"I Am Now Born Again" - Popular Notorious Robber, Godogodo Declares And Opens Up On His Life as an Armed Robber
The notorious robbery kingpin, Abiodun Egunjobi a.k.a. Godogodo, who was arrested on August 1 with a great jubilation among operatives of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, has said that he has given his life to God, adding that he was grateful to his creator for allowing his arrest, else he would have died in his sins.
Godogodo, in a recent interview, also said he believed that his life changed for negative as a result of the spiritual manipulation of destiny destroyers who might have seen that he was destined for greatness in the future but decided to thwart it.
He disclosed that he never had the intention of killing policemen during his reign in the underworld business, but shot at them to aid his escape.
Godogodo had become so popular within the SARS premises that SARS officers and civilians around started hailing him as ‘chairman’ as he descended the stairs of the SARS building within Lagos State Police Command for an interview with Crime Reports.
As at the time of this interview, It was learnt that a total of 27 AK 47 rifles belonging to policemen and one
pump action gun, with several AK 47 magazines and ammunition had been recovered from him.
Godogodo spoke of how he started the journey into big time armed robbery and delved into few of his escapades:
The beginning
When I was working at Nigerian Bottling Company, makers of Coca-Cola products, I was being called Abbey Golden but when I became an armed robber, my name changed to Godogodo because of my height.
How I got boldness to rob
I don’t understand myself. I believe that I was targetted spiritually for destruction. In 1995, all you would hear about me was that I was thriving in the sale of Cocacola products. From Iyana Ipaja to Abule Egba in Lagos State, I was known as Abbey Golden and my star was shining in the business.
Suddenly I stopped going to work and started going to dumpsites to pick scrap plastic and metals. I abandoned home and gathered disused tyres to make a room for myself on the dumpsite. Early in the day, I would wake and start picking scrap aluminium with rented wheel truck. My mother was still alive then and would be crying, wondering at what was wrong with me. We were living at Oke Odo at Abule-Egba area then.
I was introduced to robbery by people that I met at the dumpsite at Katangwa. I thank God for the way I was arrested by SARS operatives; otherwise, I would not have known God and would have died in my sins. I was just living my life as if being propelled by unseen forces.
I never went to Oyo State to carry out bank robbery operation. I was living in Ibadan before my arrest so I didn’t operate there. When I went out to operate, I always carried out my plans in a perfect manner so that my operation would be successful. When I went for bank robbery, I would have snatched vehicles to be used the night before.
The only bank robbery I carried out was at Oro, Kwara State, in 2012. We arrived at the bank at about 4p.m. We used to call the person who gave us the job Omo Olona. He is from the town but lived in Ibadan. He had gone to do necessary surveillance before we struck. He even asked me to go with him but I refused to go. He showed us the way we could take to get inside the town and another way of escape after the operation. That was why we did not pass through the major road till we got to the bank.
When we got to the front of the two old generation banks we targeted, we got down and started shooting in all directions. One of us called Dynamite, because of his role, also threw dynamite at the bullet-proof doors of the banks. I stood outside while the youths of the town started shouting that we should give them part of the money, telling us that they would not allow us to go away with the entire cash.
Some of them were putting on charmed wears though they could not move near us. They were about eight poles away from us. They gathered logs and used them to block the expressway so that we would find it difficult to escape. I was angry and wanted to shoot into their midst to disperse them so that we could remove the logs but Dynamite said I should not bother myself as we would not take that route.
We operated simultaneously in the two banks. We were about 11 people that went for the operation. Actually, it was not my job, I was just invited because they knew I was good at such operations. After spending some minutes, we left the banks.
We moved through different routes to avoid the police. In the process, the sump of Toyota Previa we took for the operation broke and engine oil poured out. We had to use the oil from the Toyota Camry car we snatched in front of the bank. We did this because all the arms and ammunition we took for the robbery were in the Toyota Previa car.
