Evelyn Usman and Victor Akpa-Fresh

Men of the underworld have apparently thrown caution to the wind, following the dexterity with which they operate along the Shagamu /Ijebu Ode expressway, dispossessing their victims of cash, phones and other valuables. Sometimes, unsuspecting motorists, particularly travelers along the route are hit with stray bullets, thereby sending them to their early graves. At other times, they maim and even gang-rape their female victims in the full glare of other helpless ones.

•Vanguard circulation van battered by armed robbers along the expressway.

Recently, Vanguard Circulation drivers fell victims to the criminal activities of these daredevils along the route. Between April and June, drivers of the circulation buses had suffered untold battering in the hands of the criminals, six consecutive times.

Worried by the incessant attack on the company’s vans which supply copies of the most read newspaper in Nigeria to Benin and Warri in Edo and Delta states respectively, Vanguard’s Assistant Chief Driver, Mr Amos Oyedeji, revealed that sometimes, the robbers would be clad in police uniform, pretending to be on road block. “Most times, when we are along the route, they would position themselves at Shagamu toll gate and flag down our vehicles. On one of the occasion, I made the mistake of stopping because they pointed a gun at me. But to my surprise, they turned out to be robbers. They dispossessed me of cash and my phones, after hitting me with the booth of their guns for not stopping.

Few days after that incident, we saw a team of policemen on the route. But I refused to stop thinking they were robbers, only for one of them to forcefully stop us, before we realized they were genuine policemen. Leader of the team then told us we could identity genuine policemen from robbers with burning fire”

Records made available by Oyedeji showed that on April 10, 2011, one of the circulation vans was attacked and the driver injured. His record also showed that between May 2 and May 28, the company’s circulation vans were attacked four times. Another attack occurred, according to him, on June 5, 2011, where driver of the vehicle who was employed four months ago, immediately tendered his resignation letter out of fear of being sent to an unprepared grave by men of the underworld.

Contacted on measures put in place by the Ogun State Police Command to check the menace of these unscrupulous individuals along the route, its spokesman, Mr Muyiwa Adejobi, said the command was aware of robbers activities along the route and also along the Lagos/Ibadan expressway but assured that with the new security strategy put in place by the State Commissioner of Police, Mr Musa Daura, robbery incidents particularly at night along the routes, would soon be a thing of the past.

Noting that the robbers usually took cover in the bush , he revealed that the CP had deployed some teams along Sagamu Inter change, to carry a 24-hour patrol, with a view to checkmating activities of the hoodlums. With the new security arrangement, Adejobi said, three patrol teams would be positioned at Sagamu Interchange with another three teams along Sagamu/Mowe/Ibafo axis and one at the journalists’ Estate, Arepo, Ibafo.

In addition , he said two teams would be patrolling along Sagamu/Ikenne/Odogbolu/Ijebu axis of the expressway.

Said he : “The Ogun State Police Command has made frantic efforts to protect lives and property of road users on the ever-busy Lagos/Benin and Lagos/Ibadan Expressways being part of its commitment towards unalloyed service delivery.

It is a clear fact that some hoodlums do rob or extort road users along the expressway at night, by seizing the opportunity of some bushy spots and emergency traffic jams at the old toll gates along the expressway. The Command, however, made efforts by advising the government to trim all bushy areas especially those along the sharp bends so as to enable the drivers see ahead while driving either at night or day time.

But these men on patrol, on daily basis, tackle these miscreants in fierce gun duels. About 5 of them have been arrested and three shot dead, while several armed robbery operations have been foiled by these teams. It is not out of point to say that the rate at which these hoodlums operate on highway has reduced drastically.

“In addition, to stem the embarrassing artificial traffic jams along the expressway, the Commissioner of Police Ogun State has stationed two different teams at Ibafo and Ogere old toll gates respectively to arrest and contravene trucks/vehicles parked indiscriminately along the expressway. The CP also held series of meetings with various unions and stakeholders in these places to eradicate traffic jam which contributes to easy operations of the hoodlums whenever the jams persist”

He therefore, urged members of the public to avail the Command of useful information by reaching it on the following number;08032136765 (control room) or 08037168147 (PPRO)