Ikorodu residents want police to curb robbery, cultism, hoodlums

Arase

Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase

Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase
Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase

The residents of Odogunyan in lkorodu, Lagos State have pleaded with the police to urgently curb the activities of cultists and hoodlums who daily robbed and terrorised their lives.

The residents, who raised the insecurity alarm, said on Tuesday in Ikorodu, a suburb of Lagos, that the cultists and hoodlums wielded dangerous weapons while robbing, maiming and killing them.

They told NAN that the never-do-well used guns, machetes, axes and spears to perpetrate their nefarious activities even in broad daylight.

They also expressed the belief that the hoodlums were having a field day in the area due to irregular police patrol, stressing that women were mostly affected by the attacks.

Mr James Ojo, Chairman, Landlords/Tenants Association in Odogunyan, told NAN that the security situation was very poor, noting that suspected armed robbers were always their unwanted guests.

“Armed robbers usually attack us at home and the women on the road early in the mornings at about 5:30 a.m. and at night by 10:00 p.m.

“They sometimes rape women and snatched their bags. The hoodlums also steal motorcycles and vehicles,” batteries.

“We lack police patrol in the area. The only place we witness patrol is at Odogunyan bus stop,” Ojo told NAN, noting that the Rapid Response Squad always stationed their patrol vehicle at the bus stop.

“The only time the police entered into our area was when the cultists had a clash and some persons were injured. The issue of cultism had always be serious.

“Anytime they clash, they make the area unsafe for the residents as they exchanged gun fire. Their clashes are common at Ojuemuren, Baale and Isikalu areas.”

Some of the victims of the attack by the hoodlums complained that the area was so lonely for violent crime to thrive.

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Mrs Buky Adebayo, a trader, said she was attacked on her way from church at about 6:00 a.m. in December 2014 at Ogunbela Street, Odogunyan.

She said the hoodlums attempted to rape her but for some men who came to the scene and made them to flee.

Another victim, who simply identified herself as Faith, a student with Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, said she was robbed while going to work at her place of industrial training about 5:30 a.m. on July 6.

According to her, two armed men on a moving motorcycle attacked her at Lisa Street and collected her handbag containing valuables.

Mr Fidelis Ufumwen, a civil servant, who was also robbed in the area recently, told NAN that he was returning from Victoria Island where he works when he was attacked and robbed.

NAN reports that Ikorodu had witnessed many robbery incidents, including bank robberies in the last six months.

But the Lagos State Police Command’s spokesman, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, said they were doing everything possible to secure the lives and property of all persons in the state.

Nwosu, however, said that the police could not be everywhere at the same time.

He urged the residents to assist the police by organising a community policing committee and liaise with the nearest police patrol whenever there was attack in the area.

He warned members of the public against cultism, stressing that the command was out to arrest and prosecute anyone involved in any unlawful association, particularly in Ikorodu, Mushin, Ijora, Ajegunle Toyota and Mile 2.

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