When it comes to daredevil armed robbers in Nigeria, Shina Rambo stands tall as one of the notorious.
Only the late Anini is more infamous than the armed robber called Shina Rambo. His name struck fear into the hearts of Nigerians during his heydays an armed robber and murderer. Shina Rambo was a menace in the 1990s.
Shina Rambo was born in a polygamous home, his father was a military man who fathered many children with women wherever he was stationed. An account has it that he had 18 wives.
Not only was his father a womanizer, unconfirmed accounts have it that he was a corrupt soldier too. In a 2016 interview with Integrity TV, Shina Rambo hinted that his father was involved in some criminal activity. On one occasion he came back up with bloodstained currency notes.
His father had a lot of guns at home and at a very young age, he could arrange several guns after his father dismantled them. One day, Shina Rambo's father came in and saw him putting a gun back together. His father was livid and almost killed him that day with a cutlass. He struck his leg, leaving a deep gash there.
Shina Rambo was stubborn in school and he was sent to several schools because of his truancy and penchant for stealing. He was in Primary 3 when he was first expelled. According to him, he was a wicked child. In the interview, he admitted he was a cult member since Primary 4. As a young boy, he wanted to be a pilot but a life of crime soon took over.
When he went to Benin after finishing primary school, he started working for robbery gangs. He would sneak into homes and rob.
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His life of crime would lead him to search for mystical powers for spiritual protection. Shina Rambo said his thirst for spiritual protection made him enter spiritual trees and be buried like the dead.
The Abeokuta, Ogun State-born Rambo went on to be the brain behind many crimes in the Western parts of the country where he robbed and killed
He was even feared by the police that many thought. Legend has it that he could disappear at will whenever policemen were about to apprehend him. He was dreaded not only in Nigeria but also in the Benin Republic.
In his interview, Shina Rambo claims the woman who drove him was dressed like an alhaja but in actual fact, she was an evil spirit assigned to him for his robbery operations.
Shina Rambo was based in Cotonou, Benin and surprisingly he had a family, a wife and three kids. In a 2016 crusade, Shina Rambo who is now a born-again Christian spoke more about his family then.
"My wife was everything to me, I was forbidden by the elders to sleep with any other woman apart from her. I could gather about 50 women around me in a hotel, and they will just be playing with me.
"We would smoke, drink, and sniff cocaine, I will give them money but I will never sleep with them. I will go back home to my wife and sleep with her.
"That was why the police never caught me. She knew my job, she knew what I was and I never left them alone at night, I operated in the daytime and go back home to my family at night" he reportedly said according to Good Books Africa. He later lost his family in circumstances he did not reveal.
Some of his gang members were Boyo, Apadi, Awo Ara, Toyosi and others. According to Shina Rambo, he had 210 girls who were acted as his spies.
The circumstances surrounding Shina Rambo's arrest is murky. One narrative says he was arrested by the Nigerian Police Force and locked in prison.
In the Integrity TV interview, Shina Rambo claims he was the one who gave himself up after giving his life to Christ, thanks to the man of God Prophet T.O Obadare.
Shina Rambo claims he was never officially sentenced but was awaiting trial when he was eventually freed by the Obasanjo administration.
Now Evangelist Mathew Oluwanifemi preaches the word of God in crusades and is a completely different man from his days of terror.