Ordinary Nigerians across the country who struggle to survive the economic crunch are now coming under armed robbery attacks on a daily basis. AKIN ADEWAKUN, OLALEKAN OLABULO and INIOBONG EKPONTA report that only in few cases do they escape unhurt while the police seem helpless.
IN the last few weeks, armed robbery attacks have continued to be on the rise in some parts of the country, in what some analysts have referred to as a fallout of the economic recession currently ravaging the country. From Lagos to Ibadan, Akwa Ibom and Abuja, residents have been sleeping with only one eye closed.
Though there are peculiarities in the robbery cases, the common denomination is that lives and properties are often lost in the sometimes merciless attacks. Most of the anti-robbery outfits created years back by state governments have largely disappeared probably due to lack of financial support.
Some, like Plateau State are lucky because despite the absence of a state-funded anti-crime outfit, crime rate has remained low.
Sleeping with one eye closed
In Aboru, Agbado Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State residents are currently experiencing a growing incidence of commercial motorcycle theft.
Some residents who spoke with the Sunday Tribune stated that quite a sizeable number of commercial motorcycles had either been snatched or picked from where they were parked.
A victim, Kolawole Habib, an electrician, said that his motorcycle was picked from where it was parked on Olorunto Street, in Oke-Odo area of the town.
“I decided to sleep in the shop on the Friday preceeding the environmental sanitation day in February. And what I did was to park my bike, as usual in front of my shop and go to sleep. I never suspected anything until the next morning when I couldn’t find the bike where it was parked,” he lamented.
According to him, he had since lodged the report at relevant quarters, but is yet to find the motorcycle.
Another resident, who simply identified himself as Jimoh, a mechanic, who resides around Baba Jesha area of the community told Sunday Tribune that the incidence of motorcycle theft had become rampant in the area, adding that this had struck fear into motorcyclists, especially those who use theirs for commercial purposes. According to him, several of such cases had been recorded in the last few weeks.
Even Akwa Ibom State that prides itself as the safest in the Niger Delta, has lost its era of innocence.
Robbers using small arms and light weapons to dispossess victims of their personal belongings such as laptops, smart phones and cash are currently having a field day.
“They sometimes attack soft targets and kidnap people for low ransom, so as not to attract big manhunt that could lead to their immediate arrest,” said Clifford Thomas, Chairman of the State chapter of the Civil Liberty Organisation (CLO).
Uyo, the state capital is being effectively policed by security agencies including army personnel, the Police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), thus forcing criminal elements to migrate to the rural areas and adjoining towns which are now experiencing daylight robberies, rape and other criminal activities.
Relieving his experience recently at the hands of some criminal elements whom he accused of turning his community’s primary school into their den, the village head of Idak Okpo, Uyo, Chief Felix Eyo, lamented that he escaped by the whiskers.
“I was on my way to see a friend and decided to reduce the distance by passing through the St. Joseph Primary school. Suddenly, I was accosted by two armed youths with guns. Then I quickly summoned courage and shouted at them to drop the guns. Then another one who was hiding shouted, hey, na our chair oooh; our traditional ruler, don’t shoot. That was how I escaped,” he recalled.
If Chief Eyo escaped unhurt, the chairman of Idak Okpo community, Afaha Oku, in Uyo Local council, Comrade Eno Clement, was not so lucky. Narrating his ordeal, Clement said he was attacked by three armed hoodlums on his way to attend early morning mass.
“I was just on my way some minutes after 5:00 am to attend an early morning mass, but had to take the short cut by passing through the back of St. Joseph Primary School.
“I was hurrying to cross the school to Ikpa Road and I heard a voice commanding me to stop. Suddenly, three youths appeared and one jacked my trousers from the back, while the other two pointed guns at me.
“There was nothing I could do than to surrender my phones and cash to them. I couldn’t even shout because they were desperate to shoot at the slightest provocation,” the youth leader explained.
Many of the criminal elements are even tricycle operators who use charms and drugs to hypnotise passengers and dispose victims of cash and other valuables.
A female University of Uyo (UNIUYO) undergraduate boarded the tricycle while three men she met inside the keke opened discussion with her and before she knew it she was hypnotised and taken to the outskirt of town to an uncompleted building where she was raped.
Even traditional rulers and clerics are not left out of the attacks as a popular cleric, Apostle Akan Weeks and the village head of Ikot Anta, Eneng Obom were also attacked with the latter shot dead by his attackers.
In Ibadan, several communities are currently reeling under the siege of armed robbers. For the Eyin Grammar area residents of the city it has become a daily affair. For 10 years, residents of Aba Ibeji at Arapaja community of Oluyole Local Government area, Oyo State, have enjoyed relative peace but not anymore. Recently just after the Easter festivities, seven armed men stormed the area to rob residents of their properties and cash. The raid lasted from 1.30 am till after 3.00 a.m.
One of the victims, names withheld, was awoken from his sleep when he heard a loud noise on the gate of his neighbour.
“I was scared, but still got out of my bed to find out what had happened as the noise, though loud enough to be heard by many, was heard by only a few as many were deeply asleep,” he said.
From the window where he peeped, he could see from about nine blocks away that all the robbers were armed with different guns, while only one of them wore a mask. Quietly, the now scared landlord tip-toed to his wife and family, to inform them of the presence of their August visitors. He hid his family in the kitchen store, locked the key, and went back to his sitting room where he awaited the arrival of the robbers.
