Earlier this year, Mr Adeola Williams a.k.a Ade Lawyer was arrested by operatives attached to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT) for alleged assassinations. He confessed to many crimes, stressing that he was often hired by top politicians and influential Nigerians. He mentioned Rafiu Akanni a.k.a Olohunwa, former Lagos State Chairman, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), as one of those that allegedly hired him to kill his last victim, Azeez Adekunle a.k.a Kunle Poly. While attempting to kill Kunle Poly, his bullet hit Kunle Poly’s Personal Assistant, Mr, Ganiyu Ayinla, leading to his arrest. Weeks after his arrest, Ade Lawyer, 39, father of three, in this chat with JULIANA FRANCIS of Saturday Telegraph, changed the lyrics of his story, recanting his former confessions and providing more details of his atrocities. Excerpts…

Is it true that you have been to prison before? Who is Ade Lawyer?

I’m from Ijebu Igbo Ogun State. I attended Methodist Boys High School, Lagos Island. I didn’t finish secondary because I was stubborn. I dropped out in class three. I ran away from home and became a bus conductor. I did that for about three years before I became a driver. In 1998, I was arrested by the police and taken to the Ikoyi Prison after I stole a wristwatch belonging to late Fuji musician, Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, when he came for a show at City Hall, Lagos Island. A fight broke out when Barrister was about leaving. I found my way to the front, where I succeeded in snatching his watch from his wrist. The next day, people who saw me brought policemen to my mother’s house. I was taken to Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, charged to court and remanded at Ikoyi Prison.

How was prison life?

Two years after being remanded in prison, some inmates on awaiting trial staged a violent protest at Ikoyi Prison. It was over their long stay without trial. I joined them. The protest turned into a riot and many inmates attempted to escape. Some were killed by soldiers sent to quell the riot. Others sustained injuries. The next day, prison authorities came because of the riot and transferred all the awaiting trial inmates. I was taken to Kirikiri Maximum Prison, where I spent an additional five months before I was taken to court and eventually released in 2001.

What did you do after you left prison?

I went back to Ajah and started working as a bus conductor and a driver. I worked in Ajah for two years before I joined NURTW, Ajah branch. I was made a parking attendant at Phase One Unit in Ajah in 2004. I became the ‘King of Boys’ and started collecting N50 from every bus that came into the park. I started collecting N100 security money from every commercial vehicle that made a turn at the park. I also recruited boys, who worked for me. At the end of each day, we shared money collected. We also gave part of it to the chairman of the unit where we worked. I did that for six years before the Ajah branch chairman died. A caretaker committee, led by Mustapha Sagoe, was sent to take over the branch.

After Sagoe took over, what became of your position?

The committee stopped my job. I went to Sagoe whom I knew very well. He was also from Lagos Island. I begged him to allow me retain my job. I told him that it was my only means of survival. He promised to give me back my job. I waited for two years, but he didn’t fulfil his promise. Each time I went to him, he would ask me to wait. I became frustrated.

What did you?

I decided to invest the remaining money I made from the Ajah park on illicit drugs. I went to Ghana where I met people producing ‘skunk,’ an illicit drug which looks like Indian hemp. I bought large quantities and brought them to Benin Republic. I equally bought two cars from Benin Republic, which I used in smuggling the drugs into Nigeria. I did that successfully on three occasions. On my fourth trip, the police in Benin Republic intercepted my goods. They seized everything. I was reduced to square one; I had no money to fend for my wife and child. I went to Lagos Island, to meet Sagoe; I made him to know that he was leaving me no other option than to go into crime, especially since he didn’t want to give me back my job. He snubbed me, his boys chased me away. I felt bad. I thought about going into armed robbery, but I knew it was a very risky business. I opted for a fresh start. I went to Ikota Housing Estate in Ajah and started peddling Indian hemp on the street. In fact, I was even buying from people whom I was formerly selling to, and some even sold to me on credit. It was humiliating.

How did you meet politicians and influential Nigerians?

I heard that a fight had broken out between Musiliu Akinsanya aka MCOluomo, who was the treasurer at the Lagos State Chapter of the NURTW and Akani Olohuwa, who was the state chairman. This was in 2010. I saw a big opportunity to pay Sagoe back for the evil he did to me. He was a strong supporter of MC-Oluomo. I approached Olohuwa and volunteered to work and fight for him. I was hoping to regain all I had lost through him. I was always with him during that period. Whenever supporters of Mc-Oluomo and Sagoe attacked him, I was always on hand to defend him. I did this until 2012, when Mc-Oluomo and Sagoe succeeded in removing him as the state chairman of the union and a new chairman, Tajudeen Agbede, emerged.

