Sango Ota Under-the-Bridge is a busy suburb in Ogun State and is fast becoming a rendezvous for suspected hoodlums and street urchins now taking advantage of the non-existence of street lights and the darkness that usually envelops the area at night to perpetrate their nefarious activities.
Lately, no week passes without a complaint about snatch-and-grab incident by some residents and travelers alike, especially those who have the cause to pass through the area late in the night.
A week long investigation by our correspondent revealed that an average of two attacks on innocent individuals by these anti-social elements were being reported to the police in the area on a weekly basis.
It was observed that even the presence of a patrol vehicle around the intersection under the bridge could not deter the hoodlums, who appear to have become more emboldened and daring in their operations.
Our correspondent also observed that the streetlights adorning the road around the bridge were no longer functioning as some of the poles and their bulbs had been vandalised by unknown persons.
Some residents, who spoke with our correspondent, said that generally Sango usually had its own fair share of the electricity blackout that has always left the entire town in darkness.
“The few, who could afford it, especially shop owners, use generators to light up the area. But the generators would be switched off and the shops locked as soon as it is 10 pm. By eleven in the night, the bad boys would take over and start their operations,” noted Iskilu Adeleye, who recently lost a mobile phone to some hoodlums at the foot of the bridge, while waiting for a bus to take him to Lagos.
Some Sango residents attributed the development in the area to the massive relocation of people from Lagos, following the demolition of the shanties at Oshodi-a burgeoning ghetto that the administration of former governor Babatunde Fashola saw as a no-go area and a threat to law-abiding citizens.
“When Governor Fashola cleaned up the shanties at Oshodi and later turned things around, with stone-eyed Task Force officials to man the area, the hoodlums fled, only for them to reassemble at Sango. Today, Sango is the headquarters of street urchins, street-smart thieves and other undesirable elements”, a resident, Idowu Oshodi, said.
Oshodi claimed that Sango Ota was fast becoming a zone for sleaze as crime rate in the area, especially homicide, kept rising.
“Of course, murder cases in this area could either be occasioned by offences against property or rituals for quick wealth,” he said.
He added that criminals would always take undue advantage of the darkness in the area to commit crimes such as car-jacking, assault, rape and burglary due to the non-availability of functional street lights.
Also speaking with our correspondent, Miss Uche Nwokeafor, a mobile phone seller near the foot of the bridge, said that her shop was once overrun by suspected hoodlums, who cashed-in on cult-induced riots that paralysed commercial activities in the area.
According to her, “There was a murder case said to have involved a cult group. People were running helter-skelter only for the hoodlums to suddenly stray into shops, which they looted. I lost five expensive phones. I counted myself lucky as others lost more valuables, when the dust finally settled.”
Investigations further revealed that the early morning rush has equally led to the loss of valuables as pick-pockets do ‘brisk business,’ stealing from unsuspecting individuals trying to board vehicles.
The thieves would pretend to be intending passengers waiting at bus stops while on the lookout for their victims. They usually shove genuine passengers while using handkerchiefs to shield their fingers as they pick their pockets.
Some of the pickpockets, according to findings, were known to have used razor blades to cut victims’ pockets before emptying them. Their targets would only usually discover later while the giggling thieves would quickly slip away with their ‘loot’ and melt into the crowd within a twinkle of an eye.
Mr. Festus Olookoba, who once fell victim to thieves at Sango, narrated how he was trailed from his hotel room at the Oju-Oore axis by a four-man gang that later robbed him at the foot of the bridge and left him with an injury on his cheeks.
“I was beaten blue-black before I finally surrendered my wallet that contained my identity card and a sum of N4000. A man, who took pity on me, pretending to be helping me, was later discovered to be part of the gang as he insisted on knowing how much the wallet contained. The man disappeared shortly afterwards,” he said.
Checks at the Sango Police Station revealed that most of the cases involving suspected hoodlums in the recent past were mobile phone-grabbing at either knife point or the use of what our source called “composer,” otherwise known as “gun replica” to frighten victims into submission.
However, the source added that a good number of cases involving suspected thieves at Sango were never reported to the police as victims cannot fathom how their highly priced lost items could be recovered.
“May be many of these cases were never reported to us”, the police officer said.
However, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said, “Authorities have deployed enhanced patrol vehicles to areas considered as black spots throughout the state.
According to Oyeyemi, an assistant superintendent of police, “The idea is meant to check the nefarious activities of criminals in the state. No criminal will ever dare to commit a crime in the presence of police officers; which is why the presence of our officers are felt everywhere in the state.”
The police spokesman added that it is the civic responsibility of the citizens to report suspected criminal activities to the police, wondering why people shy away from their responsibilities.
“Always report criminal activities in your area to us. Criminals live within your neighbourhood and we are no magicians to fish them out, unless you tell us,” he said.
