Chioma Igbokwe
Up until a few days ago, Abiodun Olalekan Ajayi, 38, was running a scam that preyed on shady characters. Working on the premise that “the guilty are always afraid” he’d simply look around for a small-time crook with police record and put pressure on him to pay some protection money to deflect police’s attention from him. As an informant to the police, his racket was made easier with his access to privileged information about names and faces of crooks and fraudsters in his neighbourhood of Ikorodu, Lagos.
He usually snared them by falsely tipping them that they were about to the arrested, and then offering himself as go-between, he’d suggest they raise money to placate police officers. That way, he’d been fleecing the unwary.
As it is with all crimes, there is always a judgment day. He is currently a guest of operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Lagos State Police Command, on charges of extorting unsuspecting persons using the names of senior police officers. He was arrested after allegedly extorting the sum of two million naira from a businessman in Ikorodu.
His scam blew up in his face when one of his victims, Ariola, petitioned the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Zubairu Muazu, alleging he had paid two million naira to the suspect after he approached him with the information that a certain Sergeant Musa was about to arrest him for some crimes including kidnapping. The suspect allegedly extorted money from his victim on the pretext that the bribe was for the officer in charge of SARS, CSP Peter Gana.
Further investigation revealed how he posed as a policeman and had been extorting money from victims on police’s wanted list.
According to police sources, his targets are mostly men with questionable characters who prefer to settle him rather than submit themselves at the police station. His modus operandi included cornering his targets with forged petitions, introducing himself as an investigating officer, dropping names of senior police officers he’d met in the past and even presenting their complementary cards as his own.
His racket flourished because of his cosy relationship with security operatives and his reputation as the neighbourhood fixer whom anyone with security challenge consulted. What was worse, even after failing to convince the police to cut corners, Ajayi would allegedly continue to exploit his targets till they were finally arrested by the police.
Friends of police, friends of fraudsters
A native of Akinmore, in Oyo State, Ajayi told Saturday Sun he became close to policemen because of the type of job he did in the past.
He said: “I live at No 32 Igbogbo Road, Ikorodu. That is where I used to live with my wife and children. I read Electrical Engineering at Ibadan Poly, Oyo State. Most of the jobs that I secured were at private security firms. I was either working as their procurement officer or in their control room. I started with Proton. The last place I worked was at Halogen Securities where I served in their control room in 2018. Because of the economic situation in the country, I was amongst those that were retrenched. Everything about my life changed as soon as I lost my job. My wife took my children and left because I was not able to provide for them again. I tried my hands in different things but failed.”
While in employment, he had made a lot of contacts with policemen in Lagos, especially, operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in the Ikorodu axis.
“As soon as I lost my job, I reached out to some of them and volunteered to be their informant. I helped them to arrest many criminals in Ikorodu––the records are there. I was so popular amongst them that anytime they need operation vehicle, they’d borrow my car.”
It was in the process he became close to a certain Sergeant Musa.
“Whenever he was looking for a suspect that lived in my area, I normally helped him out. We were very close till he left SARS, Lagos Command and was transferred to Abuja. Thereafter, he came around to do one investigation or the other in Ikorodu.”
It was one of those days they were hanging out together that Sergeant Musa showed him the picture of Ariola, his neighbour, Ajayi claimed.
According to him, Musa told him Ariola was a notorious fraudster wanted by the police.
“Ariola lives in my area and we have done business together. I told him that Sergeant Musa was looking for him over a case of fraud and he pleaded with me to beg him for a soft landing. I told the policeman and we agreed that he should raise some money for Sergeant Musa. In fact, the amount he raised was not up to N200, 000 and he paid in bits,” he said.
Ironically, Ajayi insisted he had no idea his police friend had died while he was still pressuring Ariola to ‘raise’ more money.
“To settle police is not easy, so I told him to raise more money for me to settle the police. It was when police arrested me that I confirmed that Musa is actually dead. I was close to Musa but he was transferred out of Lagos. I did not know or hear that he was killed.”
Then, Ajayi became defensive: “The two million that he [Ariola] is talking about, I don’t know who he paid it to; the only thing I can say is that as soon as I saved him from Sergeant Musa, he suddenly became generous. Once in a while, he’d give me money, [and] if I add all together, it’s not up to N2million. If his hands were clean why did he send me to negotiate with the police? Now that Sergeant Musa is dead, and cannot defend himself, all I know is that I am telling the truth.”
Ajayi claimed he has helped several persons to get a soft landing. “I am very popular in my area and policemen respect me very well because of my experience while I was at Halogen. We work closely with the police and the military. Whenever these people have issues they come to me and I am willing to help as long as it has nothing to do with armed robbery. I don’t defend robbers because what they are doing is not good and they can kill people. I only intervene in cases of fraud and minor cases.”
Insisting that “anyone who wants to send me to the police must mobilize me for that purpose” he reiterated: “I never said that I am a policeman; I only know a lot of them.”