That is another attempt that failed, what next after that?

I went back to my hemp joint. I continued selling my drugs. I was less busy; one of my friends, Rafiu Bashorun, linked me to Olumegbon. I started fighting for him over landed property. Olumegbon gave me a Pump Action Rifle which I used in chasing away people who wanted to trespass on his land. If the opponents were armed, we would exchange gunfire. There were usually casualties on both sides. Olumegbon wasn’t the only landowner I fought for in Ajah and Lekki. There were several others. I ended up buying an Ak-47 rifle and a pistol for myself.

How did you get involved with politicians?

During the run-up to the 2015 general elections, I volunteered to work for the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) because Sagoe and Mc-Oluomo were in All Progressives Congress (APC), and my friend Bashorun also linked me to the PDP caucus, on Lagos Island. I started working for them. I believed the party would help me achieve my goals of regaining my park and also make me a branch chairman of the union. When I joined the party, I met Olohuwa, Kunle Poly and Agbede, the NURTW Lagos chairman and several others. I gave my loyalty to the party with the hope that when they won at both the federal and the state level, I would be rewarded handsomely. I worked closely with Kunle Poly, Agbede and Olohuwa during those elections. What do you mean by you worked closely with them? On some occasions, during rallies, members of the opposition would attack us. We normally defended ourselves with guns. In one of such attacks, Ashake, a supporter of APC, was killed. I wasn’t there when the killing took place, but people accused me of being part of the group that killed him. When the police conducted investigations, they discovered I had no hand in it. After the PDP lost the 2015 presidential and governorship elections in Lagos State, Sagoe and his men ordered all of us who supported PDP to leave Lagos Island and follow former President Goodluck Jonathan to his home town in Bayelsa State. They started attacking us at full scale and killed many of our colleagues.

How were they killed?

Some were shot dead, while others were burnt alive. I relocated my wife and children to Ibadan, which is my wife’s home town. There was this day, some PDP boys at Ajah sighted four of Sagoe’s men in a vehicle and opened fire on them, killing all. I wasn’t there when the incident occurred, but everyone thought I was involved. Police started looking for me. I stayed in Ibadan, where I kept a low profile and monitored events. Later on, I heard that Sagoe and MC-Oluomo had started fighting Agbede. I came back into town, approached Agbede and offered to fight alongside him. He promised to give me back my job if he became the substantive NURTW chairman of Lagos State. I mobilised all my boys in Ajah and pasted his pictures in all our parks at Ajah. He won the election eventually, but reneged on his promises.

What then happened?

I tried reaching him several times, but he wouldn’t pick my calls. I also went to the office to see him, but he wouldn’t see me. After some months, I contacted Kunle Poly, who had defected from PDP to APC. He promised to speak with Agbede. After a long wait, I felt I had been used and dumped again. I mobilised my boys in Ajah and we chased away the Ajah branch chairman. This was in 2016. Agbede called and tried to see how he could settle with me, but I refused. He sent a committee of caretakers to Ajah, but I told him that none of them would leave Ajah alive. He asked me what I wanted, I told him and he accepted.

We allowed the committee to work for four months and at the end, it was recommended that the Ajah branch be divided into two. Agbede consented to it, but he refused to allow me to take back my job. They brought in someone else and gave him my job. I wasn’t happy with the development.

I called Agbede, but he wouldn’t pick my calls. I also called Kunle Poly, who is one of Agbede’s henchmen. He also knew how I worked with Agbede. He also refused to assist me. I met Kunle Poly twice in his house in Ajah. I begged him to speak to Agbede on my behalf, he promised that he would work on it, but he didn’t. I became angry and went to MC- Oluomo’s camp after I learnt he was also vying to become the next chairman of the NURTW. I contacted him through his Personal Assistant (PA). I pledged my loyalty to him. I told him all my problems and how, Agbede and Kunle Poly used and dumped me. I volunteered to assist him achieve his aims. He accepted and placed me on a N100,000 monthly salary.

The salary was not constant, but it was helpful. I had a car I was using; on May 1, 2017, Olohuwa called to say he had a job for me in Osun State, and wanted me to drive down to Lagos State from Ibadan to join his convoy. He promised to reward me handsomely. On my way, I had an accident. My car somersaulted and Olohuwa and his convoy met me at that spot. They took me to the occasion and brought me back. Olohuwa promised to replace my damaged car. I told MC-Oluomo about it and he advised me to exercise patience that Olohuwa would get me a new car. I listened to MC-Oluomo’s advice, but Olohuwa didn’t keep to his promise. Eight months later, I was forced to snatch a Hyundai SUV from one of his drivers. But before then, I had been accused of killing Hamburger because I was close to MC-Oluomo.

