- Attack third in six months – Residents
Armed robbers at the weekend invaded Iju-Ishaga community, in the Ifo Local Government area of Ogun State, killing the leader of guards deployed in the area.
The deceased, Kolawole Ayorinde, was recently posted to the locality under the aegis of Vigilante Group of Nigeria, following complaints of persistent robberies in the neigbourhood. He had his head smashed with a sledge hammer, as attempts by the robbers to silence him with gunshots reportedly failed.
The robbers, said to have numbered about 10, and were fully armed with guns, knives, cudgels and other dangerous weapons, also injured no fewer than 15 residents of the area, before making away with sums estimated at over a million naira.
The Point gathered that the attack on the area, which occurred at about 3:00 am, was the third in six months, even as hoodlums killed two night guards and a resident of the area, only three months ago.
According to some residents who spoke with The Point, trouble started when the robbery gang laid siege to Abikeola Street in Ishaga, apparently acting on a tip-off that someone had just bought two new cars in the area.
Our correspondent, at the scene of the robbery where the head of the vigilance group was killed, gathered that several residents of Abikeola Street, especially those of Number 14, were raided in the operation.
It was in an effort to repel the robbers that the head of the vigilantes, who shot at some of the robbers, was ambushed by a section of the hoodlums, who overpowered him, tying him up and allegedly shooting at him several times, it was
learnt.
“But apparently realising that the gunshots did not penetrate because the guard had a ‘native bullet-proof device’, they smashed his head with a hammer,” one of the residents, who preferred anonymity, said.
Findings by our correspondent also revealed that another member of the vigilance group, simply identified as Atupa, who also joined in confronting the robbery gang, sustained severe injuries.
Atupa is now receiving treatment at a private hospital within the community.
The Community Development Association chairman for the area, Mr Adekunle Oguntade, said, “The robbers have been giving us problems. In the last six months, we have had them visiting our area in not less than three times with several people being killed.”
Speaking of the attack, which led to the death of the head of the vigilance group recruited by his CDA, Adekunle explained that “they killed him by hitting his head with a sledge hammer after several gunshots which didn’t penetrate him.
“Valuables of the victims, such as phones, laptops and money were carted away by the robbers, and the robbers were said to number about 10.”
Meanwhile, some residents have also said the attack was in connection with a church, which had its anniversary recently with huge sums of money realised.
It was gathered that some of the church members, who newly bought cars, were the first set of people to be raided.
Corroborating the claim, one of the victims of the attacked houses, Mr. Adekunle Ogunleye, said, “It was at about 3: 00 am in the morning that the robbers came in. They ordered us to open the door and bring all the money gathered during the anniversary. They said I was a ‘yahoo boy’, and I said, ‘but you know that I am a barber.’ They hit me with a gun butt and asked me to bring out money. They searched the whole house and also went to all my neighbours’ apartments in the compound.”
Also speaking, Bello Abayomi, the landlord of the major house attacked, said, “I heard them say to one of the victims in the other apartment that he was the pastor, that he should bring the cars’ keys and all the money got from the anniversary.
“On suspecting they were armed robbers, my wife and I forced our way through the backdoor. In the course of running, she broke her leg. We ran a long distance and there was nobody to save us. Before then, we had called the police thrice but they didn’t come until 6:30 in the morning.”
When contacted, the Ogun State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident.
He maintained that “the command was on top of the matter and would do everything to apprehend perpetrators of the crime.”
