By Esther Onyegbula

Life has seemingly become hell for residents of Ijaiye Community in Ifako-Ijaye Local Government Area of Lagos following incessant attacks by men of the underworld. Business activities have also grounded to a halt in the area as a result of the activities of these criminals who terrorize and rob them.

How it all started

Affected-area

Reports said it all started last year when a gang of armed robbers stormed the community and robbed six houses around Rekea Close. The operation, as gathered by Crime Guard, began in the early hours of the morning and lasted over three hours. Since then, armed robbery attacks have become a reoccurring decimal in the neigbourhood.

Foiled police ambush

Victims that spoke with Crime Guard said the area has been attacked severally in the last three months and each time the bandits stormed, it was a bitter tale for victims. Areas robbed in recent times include: Anifowose , Ogundipe , Biogyun , Olaniyi, Olorunda, Tunde Olusola Streets and Rekia Close.

Crime Guard learned that during one of their operations, residents alerted the police who arrived from Ikeja and Otta. They parked quietly to enable them ambush the bandits on their way out. Regrettably, policemen from Alagbado Division who were on routine patrol also arrived the scene with blaring sirens which alerted the robbers and they eventually escaped.

Investigtions showed that the hoodlums have devised different means of carrying out their nefarious activities. Most times, they rob with commercial motorcycles, ambushing workers on their way to work. At other times, they attack traders and shop owners while closing for the day.

Victims open up

A member of the landlord association, Chief Aramide Akinolye told Crime Guard, “This neighbourhood used to be very calm and peaceful till the bandits began to terrorize residents. On April 5, they came to rob, in the month of May and June they also robbed the area, last week they also attacked the area. Initially, we were dealing with petty thieves who stole batteries from parked cars because the area is close to Jankara Spare Parts Market.

Presently, it has taken a very troubling dimension since they began to move from house to house, robbing residents. Unfortunately, efforts by residents to employ the service of private security like the local vigilante, failed woefully as the landlords were not united in the decision.”

Narrating her ordeal to Crime Guard, Olubunmi (surname withheld for security reasons) who lives around Tunde Olusola Street said, “I was robbed a few blocks from my house on my way to work at about 6am. As I walked along the street, six men attacked me, collected my handbag, my phones and N36,000 I wanted to use to pay my children’s school fees.

There are several dark spots in the community where these hoodlums gather in their droves to smoke Indian hemp. The police need to comb these dark spots like Ogundipe/Anifowose Junction, where a vendor sells Indian hemp during the day and you find a lot of these jobless young men smoking.”

Another victim who spoke on the condition of anonymity revealed that they have been living in fear since this ugly episode began. “Last week Sunday, June 14, I travelled when they robbed in my area. My building was attacked, my apartment was burgled and all my valuables were stolen. It was when I returned that my neighbour told me that robbers struck again.”

Lamentations

Lamenting their plight, a resident who gave his name as Joe Eniola told Crime Guard that they are at the mercy of these miscreants. “They ambush and rob resident on their way to work early in the morning. Just last week ,they robbed one of my neighbours around Ogundipe Street and the robbers carted away N500,000 and other valuables.

These bandits seem to carry out these operations successfully and we suspect complicity between security operatives within the area as the police hardly go on routine patrol. We want the Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderanti, to come to our aid urgently. He should deploy policemen to comb dark spots in the community where they use as hideouts to unleash terror on the rest of us.”

Police react

When contacted, Lagos State Police Public Relations Office (PPRO), DSP Kenneth Nwosu said, “The Command is working assiduously to ensure that street urchins who occasionally attempt to breach the peace of that neighbourhood through armed attacks, senseless bloodletting are kept in check.

We encourage residents to co-operate with us by giving us timely intelligence and information to rein in these hoodlums. Working together with the residents, we can clean up that area as we have done in other areas.”