An arrested teenager, Sunday (surname withheld), who stole the motorcycle of a neighbour and decided to go for tinted hair from the N150,000 proceeds, has blamed his father for his continuous criminal act.
The suspect said that his father refused to take traditional steps in exorcising the spirit of stealing that came upon him, even after his mother gave him money about five times to do so.
The 18-year-old boy further disclosed that he started stealing when he joined his father two years ago after he demanded to have him and his younger brother instead of them staying in their maternal home.
Sunday was arrested by Oluyole Security Surveillance Team (OSST), in Ibadan, Oyo State, led by Olusegun Idowu, after stealing a TVC motorcycle owned by a neighbour. He was said to have sold the bike for N150,000, out of which he bought shoes and tinted his hair.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that the boy was already known in his father’s neighbourhood for stealing. He had reportedly entered homes to steal money and other items. Other times, he drained petrol from tricycles parked in the area, using a master key to open the tank.
He also allegedly stole a tricycle from where it was parked at Molete and even boldly started picking passengers with it before he was apprehended same day.
The OSST Commander, Idowu, who confirmed the teenager’s arrest when contacted, said that he had been initially caught in the act, while the landlords’ association demanded that the father should pay back all the things stolen by him.
Commander Idowu said that the boy still persisted in his criminal acts until he was arrested after he stole the motorcycle of a neighbour who is a phone repairer.
Sunday, who spoke in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, said he became a rampant thief when his father, forced him and his brother to return to him but was not taking care of him very well.
He said: “My father is from Modakeke, Osun State, while my mother is from Benue State. I was born in Modakeke but grew up in Benue with my mother because she and my father got divorced. Later, my mother left me and my younger brother with our maternal grandmother in Benue and went to look for a means of survival in the Southwestern part of the country.
“Two years ago, my mother brought me to my father in Ibadan when he demanded for me and my younger brother. We started living with him at Onikeke, Ayegun area of the city.
“I finished secondary school when I was with my mum, but my desire to further my education by sitting for Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination was ignored by my father. He said I should learn carpentry and furniture making. When I got to a point in learning, my master died. That was how I stopped, and my father did not take me to another place.
“My father has so many children but there is no wife living with him out of the five he got married to. My mother was his second wife.
“Later, my father told me and my brother to go back to our mother at Sango Ota in Ogun State, but we didn’t know where she was, so we stayed with people from our mother’s ethnic side who we saw. I later learnt that she was at Iyana Ipaja in Lagos State.
“After some time, I decided to return to our father to tell him that we couldn’t find our mother. He said I should not return to the place I stayed before coming back to him, saying that he would find time to go with me to pick my younger brother. My father is a driver.
“I started stealing when I got to my father. When my mother learnt of it, she gave money to my father for him to look for traditional means of exorcising the bad spirit in me. However, he spent the money and didn’t take care of my predicament.
“It is true that I used a master key to open the fuel tank cover of a tricycle and drained fuel from it in a 50cl bottle, but was caught.
Another time, when I followed someone for borehole drilling. I sighted a tricycle, stole it and used it to pick passengers. However, I was caught again, beaten and released because they knew my father and his uncaring attitude.
“The last one I did before my arrest was the TVS motorcycle I stole from an Afaa who repairs phones. I went to his house after 10 pm when I saw that he was asleep. I took it to Iwo Road and a guy took me to Wema area to sell it for N150,000. I bought shoes from it, tinted my hair and spent the rest.
“People came to me later to ask if I was the one who stole the motorcycle, and I confessed to it. We went back to the point at which I sold the motorcycle to a northerner, but he had disappeared.”
He said that his father refused to show up since his arrest, while his effort to reach his mother proved abortive.
The OSST Commander said that the suspect had been transferred to Sanyo Division in Oyo State Police Command for further investigation. (Tribune)