'I thief cables to pay for my rent' – Suspect

A suspected cable thief, Obaji Christopher, has told Police that he stole an armoured cable for the Light Up Lagos Project to raise money to settle down himself in Lagos State. Christopher, who was arrested by a RRS team on Saturday at the Ojota area while digging out the armoured cable, said he had spent only two weeks in the state. 

He explained that when he could not find a shelter, he started sleeping in the Ojota Motor Park, adding that a friend he met in the park introduced him to the crime.

The 23-year-old Benue State indigene was reportedly seen with an accomplice still at large, digging up the cable with a hoe and removing its silver protector.

He said, 
“I just arrived in Lagos about two weeks ago. When I had nowhere to stay, I started sleeping inside the Ojota Motor Park. It was at this park that I met a man called Anago, who introduced me to this job.
“Anago told me that if I was able to go for two to three operations, I would have enough money to take care of my apartment challenge. But on Saturday, we went together to Ojota for the operation. When we got there, both of us dug the ground where the cable was buried.
“We successfully pulled it out. I didn’t know how my friend escaped. When I was about packing the cable into a sack, I saw the policemen.  At that point, I didn’t know what to do again and that was how I was arrested.”

The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, had 52 days ago inaugurated the Light Up Lagos Project at the old tollgate area of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

One of the RRS men, who arrested the suspect, said the team was on a routine surveillance of the Ojota area, inward Ketu-Alapere Road at about 11.20am, when they saw the suspect.

'I thief cables to pay for my rent' – Suspect