By Uju  Mbanusi

For sometime now, residents of Adekunle Street, Isolo  Lagos, have been going through untold torture in the hands of robbers  who operate on motorcycles. Majority of the victims are women, whose  hand bags were snatched, immediately they alighted from commercial buses at their designated bus-stops. Some of them  reportedly sustained severe injuries in the process.

Following the worrisome development, most women in the area, particularly those who return late from their respective places of work, sought the company of men as escorts.

However, last Monday, one  of the robbery suspects was apprehended, at the verge of snatching a woman’s handbag on Adekunle Street.

Crime Guard gathered that the victim, a  shop owner around the area had  closed for the day and was waiting along the road at about 9pm, for her husband to come pick her . Just then, a motorcyclist reportedly pulled up to her and attempted to snatch her bag. But her firm grip on it rendered the robber’s mission impossible.  She reportedly held the motorcyclist and raised alarm which alerted a mob, said to have beaten the   suspect to a pulp.

MD Abubakar, Police IG

While they were descending on the suspects, five women, said to have had their hand bags snatched within last month, identified the suspect as the person that attacked them.

The suspect later identified as Alliu Sanusi, was reportedly at the verge of being set ablaze when he managed to  escape through a tunnel around the area, abandoning his motorbike.

Lied to room mates
Wreathing in pains, 24-year-old Alliu, reportedly arrived home at about 11.30pm. Surprisingly, he was discovered to be residing  on Adeyemi Street which is  just a stone throw from where he allegedly perpetrated the  crime.

It was further  discovered that he shared a make-shift room with two other persons identified as Suleiman Ibrahim and Ibrahim Oyigye, both of whom are cousins.

On reaching home, Alliu reportedly lied to his friends that he knocked down a woman, in the process  of which he was  beaten and his motorbike seized.

His room mates  were said to have disbelieved him, and insisted on his getting back the motorbike. Their insistence, followed discovery that a relative  bought the bike for the trio, to enable them eke  a living. While Oyigye reportedly engaged in other kinds of menial jobs, Suleiman used it for commercial purpose between 6.30am and 7pm, while Alliu continues   from  then till 9.30pm.

Thus, the  argument which ensued following its disappearance, was said to have  degenerated into a fight as the duo( Suleiman and Oyigye)  attacked Alliu, who  insisted the motorbike was seized by an angry mob.

Beaten to death
But two days later, police men raided some commercial motorcyclists around Isolo for flouting the Lagos State Traffic law. However, on reaching the station, some of the arrested motorcyclists discovered Alliu’s motorbike and  upon enquiry,  were told it was  brought in by some residents from where it was abandoned by a fleeing robber.

When news of the true story of the missing motorcycle reached Oyigye and Suleiman , they reportedly felt betrayed and disappointed. The discovery according to a resident who spoke on condition of anonymity, led to another round of questioning.

“But Alliu insisted it was seized by a mob who attacked him for knocking a woman down. At this stage, they started beating him(Alliu). They beat him to a pulp and gave him two days to go retrieve the okada . But next day, he took ill and two days later, he died, apparently from the beating”, the resident said.

Meanwhile, the duo have been charged for murder at the  Magistrate’s Court, Oyingbo.