By Bamidele Kolawole
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A 12-year-old primary school dropout, Okikiola Olawale has stunned neighbours and onlookers as he was accused of breaking into a residential building with the intent to steal in Akure.
Okikiola and his cohorts who are currently at large were said to have used a ladder to gain access into the victim’s room through the ceiling and allegedly stole N150,000 which belonged to their neighbour.
Subsequently, Okikiola and his mother, Mrs Janet Olawale have been arrested by men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Ondo State command.
The arrest of the suspects followed a complaint by one Mrs Omogbemi, their neighbour who sells provision in the neighbourhood.
In her petition before the command, the complainant alleged that Okikiola broke into her room and stole her money.
The incident occurred at number 10, Oke Eri Street, Oba-Ile, Akure North Local government Ondo State.
Narrating her ordeal, Omogbemi stated that it was not the first time such an incident would happen, saying that the boy had stolen her money before and she had been reporting him to his parents about his misdemeanors but they could not stop him from his bad attitude of stealing.
After listening to the petition and the complainant’s demand for a refund of her money, the parents of the boy had begun to plead for mercy.
Despite their pleas for forgiveness at the NSCDC’s office, she refused to let go of the money and she demanded that her money be paid to her in full.
During interrogation, the suspect could not give an accurate account of the total amount of money he stole from the woman.
He however confessed to have stolen the money she complained about and the case took on a dramatic twist when he told the men of the command that he gave it to his mother.
His words, “I stole the money where it was kept, I deducted N1,000 to eat and also paid for my contribution (ajo), when my mother came back from work on Sunday evening I gave her the remaining money to keep for me”.
“I’m not lying, this is my mother, I gave the money to her, she can testify to it,” he explained.
Janet, mother of the boy, was shocked and unhappy at her son’s claims.
She denied being the recipient of the ill-gotten money and told the officers her own side of the story; she said her son was lying against her and that he did not give her any money.
“I’m a labourer, I go to work everyday, I work hard to feed my family, I don’t know where my son kept the money, I did not collect any money from him.
“When the woman came to report my son to us, I and his father have already slated how we are going to refund her money with the little we have, his father said he would donate N10,000 and I will add N10,000 as well.”
The mother lamented that her son began to misbehave because he was keeping bad friends that were luring him to commit such offences because he refused to do anything tangible with his time.
“I have warned him to stop moving with some friends but he would not listen to me.
“see what you have cause to yourself now.” She said, turning on her son.
“The case is not new. We have been to the police station and my son was not the only one arrested at first, they have released two of them and left my son alone, my son did not steal this money alone,” she claimed..
Saying that her son had confessed to her how it happened, the mother explained how the boy got involved in the stealing act, she noted that her son and two others were involved in the stealing.
“They used a ladder to gain access into the woman’s house because it was a two storey building, took the money from the woman’s house
She demanded that the remaining two boys be arrested so that they could shed light on how they spent the stolen money, saying she cannot be punished for what she did not know anything about.
When asked why her son stopped schooling, the woman narrated that the boy failed primary six class saying she and his father decided to take him to where he would learn work.
She said that Okikiola would not follow her to where she was working, saying he preferred to roam the streets instead of doing something reasonable.
The suspect, according to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Ondo State command would be charged to court immediately they are through with their investigation.