From ROSE EJEMBI, Makurdi

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For 19-year-old Suleiman, the only way out of his financial quagmire was to take to robbery. Unfortunately, he was nabbed at the point of disposing off two plasma television sets he had stolen after burgling a shop at the High Level area of Makurdi, Benue State. Caught in the act by the police alongside some of his suspected accomplices, the teenager sang like a canary behind bars.
Suleiman, who resides in Lagos, had visited his mother in Makurdi. He claimed that on arrival at the park of Benue Links, the state-owned transport company, he was literarily stripped bare as the wallet containing his money was stolen by an unknown person, but he managed to find his way home:
“I got home and I told my mum what had happened to me, but she thought I was lying. When it was time for me to return to Lagos, I asked her for transport fare but she told me she had no money because she never believed me in the first place. Left with no other option, I decided to go and rob to get transport fare back to Lagos.”
He claimed his mother’s refusal to give him money for his return trip to Lagos, prompted him to venture into the underworld to raise cash: “I stole two plasma television sets from a shop at High Level to raise money for my trip back to Lagos. I am not happy that I got caught, but I want the world to know that I went into robbery because I had nobody to help me.”
Suleiman was arrested while trying to sell the stolen television sets to a buyer at the Wadata area of Makurdi. The buyer, whose name could not be ascertained at press time, was also arrested as an accomplice, just as their linkman.
State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Moses Yamu, confirmed the incident. He also confirmed the circumstances of the teenager’s arrest. “Investigation is ongoing. Suleiman and the other suspects would be charged to court on completion of the investigation.”
He warned members of the public against buying goods they do not know the source. He said such acts had put several Nigerians in trouble.