, Sunday Samuel, said though, he was seated at the back sit of one of the cars they used for the operation, he saw the deceased grab the shirt of the gang leader identified as Oke.
“We are a six-man armed robbery gang. We usually attack our victims while in traffic along Shagamu road, Ikorodu road and Itamaga road. On the day of the incident, we had gone out on our regular operation in two vehicles, a Toyota Sienna and a Toyota Camry. We were driving towards Lucky Fibre area of Ikorodu around 8pm, when we sighted a Toyota Yaris Salon car. At the time of the incident, we did not know that the owner of the car was a journalist. Shina, who was driving the Sienna blocked the Toyota Yaris car, while Oke and Babatunde came down and headed towards the vehicle. Babatunde grabbed the laptop bag that was kept at the back seat of the car while Oke snatched the phones that were with the driver,” he said.
He said while all that was happening, the deceased started struggling.
“Oke freed himself from the deceased and as soon as he did that, he brought out his gun and fired at the man from a close range. He then rushed into the car which was driven by Shina and they left the scene. We waited around for a while pretending as if we were not together, but later drove off. We left the man in a pool if his blood inside his car,” he added.
He said the gang members regrouped somewhere not too far from the scene of crime, where he demanded to know why Oke shot Obadina. “During the argument that followed, Oke threatened to blow off my head if I raised the matter again. I became afraid, because he once shot Babatunde in the hand during an argument,” he said.
Sunday added that after the incident, he went back to his job as bus conductor.
He said it was during a raid at Mile 12 garage that he was arrested.
Other members of the gang corroborated Sunday’s statement.
Lagos State Commissioner of Police, who paraded the suspects, said two locally made single barrel cut to size short guns, 12 rounds of live cartridges, one Nissan Xtera jeep with registration number LSD 780 BJ and one Toyota Yaris Salon car with registration No. AKD 791 CE, were recovered from the suspects. He said they would be arraigned in court as soon as investigation is concluded.