“I had left the door unlocked, so they came in without struggle. They asked for my money, computer and phones. I told them that all we had were before them. They took everything and escaped. Truth be told, the police tried, but those robbers got away. They could have caught some of them if they knew their way around Arapaja,” said the man.
Early next day when residents gathered together to discuss the robbery, it was learnt that many who didn’t have enough money were viciously beaten and left bleeding on one part of the body and another. An Alsatian dog, known to be active by many residents, was sprayed with a compound that demobilised it.
“The dog was just looking sheepishly and couldn’t even bark all through the robbery, even the next day. We were now able to see that they had cut their ways through walls, fences, and even through roofs, into many houses. Those who didn’t open their gates on their own were beaten and severely injured.
A victim, Mrs Abosede Oladipo’s psyche has been badly affected since her home was raided on December 8, 2016. The attack struck so much fear in her that she no longer lives in the house she and her husband built.
“When seven young boys, armed with guns and machetes, bursted into our home after hacking down the door with a sledge hammer, I turned jelly inside immediately they entered. I was with two of my daughters and was sorely afraid what they might do,” she said.
For a while, the robbers were not interested in the beautiful girls. After having stolen cash, phones, laptops, TV and videos, one of the robbers turned to one of the young girls and asked that she should give him her wrist watch. The mother screamed, “please, in Jesus name, do not touch her.”
Without a care about her life, Mrs Oladipo, who thought the robber instructed her daughter to take off her clothes, jumped in front of him, ignoring his gun, and began to plead. Her God did not fail her as the robber only forcibly removed the watch and left with the others. All these took place within an hour. Frightened neighbours did not come to the aid of the hapless family. It was the next day that she learnt that eight house were simultaneously robbed the previous night.
“I couldn’t sleep till the following evening. My daughters have left the house. They only come around in the day. Every day, the picture still comes to my mind and anytime I hear any loud noise at nights, I get frightened,” she narrated to Sunday Tribune.
Fearful of the return of the armed robbers, Sunday Tribune learnt that worried landlords contribute N1,000 each daily for Police to parade their streets at nights. Some even contribute N20,000 per house and collectively raise between N200,000 and N350,000 monthly to give police officers to help provide security. Those who did not have security guards before have now taken steps to get some.
Reacting to the rising cases of robberies in Oyo State, especially Ibadan, the Public Relations Officer of the state police command, Mr Adekunle Ajisebutu, said the police was doing everything it could to ensure peace and safety of lives of residents in the state.
While reacting to criticism against the police for failing to live up to expectations during robbery attacks, Ajisebutu said: “Despite all the negative things being said about the police, Oyo State has been among the most peaceful states in the country. But policing a society is not the duty of only the police. We act on information. Nobody says anything about the police when robberies, assassinations or kidnappings are averted or solved, and we do these daily, at the risk of our lives.
“But now that you have specifically mentioned Ehin Grammar, Felele, Boluwaji, Ilupeju, among others, we shall flag these areas and work harder on them,” he said during a recent parley with Tribune journalists.
IN November 2015 barely six months after assumption of office, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State donated equipment worth almost N5 billion to the police and other security agencies in the state. The governor, while presenting the equipment, expressed his commitment to the security of lives and properties in the state, emphasising that security was one of the cardinal programmes of his administration.
Among the equipment donated to the police then were two gun boats, 15 armoured personnel carriers (APCs), revolving lights, siren, 100 4-door salon cars, 55 Ford Ranger pick-ups, 10 Toyota land cruiser pick-ups, 15 BMW power bikes, 100 power bikes, Isuzu trucks, three helicopters and public address system, vehicular radio communicators, security gadgets including bullet proof vests, helmets, handcuffs, uniforms, kits.
On paper no other state in the country has supported the security forces like Lagos State has done and the current support did not just start with the present administration. It started way back to the current republic starting in May 1999 with the administration of Senator Bola Tinubu.
Also as part of Governor Ambode’s efforts to strengthen security in the state, the Task Force on the Environment and Other Related offences has been reorganised. Between May 2015 when he assumed office and now, there have been at least three chairmen heading the security outfit.
A very close source to the governor’s office, who pleaded anonymity while speaking with the Sunday Tribune, said “the governor changed the chairmen of the task force in quick succession because he did not get the expected result from them. The governor is very passionate about security.”
After the donation of the billions of naira worth of security equipment, the governor has continued to procure more patrol vans and other security equipment for the police and other law enforcement agencies on a yearly basis.
Just recently, the governor inaugurated the Neighbourhood Safety Corps with 5,700 corps members to complement the efforts of the police in the state. The take-off of the newly – inaugurated outfit christened Neighbourhood Watch was accompanied with 117 vehicles equipped with state-of-the-art gadgets, 377 motorcycles, 4000 bicycles, metal detectors and other operational equipment.
Last year, the Lagos State government announced plans to install 13,000 close circuit television (CCTV) cameras across the state as well as 6,000 street lights and security sensors for surveillance and crime prevention and to improve the impact of emergency and disaster management across the state.
Though a similar project initiated by the federal government in 2010 to the tune of $470 million and awarded to a Chinese company to install 2,000 cameras in Abuja and Lagos has failed woefully, that of Lagos State government has endured and is being put to use.
Already, the mobile surveillance unit of the CCTV project was deployed on the streets of Lagos in April. The anti-crime CCTV cameras, managed by the operatives of the Lagos state Rapid Response squad (RRS) with technical assistance from the Lagos state Response Unit (LRU) have already recorded success with the arrest of a pickpocket at Oshodi area of the state.
and then