He revealed to OLUWATOYIN MALIK how he began his journey into the world of crime and drug.
A nine-year-old boy, Lekan Yekini, recently made a revelation that was both shocking and bizarre. Lekan disclosed to Crime Features that he was already into hemp smoking and was adept at burglary.
The torrid lifestyle of the young boy was exposed when he was rescued by members of the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) in Ikire from a man, Biodun Oladejo, who allegedly abducted him from Ibadan to use him for alms.Oladejo was pretending to be blind with Lekan acting as his eyes and guide. Lekan was thereafter
taken by the OPC rescue team to the police in Osun State Police Command.
Lekan, whose parents are separated, was said to have become a truant and was constantly running away from home. When the father, 72-year-old Pa Yekini Amusa, got tired of his truancy, he reportedly took him to a Quranic teacher so that Lekan could learn more about Islam and its teachings, while he would also stay with the teacher.
But Lekan could not cope, as he ran, as many times as he had the opportunity, from the Quranic school. He took the decision to become a street urchin even at a tender age of eight in 2011.
That was how his foray into the world of drug and crime began. Soon after, he was entrapped by Biodun Oladejo, who allegedly hypnotised him with charms and took him to Ilorin.
He started using him to beg for alms and allegedly sent him to go and steal from a neighbour before his criminal activity became exposed, when the boy was intercepted while escaping with money stolen from Oladejo’s landlord. Tired of living a forced lifestyle, the young boy revealed the criminal activities his ‘boss’ had engaged in with him.
This reportedly led to Oladejo’s arrest by policemen from Ikire police station while the case was later transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Osogbo for further investigation.
After the investigation, the case was transferred to Oyo State CID, Iyaganku, since the offence of child stealing was committed in Ibadan.
However, more than the case of child stealing, nine-year-old Lekan gave an expose on his lifestyle while he lived outside the protection of his parents. His story:
“I was still small when my father and my mother separated so I didn’t know what happened. My father put me in school but I used to run away because I didn’t like school. My father later took me an Afaa (Quranic teacher) at Ajegede axis of Ode Aje area in Ibadan.
I used to run away from there anytime I was sent on an errand but my father used to take me back whenever he found me.
“On a particular day, I ran away from the Quranic teacher’s house and went to a place where a naming ceremony was being held. I met one boy called Dare and after we became acquainted, he took me to Agbaje market at Agbeni area.
We used to sleep under shelves. I was shown my way around and like others whom I met there, I started picking aluminium scrap for sale to buyers, while I also dispose of refuse for a fee.
“I met one man called Baba Aliya where we used to go and dump refuse. He was the one who used to collect fee from us before we could dump anything.
One day, he asked me to go and buy Indian hemp for him. When I returned, he drew some puffs and taught me how to smoke too. That was how I became used to smoking Indian hemp.
“He told me he was into burglary,he say to me that he used to burgle shops in the market. He promised to pay me well if I would join him. I agreed. Anytime we went to burgle shops, he would carry me through the window and ask me to look for any container with money inside.
Whenever we were successful, he would give me between N300 and N500. I used to spend the money on food and Indian hemp. I used to buy N20, N30 or N50 worth of hemp at a time, depending on the amount I had on me.
“Baba Aliya used to work with about five of us. I have been arrested several times by night guards without them detecting Baba Aliya’s involvement. This was because he would hide at a distance after putting me inside the shop and, sometimes, in my attempt to jump out after concluding the task, I would jump into the hands of the night guards.
They would ask me questions but I would only take them to my father’s house. My father would, in turn, take me to the Afaa’s house and I would run again at the slightest opportunity I got.
“That was my lifestyle until one night in August this year. I was sitting somewhere within the market with other boys at about 8p.m, when the man called Biodun came with a friend of his.
He called my name, hit me on the chest and asked whether I would follow him to Ilorin in Kwara State to help him in carrying loads. I answered in the affirmative. He took me while the friend took another boy, and we left for Ilorin that same night.
