*continuation*
His arrest and born-again toga
Rambo took the police to task for years before he was eventually nabbed. Part of the reasons he literally had a field day while he unleashed terror on Lagos was alleged police complicity in crime. “Normally, we and the police are supposed to be enemies, but unfortunately many of them are our friends. There are some policemen who are saboteurs; they love money more than the job. Such police officers are moles in the force because they sell vital information to robbers and most of the time turned their backs when their “friends” are on the road. Although not all police are bad, but there are some moles among them that are spoiling their good work. These few ones know the real robbers and most of the time assist them (robbers) to achieve their deadly mission,” Rambo confessed.
There are different accounts of his arrest. One version of his story says he voluntarily submitted himself to the police, another account reports that he was nabbed by the operatives. These are two sides of the same coin. But in the end, he was sentenced to prison where he had spent no fewer than eleven years before ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo granted him pardon.
While serving his jail term, he claimed to have had an encounter with the late Prophet T.O Obadare and became a born again Christian during one of his visits to the inmates. He has since put on the toga of an evangelist.
He has taken it upon himself to rid Lagos Island of criminals through his soul winning ministry. Narrating his experience of the encounter, he said: “It was a miracle l did not expect. I met Christ through Prophet T. O. Obadare.
I made myself available to the police and l had to bear all the detention agonies l faced for about 11 years. A lot of Christian brothers rallied round me convincing me to give my life to Christ. Then, Papa Obadare came to me in the prison and told me that though l was expecting death, God would remove death from my neck, if I was ready to surrender everything to Him. In my own thinking, l thought all was over with all the atrocities l had committed. But God showed me mercy and gave me the second chance. So, when l slept, l saw the yoke and burden removed from my neck and l regained freedom from the bondage of Satan and a new cloth was given to me. By the time l woke up, l was talking in tongues. From that encounter, for the first time in my life that my soul would calm down, l learnt how to pray. I stopped taking cocaine and Indian hemp. Everything about me became new.”
Unresolved puzzles about Rambo
There are still some unresolved puzzles about the exact story of Rambo’s arrest and his born again toga. Okuta, one of his close associates in the world of crime, disputed the story of his self submission and insisted that he (Rambo) was killed in 1993 by policemen from Pedro Police Station. Giving his own account, he said, “He (Shina Rambo) was killed in 1993 by policemen from Pedro Police Station. But the policemen who killed him never knew that it was Shina Rambo they killed. He was on his way to Lanrewaju Motors to buy a Pathfinder SUV when he was apprehended by the police at Ojota New Garage Long Bridge.
There was a police check point there in those days. Rambo was not the one driving. When the police stopped them, they discovered a lot of money in a cartoon in the trunk of the Datsun car. When they started questioning him over the possession of such a huge amount, an argument ensued and he attempted to disarm one of the policemen. In the ensuing encounter, one of the policemen at the other side of the road shot him down.
They were able to get him because he was not with his charms. He was free of charms since he was not going for operation. As this was going on, the driver of the vehicle jumped inside the canal trying to escape. The police later recovered his body and took him away in their vehicle. They later dumped the corpse in the canal when it was dark.”
Okuta further vowed to challenge the man parading himself as an evangelist using the name of Rambo. His said: “Don’t mind him. He is a fake man. Let us meet face to face. There are a few questions I will like to ask him. When I heard in a particular year that a man snatching cars around Cotonou was arrested and that he was Shina Rambo, I told the people around me then that he was not Shina Rambo. Not that I just encountered Shina Rambo. He was a friend. His real name was Ayinla. He was from Ile Pako compound, Oke Koto. His mother was a fishmonger known as Iya Ayinla. She was from Abeokuta. We never operated together but he was my friend. Rambo was heavily fortified by his mother. It is confirmed that Shina Rambo was killed.
According to him, there are some people making cane chairs at the spot where Rambo was gunned down, adding that it was those people who perceived the stench of the decomposing bodies of Rambo and his driver that came to report to the police.
