Dusk descended on November 6 in Zik Hall like any other evening. Fans of Manchester United were still reminiscing the Red Devils’ defeat at the hands of Manchester City earlier in the afternoon, some Zikites had returned to their books and others were savouring the final breeze of another weekend. However, the course of events that evening was going to change when at about 10:00 pm the shout of ‘thief’ rent the air.
The shout was first heard from the top floor of C block while other Zikites picked it up. As stated by some eye witnesses that evening, the alarm was not taken serious at first but the shout persisted into a convincing theft alarm. The suspect had struck in Room C63 and was escaping quickly from the top floor amidst the raised alarm. Realizing he was being awaited by someone on the ground floor, whom Zik Hall’s Chief Security Officer later confirmed to be a defence team member, he backtracked and hid himself awhile.
When he came out soon after, he ran into a familiar face on C block’s first floor but he swiftly switched character and joined in raising the alarm shouting thief with others. This suspect blended with the crowd and smartly misdirected others towards the Zik-Tech bush path in pursuit of an imaginary thief. He and a few others followed the path and he seemingly escaped in the guise of tracking the theft suspect. No one suspected a thing.
Coming behind was the victim and a few others who remained in pursuit. They, including the Chief Security Officer split up at the Tech road intersection where some of them ran into Abefele, the intra-campus security unit. The latter being informed of the pursuit raced off in their van hoping to catch up with the escaping thief with no success. When catching the thief seemed bleak, those in pursuit returned to Zik Hall where a small crowd had converged to ascertain the identity of the theft suspect.
The victim who had apparently seen the thief went on to describe him properly to the others. At that point, it was realized that the theft suspect was none other than one who had joined in raising the alarm. He had been seen on C block’s first floor by a fellow student in his department, he had also been seen by another Zikite in his department but none of them knew at the time of his temporary escape that he was the suspect being pursued. This theft suspect is none other than Adesina Ridwan Kolapo, popularly known as Gala, a student of the department of Agricultural Engineering, a Zikite and in fact had served as a floor representative in the 2015/2016 session.
The Victim’s Story
Adebayo Salaudeen (Bayo), an occupant of room C63 and a 100 level student of the department of Computer Science was the victim that fateful evening. He said, “I fell asleep around 8:00pm after watching movies for a while, I had placed my laptop on the chair and my phone was beside me, my roommates were not around. I remember that at around 9:30pm a friend of mine came visiting and I remember bolting the door after he left. I woke up suddenly about 30 minutes later and noticed a dark figure beside me, I asked, who are you? and he ran out. I noticed my laptop and wallet were missing and took after him, shouting ‘ole’ ‘ole’. I chased him to the third floor but he had mixed up with others before I could catch up with him. I with Bello Shaggy, Eben and some others pursued him towards Tech but couldn’t find him. I later on confirmed his identity to the others.”
How Gala was Caught
Back in Zik Hall, after his identity had been revealed, attempts were made to contact him since he was well-known. In a phone conversation with him asking for his whereabouts, he said he was in Bello Hall’s reading room, he later altered his statement and said he was at Chemistry department reading. He was asked to come back to Zik Hall and was met by the Chief Security Officer, the Defence Minister, the victim and a few others at around Zik River.
When challenged he denied being in Zik at the time of the theft, saying he had been at Chemistry department for over an hour. This turned out to be contradictory as the theft was only 25 minutes ago as confirmed by the Chief Security Officer. Also, he had undoubtedly been seen in Zik Hall by more than one eye witness at the time of the theft. His inconsistent statements heightened the suspicions against him though he persistently denied his involvement.
To further confirm the suspicions, the interrogating group observed his wet and dirtied trousers which he explained to have been from his ablution for prayers that evening. The more reasonable explanation was that he had gotten his trousers soiled and wet from hurrying through the waterlogged Zik-Tech bush path.
Gala was brought back to Zik for further interrogations, he however stuck to his story and would not confess to the theft even in confidence with fellow Muslim brothers and other familiar persons. After a series of back and forth, he confessed to have been the thief. He further revealed the location of the gadgets stolen that day. At around 12:30 am, early Sunday morning, the interrogation had become protracted and Abefele came to whisk him away in cuffs. However, before then further shocking revelations were made.
Not the first time Gala would strike
One of the interrogators collected Gala’s phone to discover any trace to the theft. Upon searching through his WhatsApp chats Gala’s bubble got burst. Several evidence of transactions with gadget buyers were unearthed. The discovery also revealed pictures of stolen devices, phones and laptops which were linked to previous theft occurrences in Zik Hall. The picture of a TECNO Spark 5 was discovered and was recognized as belonging to a theft victim in A23 whose phone went missing on 1st November. Another victim from A Block identified his HP Laptop which went missing on 5th November, just a day before the latest incident.
-Picture retrieved from Gala’s phone
Kolade, an occupant of C55 was also astounded to realize he was another of Gala’s many victims when his laptop was discovered among the stolen and sold items. Kolade’s laptop went missing on the evening of September 5. His laptop alongside his roommate’s wallet went missing that evening. The wallet would later be found in Independence hall and recovered by the owner.
-Picture retrieved from Gala’s phone
Apparently, Gala had built a theft enterprise in Zik Hall off the losses, tears and emotional wounds of Zikites. He self-manages a covert network with buyers of stolen property. From the transaction evidence on his phone it was realized that when Gala strikes on a certain day, negotiations for sale commence the following day to dispose of the stolen item asap. The availability of his buyers was evidenced in a chat with one of them that reads, “anything for me today?” More to the pains of the victims, the transactions further revealed that he sells the stolen devices at ridiculous prices. One laptop he sold went for the price of N15,000. Kolade’s N 160,000 laptop went for N 40,000, a mere quarter of the original price.
Gala’s Theft Schemes
Upon further investigations, it was discovered that Gala operates with predetermined methods. On the night Kolade’s laptop was stolen, he said minutes before the theft, someone had come asking for Wole. No “Wole” was an occupant of the room at any material time. Another occupant of room C54, beside Kolade’s also confirmed that someone asked for Wole in his room too. It was minutes after the inquiry for Wole at Kolade’s room that Gala struck. Linking both incidences, Michael in room C56 corroborated that on the same night someone also came asking for Wole in his room. He had clearly seen the person asking, confirming that his description matched Gala’s. In other places, report of someone asking for AY or Wale has also been received with the constant fact that no such persons occupied those rooms.
Another of Gala’s schemes is to enter a room and meeting the presence of the occupants, he would ask about a first aid box he had left in that room claiming to be a former occupant. OJB in Room C42 confirmed such inquiry. Also, in Bello Shaggy’s room, C72, one of his roommates confirmed that someone had come asking for a first aid box as well sometimes back. He was able to confirm Gala’s identity as matching the person asking.
Victim’s Dilemma
Bayo, the victim on the night of November 6 confirmed the recovery of his laptop. Investigations revealed that Gala had hid it somewhere at Chemistry department before he returned to Zik Hall that night. Bayo however laments that his wallet containing his student ID card, KDL card, Zik Hall ID card and a sum of N 10,000 was yet to be returned. Bayo had hoped to use the money for his personal upkeep during the exam period. Similarly, Kolade, whose laptop went missing on September 5 reiterated how destabilized he was by the loss. He said he had numerous on-going projects on his laptop including other freelance works he does to make earnings. Kolade speaking with ZHPO vituperated that the theft suspect be served according treatment and not be simply left off the hook. Presently, Gala has been released from Abefele’s custody pending the prosecution of his case.
