Bank Robbery Hoax Lands Ondo Skitmaker In Prison

A Skit-maker, Eyinatayo Iluyomade, has been arrested and charged to court for being involved in a hoax.

The skit maker was alleged to have dropped a threat note of robbery at First Bank’s Sabo branch counter, in Ondo town, Ondo State on Friday.

The State Police Public Relations Officer, Funmilayo Odunlami, confirmed the incident.

According to the spokesperson, the skit maker made a very expensive and sensitive joke that cannot be condoned.

She said the 19-year-old dropped a note at the bank indicating that by 1pm on the said day, his armed robbery gang members would come to rob the bank.

“In the note, he wrote ‘we are coming to rob, and there’s nothing your police can do’. It was a mad move considering the insecurity situation in Nigeria and Ondo State. I don’t know his stage name. I don’t think he’s a known comedian, but he has been charged to court. He is currently standing trial, and the outcome would be made public,” the PPRO said.

According to reports, Iluyomade was taken to court by the police on three count-charge bordering on conspiracy, threat, and manner likely to pose a security threat.

Akao Moremi, the police prosecutor, told the court that the note posed a security threat to the First Bank’s Sabo branch in Ondo town and caused all banks operating in Ondo to shut down for the whole day.

LEADERSHIP also gathered that the trial Magistrate, Mosunmola Ikujuni, refused a bail application pending the arrest of other members of the ‘criminal gang’.

The defendant told the court that he is a comedian and that the note he dropped at the First Bank was a prank, adding that he had been doing this in Lagos until he relocated to Ondo town.

He said, “No other gang wanted to rob the bank as it was written in the note.”

Iluyomade pleaded with the court to forgive him and promised not to play such a prank again.

Recently, Ondo State has been the hotbed of bank robberies and gun violence.

About two weeks ago, gunmen killed a police officer during a midnight attack on a police division in Okuta Elerinla, Akure, the State capital.