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Notorious ex-armed robber Shina Rambo: How
I tormented Lagosians, Police
By Sina Fadare
Shina Rambo was a household name in the
world of crime - fearful, ruthless, dangerous
and a terror in the society. The former kingpin
and a serpent to security agencies is now a
professed Evangelist and maverick preacher
who is as meek as a dove. In this encounter
with Sina Fadare, he poured out his mind on
how he tormented Lagosians, the police and
how he snatched 42 exotic cars in a day and
how he remained invisible for the police
dragnet.
What’s your background and where are you
actually from?
It is true that people are always confused
about where l come from. Actually my father
came from Abeokuta in Ogun State, but I from
Sanbogida-Ora in Edo State. That is where my
mother came from and where l lived all my
early life.
How did you acquire the name Sina Rambo?
There is a saying in Yoruba that a child
acquires any name that suits him when he was
not in his place of birth. That was the
appellation l was given in those days when l
ventured into the world of crime. The name
that was given to me at birth was Omokenwa,
meaning a child is the one that takes care of
the home. The meaning of Sina Rambo stands
for a team or a group of deadly squad with a
mission. I was the Rambo. Therefore, the
merging of Shina with Rambo is just like any
organisation like cooperative society which has
each name to identify their group, yet they
belong to the same cooperative society. To
those people who thought that l came from
Cotonou, Republic of Benin, or Sabongida- Ora,
they are all correct because wherever you are
living or place you are used to, that is your
home. Though my father is from Abeokuta,
many people did not know me there because
apart from Cotonou where my operating
business took me, l lived my adolescent life in
Edo State, the place of my mother.
At what point in your life did you veer into
crime?
Everything comes down to the lackadaisical
attitude of my parents in taking adequate care
of my need when l was growing up. My father
was a military man who married virtually
everywhere he was posted to in his career; this
gave him the opportunity to have many wives.
One of the early memories l could recollect
which l will never forget in my life was that my
father was the first person to cut me with a
cutlass. That is why l said that the nonchalant
attitude of my parents dragged me into the
world of crime.
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Was that actually what led you into crime?
I will say that the moment a child lacks
parental care, love and attention, such a child
is being nursed towards crime. In my own case
it was a combination of many things that led
me to the world of crime. Poor and not caring
family, later my business was almost grinded
when some of my goods were confiscated.
Along the line, my younger brother was also
killed; in the mission of avenging l was
gradually involved in crime and before l knew
it l wanted to excel in it. What we called the
real Shina Rambo lives inside.
Your name created tremor among people in
society, the security operatives inclusive, how
did you get such power?
If a child knows how to wash his hand well,
definitely he will eat with the elders. I know
how to appease the elders, therefore anything
l need from them l usually get it. Now that l
am in Christ, l know better. The fact is if you
decide to eat with the devil, make sure you do
it to a logical conclusion and if you want to
follow Christ, let him be your sole companion
in anything that you are doing. I got power in
the world of devil, and l followed it to a logical
conclusion. In the world of the devil, police or
any security has nothing to do with us, as a
daredevil robber then. There are certain things
which an armed robber should have. The first
is what you call afoola. We used many human
beings to do this native medicine, including a
foetus in his mother’s womb. The second is
ikiya (boldness).
This will give you the audacity and effrontery
to do anything at any time no matter how
dangerous the venture is. The third one is that
anybody who wants to venture into highlevel
robbery must be ready to squeeze all the
water inside his eye and use it for a powerful
medicine, so that there is nothing that would
happen that such a person will cry again, no
matter how devastating or big such a calamity
is. I searched for power from the demons of
various types, inside the most powerful water
called water of the world at a town called
Ogoja. All leaders of the world who are actually
looking for power used to go inside this water.
At that point when I was on operation l will
put on the appearance of different types of
people to the extent that it was difficult for
anybody to identify my real being. There is no
amount of picture that you took that you will
get a clear view. That was why when they said
that, ‘Oh! they have killed Shina Rambo,’ but it
was another person that they would kill
instead. From that place, l went to Oke Idanre
and later Enugu and Abeokuta to look for
power that can make me to be invisible at will.
I was able to have a magical power that
allowed me to look differently in eight places.
At Abeokuta, the nine herbalists that did the
medicine for me were killed so that one day
they will not reveal the secret behind the
medicine to any mortal. There is a place in Oyo
State called Fiditi; lawyers also go there to
look for power. Along the line l entered into
different cults that are very powerful. There
they have to change my body because l was
buried alive for seven days in the burial
ground and my soul was kept in a small coffin.