I had no hand in his death. I only took part in chasing away members of the caretaker committee sent to Oshodi to take over Mc-Oluomo’s park after the crisis that followed Hamburger’s death. After we chased the committee from Oshodi, I got information that Olohuwa wasn’t happy with me because he heard that I had gone back to Mc-Oluomo. I suspected that might have been the reason he refused to compensate me for the accident I had while working for him. On January 19, 2018, three days before we went for the assassination of Kunle Poly, I approached one of Olohuwa’s drivers, Sadoka and took his Toyota Camry car. I asked him to go and bring Olohuwa’s car for me, so that I would release his.

He knew I lost my car while working for Olohuwa. Sadoka brought a Hyundai SUV 2015, belonging to Olohuwa to me. I kept it in a car park beside Mc-Olomo’s house in Ajao Estate. When Olohuwa called me, I told him that his vehicle was with me. I told him I would bring it back after he replaced mine. I thought about my predicament because my wife was heavily pregnant and the money I was getting from Oluomo wasn’t enough. I wasn’t ready for armed robbery. I decided to end the life of the man who refused to help me mend my relationship with Agbede.

But you said many people refused to help you. Who is the man?

I have had a long relationship with Kunle Poly. We both worked for PDP. He knew how powerful I was, but he refused to help me speak to Agbede. He was the one paying us during the elections. He also knew my wife was heavily pregnant and that I had no money to care for her. He showed me no pity. I thought about killing him.

I decided to take advantage of the ongoing supremacy battle between Kunle Poly boys and Abija boys on the Lagos Island. I took four of my friends to attack Kunle Poly. We opened fire at him, but he escaped. Someone, who wore the same cloths with him, was gunned down. We got reprisals from some of Kunle Poly’s men. We quickly left the scene in our waiting vehicle. We parked the vehicle in a school at Isale Eko, because the tyre burst; a bullet also punctured its engine. We went to Ajao Estate that night. The policemen traced the vehicle to Ibadan. They arrested the owner, known as John. I relocated to Akure. John confessed to the police that I led the attack. Two weeks later, I saw some policemen. They came to arrest me.

What flashed through your mind when you saw the policemen?

I knew my life was over the moment the policemen mentioned that I was wanted over the murder of Kunle Poly’s PA. I quickly decided that I wasn’t going to go down alone. I decided to rope in Olohuwa because he was the one who ruined my life. It was my support for him during his fight with MC-Oluomo that made me lose my position at the union. After he was removed from office, he had so much money, but wasted it on women and movie actors. He refused to assist me. If he had given me good money after he left office for staking my life for him, I wouldn’t have been roaming about looking for whom to kill. I was just so bitter, so I framed him.

I made up the story that he paid me N500,000 to kill Kunle Poly. I lied that I seized his vehicle because he owed me a balance of N1 million. I also decided to rope MC-Oluomo as the person who sent me because I was expecting him to come to my aid, but he didn’t show up before I finally decided to come clean and say the truth. I have repented and given my life to Jesus Christ. I bought my AK-47 rifle from Eshe in 2016, specifically for union wars and land disputes.

I worked for Olumegbon in Ajah over land dispute and killed one person who came to fight against us. I also worked for the owner of a popular motorcycle company over a land dispute in Ajah, where one person was killed. I worked for Alayinde and Vasko Alhaji; we fought against their opponents and one person was killed. I lied earlier that I worked for Prince Kazeem Aletu during the fight between him and Oba Elegushi. Although I don’t know Prince Kazeem before, I had been hearing his name. I asked for assistance from him several times through somebody that knows him but he refused to help me; that was why I mentioned his name too.

Now, I’m a born again. I’ll always say the truth and stand by it. Assassination has been the source of my livelihood for more than a decade and I know I have taken many lives, so much that I have lost count. God knows I’m now a new person. If I get a chance to regain my freedom, I’ll never go back to crime. Let me also advise youths out there, crime doesn’t pay. I’ve been into crime for over 20 years now and had no rest of mind. I have nothing to show for my crimes, except the uncompleted three bedroom bungalow in Ibadan. I have nothing on ground to fall back on despite taking the lives of more than 100 Nigerians as an assassin. May God forgive me.

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