Mr. Richard Macaulay Obafemi, 45, was a foreign-trained medical doctor before he was nabbed and paraded for armed robbery and car-snatching by the Anambra State police command.
According to his account, he had his primary and secondary school education at Ipaja, Lagos State before proceeding to the University College London, UCL, where he obtained a degree in Microbiology in 1987 and later studied medicine at UCL, from 1987-1992.
In 1993, he did the housemanship in Hatsfield, London. In 1996, Obafemi returned to Nigeria for
National Youth Service Corps scheme and was posted to Kwara State. At the end of the service year, Obafemi took up appointment with the College of Medicine, University of Benin, where he worked for two years from 1998 to 2000, before travelling to Saudi Arabia.
He told The Sun: “I worked at the Royal Medical Centre, Jeddah, for four years. Subsequently, I got another employment offer from the University of Ghana, in 2006 and worked there till 2015.”
Continuing the tale, Obafemi who hails from Sagamu Local Government Area, Ogun State said: “In 2015, I came to Nigeria and visited Kaduna State. During that trip, a car I was driving had an accident and the victim died. I was charged to court and remanded at Kaduna Central Prison. But I was later released from prison on April 8, 2016.
While in prison, Obafemi met and developed friendship with Stephen and Ifeanyi, who were also awaiting trial. After he was released, Obafemi linked up with Stephen and Ifeanyi who had also regained freedom. Within a short time, they convinced him to join their armed robbery and car-snatching gang.
“After I left prison, I had followed Ifeanyi to Asaba and joined their gang, which specialized in snatching cars. We have stolen cars like Lexus, SUV in Lagos State, which I drove to Katsina State to sell to buyers from Niger Republic. I sold one for N450,000,” Obafemi said.
Prodded on why he did not return to Ghana after being released from prison, Obafemi said: “I didn’t go back to University of Ghana because when I was in prison in Kaduna, I didn’t communicate with them.
“When I came out from prison, I found out that there was no going back. I decided to join the armed robbery gang to earn a living. I am married and blessed with three children. I lost my wife, Mary in 2012 while my three children are in Canada.”
Government need to reform our prisons to stop whatever is making youths get worse after leaving prison.
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