“We got to Ilorin at midnight. In the morning, he told me we would be begging for alms, while he would be pretending to be blind. We started and he was paying me N300 daily. However, I was keeping the money with him so that I would not spend it anyhow.
“After about a month, I got tired and bored, so I told him I wanted to return to Ibadan. He promised to take me back during Ileya (Eid-el-Kabir). He took me from Ilorin to Ikire in Osun State and from there, we used to go to Ibadan for alms begging. I told him again that I wanted to return to Ibadan fully but he did not respond to me.
“One day, he asked me to go to our landlord’s room to steal. I did and gave him what I got. He divided it and gave me my share, after which he left for a ceremony.
As soon as he left, I went towards Ibadan-Ilesa expressway to board a bus to Ibadan but I was stopped by some okada riders who asked me questions. I told them I was being used for alms begging. They took me to members of Odua Peoples Congress, and from there I was taken to the police station.”
Pa Yekini Amusa (Lekan’s father)
“I am a 72-year-old man and I work as a security in a hospital in Ibadan. I live at Aremo Idi-ose. I married his mother after she had had a previous child. It is true that I sent the boy’s mother away, that I didn’t want her again.
“This was because when the third child she had for me died, she accused my former wife of killing the child. My former wife was living in the house next to us because she said she wanted to keep an eye on her child who was living with me.
The accusation caused quarrel between me and Lekan’s mother and I asked her to go.
“I have been taking care of Lekan to the best of my ability but it seemed some forces were working against the boy. He would run away from home for no just cause. I sent him to school, he ran away; I took him to an Afaa so that he could learn Qu’ran.
I even gave the man food items and money for Lekan but he also ran away from there. I don’t understand why he was misbehaving like that. It was not as if we didn’t look for him but we could not find him.”
Mrs Muinat Azeez (Lekan’s mother)
“I got married to Lekan’s father through my uncle. It was Pa Yekini’s sister who spoke to my uncle on his behalf. Then I was very young and already had a child in 2000 at about age 13 while I was working in Lagos as a housemaid.
My first child was about two years old when I married Lekan’s father. After I married the man, his former wife came back and started living in the house next to ours on the pretense that she wanted to keep an eye on her child.
“My husband used to go to her house. When my third child for him died, we had a quarrel and he sent me out. My people went to beg him but he said he was no longer interested in me.
I took my two children with me to my mother’s house but he came to take them away forcefully. He took them to his first child who lives at Ogbere area.
“That was when the problem started with Lekan. Before then, he was a quiet boy, but it seemed he was spiritually attacked because I have been told by several diviners and prophets that it was his bright star that his enemies were targeting We tried looking for him when we didn’t see him since August but the mistake we did was that we did not report to the police.”
His abductor, 25-year-old Oladejo who hails from Ikire and claimed to be an okada mechanic, however, said he didn’t mean any evil by taking Lekan away from Ibadan.
Narrating how he came across Lekan, Oladejo said: “I used to come from Ikire to Ogunpa area in Ibadan to buy motorcycle parts and used to see the boys whenever I passed through Agbaje market. On August 20, I saw him picking scrap aluminium and asked him if he would follow me to Ilorin.
He agreed and when we got there, I told him he would work with me to beg for alms.
We spent about one month before I returned to Ikire with him on September 20. On September 26, I was at a ceremony when I was called that he entered my landlord’s room, stole some cash and ran away.
He was seen on Ibadan-Ilesa expressway waiting for transport and when questioned by the OPC, he told them I was the one who brought him for alms begging. That was how I was arrested.”
Oladejo also demonstrated how he used to disguise as a blind man with a woolen cap, a dark pair of goggles and a walking stick, pretending to have lost his sight, while he would be shouting for financial assistance from members of the public.
Confirming the incident, the Acting Police Public Relations Officer in Oyo State, Mr Daniel Oboyi said the matter was still being investigated at the State CID
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