We were in the bush through the night and it was there we used phone torch lights to count the money which was spread on the ground. At the end, each gang member was given between N250,000 and N300,000, but to be sincere, we were all stealing from the loot while we were counting. From the stealing, I got about N900,000. I was given N250,000 as my share making N1.15million
The weapons were brought by Paul and Onyisi’s gang. They were the ones who got the job. I don’t know their residences because we used to lie to one another about where we were based.
How we robbed bullion van
I love moving close to the Igbo guys because they usually brought targi (target). They were the ones who told me that a particular bullion van used to bring in cash from Cotonou in Republic of Benin, and that they had monitored it about three times. We went through Imasayi and Ilaro to Ibeshe. We parked a Coaster bus brought by the Igbo guys loaded with arms and ammunition. We were there when the person monitoring the movement of the bullion van called to tell us that it was moving close to us.
We jumped into the vehicle and moved towards the road the bullion van would pass. It was a rough road and we blocked some spots along it with logs. As we sighted the van and the escorts, we started shooting. The policemen jumped into the bush, leaving the bullion van and its occupants. Since it was bullet-proof, we could not hit the occupants but we shot at all the tyres, so that it was moving with only the rims.
The driver kept moving without stopping but we were at a hilly place so we were seeing him down the slope. We divided ourselves into two: a group faced the policemen that were in the bush because they were trying to repel our gang members; the other group entered the Coaster bus and went after the bullion van.
By the time we got to it, the driver, an elderly man, came out and raised his hands in submission. We demanded for the key and he said he was not with the key. We saw a policeman running in the bush. He was carrying a white suitcase which he held to his chest. We ran after him and shot at him, but he did not stop. He would fall down and rise.
We were determined to get the money in the van so we descended on the van with different cudgels until we succeeded in opening it. The cash was in bundles. We took the money while others even carried bags of rice found in the van. We went inside the bush and stayed there. Paul said he would need to burn his Coaster bus and deduct the money to buy another one from our loot. I don’t know whether it was his charms that worked that day because he alone took N25million, claiming that he needed money for the guns and bullets.
I got N4.8million, including the one I stole while others were given N1.5million each.
Why I killed policemen
I have no defence, I am just asking God for forgiveness. I never left home with my gun with the intention of killing policemen; my target was always money. That was how I was investing in buildings and businesses. I only shot at them to aid my own escape and I cannot say precisely the number of policemen that fell from my hands.
If we had two operational vehicles, I usually led so that I could pass through police checkpoints fully composed but some of the boys from other gangs were uncontrollable, especially anyone of them holding an AK 47 rifle. He would see himself as a boss too. Many of the AK 47 rifles found with me were the ones I collected from my boys. I might not go to operate for three months while my boys would be doing whatever they liked, but once I got to them, they would surrender all the weapons they got to me.
How I treated bullet wounds
I used to go to Cotonou to treat my bullet wounds. In the country, they believe so much in money and once I paid, I would be treated. The hospital I was using was a big one. A pal of mine called Ayo linked me with the hospital. Ayo also used to join us for robbery and his link at the hospital was a buyer. His name was Sunday.
Ayo was the one who used to take any vehicle we used for operation to Cotonou for sale and he used to hand it over to Sunday. Sunday used to converse in French with the doctors. Even at that, I was always very careful and as soon as I had been treated, I would leave the hospital without recuperating there.
Achievements in robbery
I have 11 plots of land that I used for fishery. I have 52 fish ponds on the land. I also built six houses in Ilaro, Ogun State; Ikorodu in Lagos State and Ibadan, Oyo State. I relocated to Ibadan when I was being haunted by the SARS operatives. I built an adjoining shop with my house in Ikorodu. I spent N500,000 on it with the intention of making it a boutique.
I went to Dubai to buy goods for the shop but on my arrival, one of the boys living in the area hinted me that one of the SARS operatives had been to the area. Immediately, I heard that, I left the vicinity though those who gave the information didn’t know about me or what I was doing.
I have given my life to God. I have nothing to hide again.
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