Female UNILAG Law School Graduate Arrested For Armed Robbery In Lagos

A seven-man robbery gang led by a
woman, Chioma Ezekwesiri, has been
smashed by the Special Anti-Robbery
Squad, SARS, in Lagos, southwest
Nigeria. The robbery suspects were
arrested while attempting to rob
Bolatito Hotel, Kola Bus Stop, Ijaiye,
Lagos. In chat with P.M.NEWS, Chioma
said she arranged for the guns with
Raymond Chukwuka, a.k.a. Stubborn,
they were to use for the operation,
which she claimed was a land matter,
whereas the police said that their
mission was allegedly to rob a male
customer of the hotel, who sells
fertilizer, of about N8 million. Other
suspected members of the gang are:
Amadi Igwe, 41, Raymond Chukwuka,
24, Ignatius Okeredi, 27, Michael Madu,
52, and Okechukwu Jerome, 28, and a
yet-to-be identified member who is at
large. The alleged robbery operation,
according to the police, was foiled by
some staff of the hotel, who promptly
made a distress call to SARS operatives.
The law enforcement agents were said
to have surrounded the hotel, and later
searched all its occupants. It was in the
process that two locally made guns and
12 live ammunition were recovered
from the robbery suspects. "We
received a distress call from a staff of
Bolatito Hotel, who said they suspected
some people around the hotel. The
Special Anti-Robbery Squad moved in,
surrounded the place and demanded to
search everybody. It was in the process
that two
guns and 12 live ammunition were
recovered in Chioma's car. This led to
the arrest of all her gang members," a
top police source told P.M.NEWS.
Following their arrest and conclusion of
investigation, the police took them to
court. Chioma, 35, who claimed to be a
Law graduate from the University of
Lagos, was remanded in prison custody
along with six other members of her
gang by Magistrate A.O. Komolafe of the
Magistrates' Court, Ikeja. They are
facing a three count charge of robbery,
conspiracy and unlawful possession of
firearms. Chioma claimed that she
graduated from UNILAG in 1999, was
called to the bar in 2000, and owns a
Non-Governmental Organisation, Youth
of All Nations Empowerment
Association. But authorities of the
University of Lagos said she did
graduate from that institution. An
officer of the school, who craved
anonymity, said Chioma cannot claim to
be an alumnus of the university if she
cannot provide her matriculation
number. "The fact that she claimed to
have gone to Law School with the first
batch is not substantial enough. UNILAG
usually sends graduating students at a
stretch, not in batches. My position on
the issue is that she did not graduate
from UNILAG, and so she was not our
student," the officer said. Chioma's
claim of being called to the Bar was also
debunked by Barrister Tunji Busari of
Cognate Solicitors, who explained that
"we have a directory for all lawyers.
We have all their names with the year
they were called to bar, with their NBA
registration numbers. When I checked
through her name in the directory, I
could not find her name in my record
book." When our reporter called Mr.
J.E. Joshua, the chairman of Youth of All
Nations Empowerment Association, he
denied that Chioma is the founder of the
association. "She just participated in a
charity work which the association
embarked on in April, and promised to
participate fully in other projects of the
NGO. But we decided to stop working
with her when we realised that she
wasn't a straight forward person. She is
not working with us," Joshua stated. —
Dedeigbo Ayodeji & Sulaimon Mojeed-
Sunni