After the seventh day, l became powerful and
more dangerous, too hot to be handled by
anybody. Again l went inside the Iroko tree to
seek for power. In fact, you will not believe the
number of houses that you will find inside the
Iroko tree, its a whole town inside the tree.
When you get there, you are going to chant
some incantations and the door will open, you
will see various types of people engaging in
activities like selling, eating, having meeting
and doing all sorts of things done in the
physical world. When l went there, we entered
through the ninth door before we entered the
town. I was able to do this because l was able
to produce for the elders what they needed, so
they were ready to give me what l wanted and
ready to take me to wherever it would be
possible for me to get what l wanted. There
was a time l was taken to a burial place with
15 heads to go and to collect some charms
from the spirit. From there, l was fortified to
the extent that there is no bullet that could
enter my body, it will just be like pure water.
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What is your relationship with the police?
Normally we and the police are supposed to be
enemies, but unfortunately a lot of them are
our friends. There are some policemen who are
mere saboteurs; they love money more than
the job. Such police officers are mole in the
force because they sell vital information to
robbers and most of the time turned their
back when their “friends” are on the road. At
this point in time, it is people like us who
could assist government to nab criminals
because l know their antics and modus
operandi. Not all of 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.
You were once rich and famous where is the
wealth today?
In the first instance, where did all the luxuries
come from? No matter how plenty the devil
gives, it is for a short period, he will collect it
back. No matter how smart you are, any
covenant with the devil, you are going to lose
at the end. It is the devil that will give you a
cap and in return asking buba and gele from
you. Vanity upon vanity all is vanity. There is
nothing that one can gain from the devil apart
from frustration and humiliation; at the end
you are going to have disappointment. You can
imagine when I would strike and snatch more
than 30 cars. I once snatched over 42 cars in a
day. Some of the cars I gave to whomever I
wanted. I had so much then. Paul said in
Philippians 3:7-13 “But, all that amounted to
profit for me in life, I have now seen as loss in
Christ”. Verse 13 now says, “Brethren, I have
forgotten the things that are behind, I press
towards things ahead.” In Psalm 126:1, the
same Bible tells me that “when God returns
the loss of Zion, we would be like them that
dream”. I know that to rise in Christ is the
responsibility of every member of the
household of faith. The Holy Spirit would use
every true Christian to put on real genuine
footing. The devil gave me so much at that
time and it took what it gave me. If I have to
recall the painful details and the anguish, it
does not worth it because I am a new creature.
What has been destroyed cannot be restored
just like that. We are now in Christ, he owns
and dispenses eternal joy, when we end our
race here, we would return to our eternal
home: heaven, where there is no weeping, no
anxiety, anguish, hunger and pain.
Do you have any godfather?
Definitely. When we were in Edo, we had our
godfather who is always there for us anytime
we went on operation. It was the same place
that the likes of Anini, a.k.a. the law and
Monday Osunbor Pero, and Lucky learnt the
rudiment of robbery. We sprung up from one
source.
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What usually comes to your mind any day you
are going for operation ?
The first thing that readily came to mind was
that ‘the dead must be done’. But before that,
we must first ask people who owns the world
how the day would look like before we step
out. There is a charm called atona (Pathfinder)
that we consult before we go out. It would tell
us what we are going to do and which sacrifice
we are going to make before we move out.
Again there is what we call eru (fear) which has
been deposited into my body, wherever l go,
that fear will not let you challenge my
authority.
Where and how did you get the ammunition
you were using?
As I told you that my father was a military
man, from the beginning gun had been
assembled and dismembered in our house.
Innocently, my father will be doing this
virtually on a daily basis and he tells me to go
and bring one or two things that had
connection with the gun in the house and at
the end he would put the gun together as one.
From that daily experience l knew how to
handle a gun and by the time l left him, there
was no gun l could not put together. Ironically,
what parents did not take serious and handle
with levity, the kids are fast learning and
before you know it, they have mastered the
act. If it is a bad habit, the family will
definitely pay for it. The gun l was using then
was in pieces when brought from outside the
country. I later put it together to make it a
complete gun. After that l return it into the
world of darkness where it was changed to the
gun of the elders. After this l just recite a few
incantations to the gun and whatever l ask the
gun to do is what it will do. However there is
no gun that l cannot handle a few minutes
after studying it.
