• Operation lasted four hours, say residents
AS usual, the office had been rather very busy on Monday for Akintolu Emmanuel, a banker.
What with the almost-unending surge of customers and the gridlock on the way to his Bola Ayeni Street home in the Papa Ashafa area of Dopemu, Lagos mainland, the man was understandably tired.
He got home at last only to find the entire street in darkness, as there was no public power supply.
He then decided to rest awhile outside before turning in and did not know when he dozed off only to be violently shaken awake by some men wearing masks who calmly identified themselves as robbers and ordered him to lead them to his room.
The time was about 1am on Monday night and marked the beginning of a four-hour nightmare for residents of about 60 houses on the street who were methodically and violently robbed for about four hours.
Residents of the street lamented that throughout their ordeal, the police did not show up, their calls to police stations on the emergency lines notwithstanding.
One of the residents who spoke to The Guardian on condition of anonymity narrated their ordeal in the hands of men of the underworld.
“ The robbers took their time as if they knew nobody was coming to help us. It was like a play when they came and started their operation from the first house on the street, where Akintolu rented a one-room apartment.”
“The armed men divided themselves into groups and came all the way down the street, one house after the other down to the end.”
“They asked for cash, jewelleries and other portable valuable items and woe betide anyone who did not have something tangible to give.”
“Such unfortunate victims were mercilessly beaten and I think that was why a young man, Sunday Orih was killed at No. 16.
“It is a very terrible thing that for four hours, armed robbers seized our street, and not even one policeman showed up despite the many calls residents made. Our lives are in danger because there is no protection from the police anymore”, the resident said.
Meanwhile, wife of the deceased victim and father of three was in such grief she could barely tell The Guardian how her husband was killed.
Tearfully lamenting that she could not save her husband, she said the men who wore masks forced their way in through the front entrance even as she, her late husband and their children were wake.
“Suddenly, I heard a gunshot only to see my husband had been directly fired on by one of the armed robbers.”
She said though she cried for help, no one came to their assistance because the robbers were still around going from room to room, house to house.
Another victim, Rasaki said the armed robbers were particularly after cash.
“I took them to my room and they ransacked everywhere and took all the money I had.”
“When they went to Sunday’s room, he told them he had no money but they retorted that if they shoot one of his children, he would be forced to bring out the money he was hiding.
“The poor man had nothing to give, and then they went ahead and shot him dead because he did not have any money to give the robbers.”
“When the robbers left our house, I and some others rushed to see what had happened to Sunday but all our efforts to revive him failed and he died.
“There was blood everywhere .By the time the police from Alabo Divisional Police Station arrived, everything was over and they took his body away.
Lagos State Police spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, a Deputy Superintendent of police (DSP) who confirmed the incident noted that two suspects have been arrested over the matter.
“It is not true that we did not get to the scene on time. It is true that there was a robbery incident on that street but when our men got there, we were able to apprehend two persons. They are being detained now pending further investigation,” Braide said.
Guardian
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