A former jailbird, Mr. Emmanuel Michael (20), is likely going back to prison, a few days after his prison term ended.

Emmanuel was arrested four years ago for manslaughter and was sentenced. He was released from Oke-Kura Prison, Kwara State on Friday, April 26, 2019 but re-arrested on Monday in Lekki, Lagos, along with his colleagues after robbing a 25-year-old lady at Lekki Phase 1. It was exactly 11 days after he left prison.

Emmanuel and his colleagues, Mohammed Abubakar (25) and Simeon Michael (27), were arrested by operatives of Rapid Response Squad (RRS).

“I was released from Oke-Kura Prison, Kwara State on Friday. I was imprisoned for almost four years for manslaughter. With the assistance of my brother, I travelled down to Lagos and landed at Alaba Rago, Ojo. It was in that ghetto I met Mohammed Abubakar, who said I should accompany him to Lekki. He paid all the transport fare from Ojo to Lekki. He didn’t tell me he was coming to rob. He only told me to play along with him,” Emmanuel explained.

Abubakar, who is also a former convict, while pleading for leniency, said that he invited Michael and Simeon for a “Student Parole”

Abubakar said: “We were on ‘student parole.’ We saw the lady and our intention was to scare her into parting away with her mobile phone. We told her we were Aiye Cult members and that the colour of her dress gave her out as a rival cult member. I told Emmanuel to confirm if she was truly a member of rival cult member. I thereafter threatened to kill her on the spot if she didn’t co-operate with me. I took her phone and asked her to go and get us drinks.

“She left to get the drinks and we took our motorcycle and bolted. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t know that RRS operatives were patrolling the area. She called for help and chased our motorcycle. They caught up with us at Lekki Phase 1 Gate and the police arrested us. In all honesty, we are not cult members. We only use that code to dispossess her of the phone she was holding. What we did is common among teenagers raised in Alaba. It is called ‘student parole.’”

Abubakar, who is a stylist, was arrested at Maryland, Lagos in September 2018 for robbery. He was released in December from Ikoyi Prison.

He added: “It is the source of my livelihood. I have operated in Lekki, Agege, Bariga, Shitta, Okoko, Maryland, etc.” (New Telegraph)

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