By Ifeanyi Okolie

Fadeyi area of Lagos State was last Sunday thrown into confusion as a gang of dare-devil armed robbers raided three churches, a filling station and left two persons dead, while several others sustained severe injuries.

Crime Alert gathered that the robbers who stormed the area around 11:30am invaded the premises of Redeem Christian Church of God (RCCG) Zion Centaury, Assembly of God Church and New Covenant Church, all situated at the Fadeyi axis of Ikorodu road,  unleashed terror on faithfuls of the churches, who had gathered for their normal Sunday worship.

•The Fadeyi branch of RCGG that was raided by armed robbers last Sunday.

The bandits said to be ten in number, had crossed over from the other end of Ikorodu road, fully armed with double barrel guns, when they struck at the Churches.

They reportedly fired rounds of shots into the air in a bid to  disperse the church faithfuls before unleashing terror on them. The robbery operation lasted for over 35 minute, while traffic at the ever-busy Ikorodu road was grounded completely.

Worshipers of these churches lost  their mobile phones, cash and other valuables to the bandits who released sporadic bullet shots indiscriminately into the air to scare people away.

•A front view of Fadeyi branch of Assembly of God Church after it was raided by robbers on Sunday.

A motorcyclist and his passenger were hit by flying bullets during the operation and they reportedly died later in an undisclosed hospital. Workers at the nearby Oonado filling station were not spared either as the robbers ended up carting away huge sums of money from them.

Residents of the area who spoke with Crime Alert blamed Police in the area for not responding swiftly to their distress calls when the operation was in progress.

They alleged that a team of policemen from Alapere station was on patrol on the other side of the expressway while the robbers were holding sway on the other side of the same expressway.

Daniel Olugbemiro, a resident of the area and a faithful at the RCCG, who spoke with Crime Alert said the robbers were unmasked and they operated unchallenged.

According to him. “we were in the church when this robbers invaded the place. I was sitting very close to the window  and it was almost time for thanksgiving  when these robbers struck. I saw them walked in from that end of the road and when they crossed over, they spread themselves all over the place and started shooting.

Some of them went to the filling station and others went to the Assembly of God Church at that side of the road. The moment they got here, they started shooting sporadically like they were fighting war. People started running helter-skelter, in a bid to avoid being shot.

•An Oando Filling Station that was also raided by the robbers.

The robbers at the moment began robbing people in these churches and the filling station. As if that was not enough, they started smashing   windscreens of parked vehicles of both our church members, other churches and passersby who were caught unaware.

But the shocking aspect was that a police van from the other end of the road witnessed some of these incidents and they zoomed off, acting like they didn’t see what was happening. We also sent distress calls to the police and we didn’t see them until the robbers had gone,” he narrated.

The Fadeyi axis of Ikorodu Road in Lagos State  has been a center of fierce crisis and violence in recent time.  In the past few months, factions of members of NURTW have clashed repeatedly leaving scores of people dead and others injured.

It has also being the center of bitter battle for supremacy between street urchins who extort money from truck drivers plying the road. But the recent raid by men of the under world have sent fear down the spins of residents of the area who are not too  familiar with such incidents.

Rashid Afolabi, told Crime Alert that they were all hounded in their apartment when the operation began. “Sincerely speaking, this Fadeyi is notorious for fighting, but not armed robbery. The sound of gun shots I heard that Sunday almost deafened me.

It was like a war situation. But I waited until it died down before I went out and discovered that it was armed robbers who just raided churches and a filling station. I  really don’t know how to explain this but I am really scared.” he lamented.

But Olumuyiwa Akande, a resident of the area  and a member of the Community Development  Authority (CDA), who spoke with Crime Alert yesterday, revealed that the said a notorious gang of armed robbers, whom he said were ousted out of the Fadeyi area some time last December over their criminal activities along the Ikorodu Road for along time, were responsible for the attack.

Olumuyiwa added that the Community got weary of their activities and decided to oust them out of the area.  But he claimed that the bandits, after some time, offered to return back to the area but they were warned to stay away. “I am sure they   resorted to attacking the areas as a pay back.

We ousted them in December 2010, following series of reports. These boys have been responsible for most of the armed robbery activities around Fadeyi Axis of Ikorodu Road and they went scoot free until last December when the CDA decided to send them away because they were bringing bad image to the area. They were robbing people at the expressway and escaping through Ikorodu road”.

“ First, we caught one of them after he robbed a motorcyclist. During interrogation, he told us the names of members of their gang. We did not give them to the police because we don’t trust the police but after a while, they started agitating to return to the neighborhood, probably because where they fled to was not as conducive as Fadeyi, where they can terrorize people on Ikorodu Road freely.

We learn t they were currently residing at Lawani Street in Mushin and they choose to strike last Sunday because they knew there will be few police presence. We don’t know how long these attacks will continue.

These bandits have recruited more hoodlums to their ranks from Akala and we don’t know when they will stop. We are calling on the police to swoop on these bandit and get them arrested.

When contacted over the ugly development, Lagos State Police Command Spokesman, Samuel Jinadu dismissed speculations that the police might be aiding any form of robbery attack on any part of the state.

He urged members of the public with useful information on armed robbers to send them to the nearest police station stating that the command will not relent in fishing out bandits anywhere they are hibernating in the state.