Oluwatoyin Malik

AN 18-year-old male, Adebayo Matthew, a JSS 2 student, who was arrested with two others by the Oyo State Police Command, made a startling revelation at the weekend on how he used to conjure knives from the air through a charm made for him by a native doctor.

Matthew also spoke on how a Yoruba Nollywood film entitled “Gbewiri Meta” he watched on cable TV influenced him so much that he decided to practise what he watched.

Speaking on the arrest of the suspect and two others, namely Akinleye Dolapo (19) and 14-year-old Deola (surname withheld), the state Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude told Metro that they were nabbed after they attacked a female retiree in her residence on June 29 at about 11:30p.m., and dispossessed her of her Toyota Corolla car with registration number RBC 471 CG which was later recovered.

Odude added that the suspects’ arrest was made possible through the assistance of members of the public, adding that they had confessed to similar operations they carried out in the area within the same period.

In an interview with Metro, Matthew said: “After watching a Yoruba Nollywood film entitled “Gbewiri Meta” on GoTV one day, I felt it would be good for me to copy the action of the lead actor. In the film, the armed robber had three faces.

Whenever he went for robbery, he would put on a face and whenever he was arrested, he would change his face so there would be confusion, and he would be released.

“I started by entering a neighbour’s house to steal N500, but I only covered my face with a cloth which I used as mask. It was day time. I continued until I met Dolapo in June during a church programme at Otu town. We belonged to the same denomination but in our different towns.

“Later, he came to Iseyin to see a pastor and we met again. He complained that he was finding it difficult to pay his WAEC fees and needed money. I told him I would help him out. That evening, we went to a church revival service; it was there I pointed at a blue car belonging to woman and I said I knew her house. I made Dolapo know that we would go and rob the woman.

“We later went to the woman’s house between 11:00p.m., and 12 midnight, armed with knife.

When we knocked and there was no response, we broke one of the ceilings and went in. We told her that we were sent to kill her, but promised not to kill her if she would give us money.

We collected about N1,550 the woman had and took her car key. She begged me that she got the car with her retirement benefit after 35 years in service but we did not yield.

“We drove the vehicle to Tede where we stayed for four days before moving to Oyo. We left Oyo and were on our way back to Iseyin when a lady flagged us down to hitchhike to Iseyin. We picked her, but when we got to a spot, we brought out a knife and asked her to bring the money she had.

“She pleaded with us and said that all she had was the N300 she wanted to pay us for transport.

When we saw that she truly had only N300, Dolapo and I took turns to rape her in the car. While doing this, an elderly started approaching us and the lady raised the alarm.

“We abandoned the vehicle and ran away. We used the N300 we got from the lady to board a vehicle to Iseyin. We scaled the fence of a building whose owners were not around and went in.

“It was from there we went to a compound to steal a car but we could not get the key. We left a note which we hung on a car we found in the compound that we were coming back. We went away with the car’s number plate and its documents.

“We went back to the house to sleep. In the morning, we wanted to come out, unknown to us that some people had already noticed us. We waited till night, but they still waited, and when we came out at about 8:30p.m., they raised the alarm and pursued us. That was how we were arrested.’’

The teenage suspect also said that he used to command knife from the air, disclosing that the charm was made for him by an elderly man in Tede.

‘‘I went to a programme where the man performed magic. I got his address and went to him later. He made some potion with meat and told me to swallow it. He said it would start working after four days. When I tried it, it worked.

All I needed to do was to hit my hand against a wall and a knife would appear.

‘‘The charm was destroyed on the day I was arrested when water was poured on my head.

That was the charm’s taboo,’’ Matthew narrated.
He also said that 14-year-old Deola also followed him to the house where number plates were removed.

The second suspect, Dolapo, confirmed Matthew’s diabolical power to conjure knives from the air, saying that he did it in his presence to scare him when he said he was not going to join him in robbery.

Dolapo, who said he did not have money to sit for the just-concluded WASCE, said he was training to become a ‘doctor’ under one Aunty Saadat in Okeho town. He added that he was in Iseyin to see a pastor over his boss’s thermometer that he broke when he met Matthew and he lured him to robbery.

He also admitted raping their female victim.
The police commissioner said that the suspects would be arraigned in court at the conclusion of investigation.

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