Armed robbers have attacked residents of a premises in Ajegunle, a suburb in Lagos State, causing a pregnant woman to go into labour and deliver the next day.
The bandits, numbering about six, were said to have arrived at the residence at Oduduwa Street at about 2.30am.
About three of the robbers allegedly scaled the fence of the building, while the other three were said to have waited at the main entrance of the building, banging the door forcefully.
The other hoodlums that scaled the fence also opened the entrance door from inside to allow the other members of the gang to join them in the robbery.
One of the suspects shouted: “Kill anybody! Shoot anybody! Ole! Ole! Residents, come outside, armed robbers are in the premises.”
Our correspondent gathered that none of the residents came out from their various apartments.
One of the tenants, Happiness Okechukwu, disclosed that he shouted as they were banging at the door: “Who’s that! Who’s that! Don’t you have a name?”
Okechukwu said at that juncture, one of the robbers shouted: “Release the bullet for them.”
He said one the hoodlums fired some shots into the air; that was when he also peeped from a hole and it dawned on him that they were armed robbers. He said he could not utter a word anymore and only waited for his turn to be robbed by the hoodlums. But fortunately for him, they did not even knock at the door of any his room and parlour apartment.
But there was a mild drama as the robbers attempted to gain entrance into one of the apartments.
A tenant, James Onofua and his wife, Taiye, said they had to push their doors from the inside against the suspected robbers, who were doing the same from outside in an attempt to break into their apartment.
Onofua said that the bandits managed to push one of his legs inside the one-room apartment, but when he heard the voice of his last child, shouting “where’s the cutlass, let me chop off his leg,” the hoodlum quickly withdrew his leg.
He said, “I was pushing the door with my wife from inside, while the robbers were also pushing the same door from the outside. One of the robbers pushed his leg inside and they were about succeeding, when my small daughter shouted, ‘Where’s the cutlass. Get me the cutlass let me cut off his leg.’ The robber quickly withdrew his leg. As we were pushing the door from inside, the hoodlums hit the door on my face, injuring me in the eye region and mouth.”
His wife, Taiye, said that their nine-month pregnant daughter, Micah, wanted to jump out from the window, but the burglar proof made that impossible. She then tried to hide under the bed, but her advanced pregnancy did not allow her to do that.
Taiye said, “My pregnant daughter, Micah, wanted to jump out from the window. I saw her climbing the window burglar proof as if it was a ladder. I shouted at her. ‘What are you doing?’ She climbed down from it. She later decided to try whether she could hide herself under the bed, but there was no space for her there, too. She was so scared and did not know what to do.”
Taiye said because of the fear and pressure of the incident, Micah went into labour and delivered a baby girl the next day.
“After the incident, Micah was still in fear and shock due to what happened and the next day, she gave birth to a baby girl. I thank God nobody was killed during the robbers’ attack. They also did not succeed in entering our room,” she said.
A widowed tenant, simply identified as Mama Sandra, said, “When I heard them hitting the door, I woke my four children up to tell them that armed robbers were in the compound. We carried my sewing machine and placed it at the back of the door. My first daughter and I were pushing the sewing machine against the door while the robbers were pushing the same door from the outside. My first son, Daniel, picked up a large spoon used in frying ‘akara’ and was saying ‘today is today. I will smash and cut off somebody’s head with this.’ But the robbers did not succeed in entering our room.”
When the robbers wanted to gain entrance into Mr. Umar’s room, he said his wife hid under the bed, adding, “My wife hid under the bed as I was also pushing the door from the inside. But when I later looked back to see the position of my wife, I could not see her again on top of the bed. I was shocked at first. I called her, and she responded from under the bed: ‘mnnnh.’ When I put my hand under the bed, I caught one of her legs and pulled her out. She melted and was so scared.”
A woman, who identified herself simply as Blessing, said it was not up to a month that robbers scaled the fence of the same house and robbed her of her mobile phone in her room.
Blessing, a nursing mother, who lives in the boys’ quarters of the house, said, “This will make it the second time within one month that robbers would break into my room. My husband had gone to work in both cases. This last one, they kicked the door open. They were searching for money and phone, but they did not find anything to steal.
“As they were searching, they saw my hand bag, thinking that there would be money in it, they took it away, only for them to dump it in front of the house when they did not find anything to steal from it. It was the first one that they came to only my room that they succeeded in stealing my mobile phone. My husband has not bought another one for me,” she complained.
When the robbers kicked door of another room belonging to Augustina’s uncle, the door opened. Augustina, Matilda and their uncle were the only people at home. They succeeded in dispossessing the uncle of his phone. The robbers did not succeed in entering other rooms. All their efforts to do so proved abortive.
One of the brave men residing in the compound who identified himself as Baba Fawaz said,”I had to pick up my long cutlass and brandished it to the robbers, threatening to kill any robber that enter my room. I told them that before they would kill me I wmust kill at least two of them One of them told others that this man must be a madman. They said that I was not normal and they left my room which was wide open for them to
enter.”
Policemen attached to the Ajegunle Police Station did not get information on the robbery incident on time because of poor network. But immediately they got across to the Divisional Police Officer of the station, CSP Sunday Digha, on his mobile phone, he swiftly led a team of policemen to the scene.
But before the arrival of the police, the suspected robbers had scaled the fence and escaped.
