At an age when his age mates are still in the university, struggling to get their degrees, 20-year-old Yusuf Arowolo has already started embarking on risky voyages to high seas, to steal crude oil.
But if you think he was hoping to hit it big and make millions, you’re sadly mistaken.
According to Arowolo, for all the risk he used to take in the deadly operation on high sea, his share most time is just a mere N2,000. He stood out from the other suspects because of his age.
Singing like a bird, Arowolo confessed that his friend who recruited him told him without mincing words that his share would be N2,000 after each operation.
He said he didn’t care that the money was insignificant because he was desperate to survive.
He blamed his predicament on officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority.
He explained that since LASTMA impounded his bus because he drove on the BRT lane, life had never been the same for him again.
He said that he would have coped if he had to think of himself alone, but he has a live-in-lover, whom he must take care of at all cost. He loves her, he said. They had been dating for four years.
Arowolo, from Igbona speaking area of Kwara State, left his village and parents to Lagos State in search of greener pastures when he was just a teenager. He got a job as a commercial bus conductor. Later, he graduated from being a conductor to a driver.
He was part of 13 suspects recently paraded by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in their office at Alausa Ikeja.
Fielding questions from our correspondent, Arowolo said mother luck had been hard on him. He didn’t understand why things always turned out sore for him. Even his sojourn into oil bunkering hadn’t ended well, he said.
He said: “My friend initiated me into this business. He promised to get me a job, but I never knew this was the sort of job he had in mind. I used to be a bus driver. Exactly six months ago, LASTMA officials seized my bus for driving on the BRT lane. Ever since then, I’ve been living from hand to mouth. Things were getting bad every time until I ran into my friend at where buses used to load passengers.”
Seeing that his friend was smartly dressed, Arowolo felt the guy was doing a good job that brings in a nice, tidy, monthly income. He quickly spilled out his troubles to him.
Arowolo recounted: “He later gave me a bus. He said that I should be using the bus to assist him transport petrol from Lagos to Bennie Republic. He also told me that for every successful trip, I made, I shall be given N2,000 as my share.”
Another suspect, who got tongues wagging, is 72-year-old Michael Dansu. The old man said he has two wives, five children and 19 grand kids.
Dansu, a fisherman, pleaded guilty to oil bunkering, insisting that the desperation to have enough money to take care of his large family, pushed him into the crime.
He said: “I’m I fisherman on the high sea, but for some times now, we’ve been unable to catch fish. One day, my friend, Kwame, told me to join him in transporting petrol to Togo, that he would pay me the sum of N15, 000. I went with him because of the money. I never knew I would be caught.”
Jacob Apaloo, 43, a Ghanaian fisherman on Benin Republic high sea, married with three kids, also pleaded guilty to the allegation. He explained that he was deceived by his friend who never told him the nature of business until it was too late.
Apaloo said: “I catch fish to sell for survival but because of the scarcity of fish in the sea these days I hearkened to Kwame. Kwame called me to join him to do business on the high sea. But he didn’t tell me what it was all about. When I pressed him, he promised that he would explain when we see. Unfortunately, we met at the site of the operation and we were racing against time. Thus he couldn’t tell me anything. It was only after we were arrested that I realised I had participated in oil theft!”
Kwame Tola, 40, also called captain, is a Ghanaian. He denied introducing anybody into the illicit business. Like others, he also claimed to have been called by a friend to take part in the oil bunkering. He however adamantly refused to mention the name of the person that invited him.
His words: “A friend of mine told me to join him in the oil bunkering business. He promised to pay me N15, 000 after every operation. Unfortunately, this was my first operation.”
The NSCDC State Commandant, Gabriel Abaffi, explained that six of the suspects were arrested on August 5, 2015 by the Nigeria Navy Ship Beecroft.
Abaffi said: “The six suspects were in possession of 81 drums of 250 liters each of petroleum product on their way to Benin Republic on Lagos water around 12:15 midnight. The other seven suspects were arrested by the NSCDC members at the Badagry Expressway, on August 7, with 706 kegs of 25litres, each of petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS), around 8pm. They were attempting to move the items to Benin, Togo and Ghana.”
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