COVID-19 Lockdown Forced Us Into Robery- Musician

Two entertainers: a musician and a pianist, both robbery suspects arrested by the Rapid Response Squad unit of the Lagos State Police Command have confessed that they were forced into robbery by the need to survive the COVID-19 lockdown hunger.

The suspects: Chinonso Michael, 25, an Afro hiphop singer; and Chimelu Victory, 22, a pianist, were arrested earlier in the week in company with five other suspects at their residence at 4, Modupe Young Thomas Estate, Ajah, Lagos by the Decoy Team of RRS.

The duo had on April 10, 2020 ordered pay on delivery an iPhone 11 Pro Max valued at N450,000 from an online platform, Jiji.com, from their service charge apartment in Ajah.

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On receipt of the consignment from a delivery man, one Anifowoshe Itunu, Victory, the buyer, allegedly generated a fake alert to the rider first, and later with the connivance of Michael escaped from the apartment after they had tied down the despatch rider with a bottle of beer.

The suspects then sold the iPhone 11 Pro Max to a buyer in Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos for a sum of N350,000:00 transferred into Michael’s bank account.

The suspects, who jumped off from the first floor to the ground naked at their apartment into the streets on sighting the police, confessed that the crime was the third time they sold iPhone 11 Pro Max during the COVID-19 lockdown, adding that two of the phones were carted online with stolen credit cards.

According to sources, Michael fractured his arm and bruised him chin immediately he landed on the ground floor.

He then instantly took to the streets, naked, before he was arrested and taken to the hospital.

In their confessions, Michael and Victory, who are regular performers in some Lagos night clubs, separately attributed their actions to COVID-19 lockdown, stressing that “during the lock down there was nothing going and we didn’t have anything to eat for like two weeks.

“We were already owing all the store owners in the neighbourhood.

“Nobody was ready to give us credit anymore.

“We had to device a means to survive the lockdown.”

Michael, who just changed his stage name from Authority to Happy Boy, said he joined Victory at his Ajah residence in March, 2020, adding that he was his music teacher in Aba, Abia State before he moved to Lagos.

Victory, who is popularly called Apostle Swag, recently resigned as a Lekki church keyboardist to pursuit a career in music.

He stated that he used to have regular shows in Lagos clubs before the lockdown.