A 16-year-old teenager whose name was given simply as Ibeh, has complained that his mother, who operates a restaurant in Iyana-Iba area of Lagos state disowned him when she learnt that he had been arrested for alleged armed robbery.
Police detectives in Lagos were said to have arrested Ibeh for being in possession of a toy gun and using the same gun to rob unsuspecting passengers in traffic hold-ups at night at Iyana-Iba, even as he insisted that he was not a robber.
Ibeh, who dropped out of school in primary three, used to wash buses and motorcycles at a carwash.
He said: “Before they took me to the police station, they took me to my mother.
But my mum and I had been having a strained relationship. She allowed the police to take me away.
“She said I used to give her too much problems. She even said that whenever she asked me to wash used plates in her restaurant, I would run away. People told me that she had disowned me.”
Ibeh said that he was arrested with a toy gun at Iyana-Iba after he and his friend found the gun inside a bag, adding: “I have not used the toy gun to rob anyone! I was walking with one of my friends at Iyana- Iba, when we saw a bag on the floor. When we opened it, we found a black toy gun. We found it around 9p.m. We were still there, discussing what to do with the gun when I was arrested by the police.
“The police didn’t want to listen to anything I had to say about the toy gun. My friend first noticed the policemen and took to his heels. I also tried to run away but I was caught. With our move to run away, they concluded that we were the ones robbing passengers in traffic at night.
“I tried all I could to explain to them that I just found the gun in a bag by the roadside, but they wouldn’t listen.”
The suspect said that he dropped out of school after he discovered he could not cope.
“My mother was not really interested in my schooling. But the way things are going for me now, I don’t like it at all. I’m really interested in going back to school.” [myad]