Those who are working with you, how were
they trained?
There is always time for training; we teach
them how to handle it and how to get their
target. It was an extensive training which we
normally do most of the time especially when
we are going on operation. All those that are
working with me are all in the same cult, they
know our dos and don’ts, we have gone to
many places together, that was why it was
difficult for the police to kill anyone of us.
There is a general charm that the death that is
meant to kill anyone of us should kill
outsiders. There are some incantations to back
it up and it would be backed up in the world of
darkness. Therefore anywhere we go on
operation, instead of recording any casualty, it
is the people around that will die.
Can you recollect how many people your gun
had killed?
No, they are just plenty that l cannot
remember. Aside from this, l used a lot of
people for sacrifice that l cannot even
remember. I don’t want to remember those
dark days.
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Now that you are a pastor, do you believe that
there is a curse that actually affected your
destiny?
You are right. There is a saying in Yoruba that
it is only in war that one can die accidentally,
but a curse has a target and no matter the
year it was invoked it will still be operational.
That crisis and curse entered my life when l
was still in my mother’s womb. My father is a
polygamist and one day there was a quarrel
between my mother and my father’s mother.
Then l was told that my father’s mother
invoked a curse on my mother that she will
never deliver me in peace otherwise she is not
from Ikereke (a town in Oyo State) and my
mother replied that she will have a normal
delivery as God lives otherwise she will not
serve God if she comes in the next word. From
that altercation from both, the curse entered
into my life and l carried the curse and the
burden until l met Christ.
How do you handle women and wine?
I engaged in all what you can call devilish
ventures, like smoking of Indian hemp, wine
and in the company of women of easy virtue. I
was in a hotel with about 58 women playing
with me, but the warning from the world of
darkness is that l should not take any of them
to bed. The instruction l followed to the letter.
Then l love women but there was a boundary
which l must not cross. I am compelled to have
fun with my only wife who knew my entire
venture into the world of darkness. That was
why all the women sent to me cannot do
anything to me. Though l spent for them, but
that was just the limit l could go.
Is it true that you once spent N50 million a
day?
How many of that do you want to count,
plenty? There was a time we went for an
operation in Lagos, and it seemed we were in a
tight corner, we just decided to be giving out
the money to the people in order to escape.
There was commotion, everybody was trying to
pick as many naira notes as they can pick.
Did your friends know the type of person you
were?
You know birds of the same feather always
flock together. The so-called friends that l was
moving with as at then were also into one form
of shady deals or the other. But the funny
thing is that nobody could identify my being
with what l was doing. Even if some of them
know me they cannot say it out because it was
too dangerous and there was nobody l cannot
kill. I usually come out in different faces which
made it difficult for anybody to really identify
me. That was the power given to me in the
world of darkness.
Who was the lady that used to accompany you
to all operations?
She was not a human being, though people
referred to her as an alhaja, but she was a
demon donated to me in the world of
darkness. She will dress the way l dressed and
must always be with me any time I am going
out on operation. She is the one that was
picked from the kingdom of Satan to be my
partner.
How did you meet Christ?
It was such a miraculous way. I met Christ at a
cross road. 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 have
to bear all the detention and all the agonies l
faced for about 11 years. A lot of Christian
brothers rallied round me with conviction that
l should give my life to Christ. Then Papa
Obadare came to me in the prison that though
l was expecting death, God has removed death
from my head if I am 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 that the cloth of yoke and burden
was removed from my neck, l was off from the
bondage of Satan, 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.
What do you think government can do to stop
robbery?
The simple truth is that we cannot stop
robbery, but we can reduce it to the barest
minimum, because we asked for it. In Matthew
27, we asked for it. They said Barnabas should
be released instead of Jesus Christ, when
Pilate said that this man did not commit any
sin. They said no way, release Barnabas and let
his blood be on us and on our children. Ever
since then robbery and killing became the
order of the day. Government should be able
to tap from the wealth of experience of people
like us who can decode a lot of knotty issues as
regard how to curb the menace of armed
robbery. Some of those that are inside the
prison are not supposed to be there. By the
time they are out, they become hardened
criminals. I pray that God will help us to make
things work in this country, if he could locate
me from the pit of darkness where l
sojourned, and now in Christ, he will deliver
the country from bad leaders who make things
difficult for the masses.
Source: NATIONAL MIRROR
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