Nation
Anxiety grows in Lagos over spreading robberies, insecurity
Adebayo Obajemu
The enforced restrictions on Ogun and Lagos in the wake of Coronavirus pandemic has brought on its wake a series of unforeseen social problems that are as threatening as the Coronavirus itself. For the past four days, a large swathes of Ado Odo-Ota and Ifo local governments in Ogun State have been gripped by robberies masquerading as cult gang war for control of territories.
According to Business Hallmark’s investigation, there had been pockets of skirmishes among rival cult groups , seven in number- which included Ilena boys, Federal boys, Lemon boys, base boys, Sahara boys, Gbese boys and Marindoti boys in the area for the past one year.
According to residents and police sources, the most deadly of the group Fesemule or Gbese is being led by a 25-year old boy nicknamed Confidence. He was said to have gone to prison last year where he spent eight months before he was released. Said to be known to the police, his group started the current skirmishes as he fought for control of more territories.
Baba Anjorin, a respected community leader in Odewale, told this newspaper that ” From day one thsee boys have been robbing innocent people. They rape our women and confiscate wares of market women.Now they are moving from one house to another robbing people. ”
As from Tuesday last week, there have been reports of robberies by these rival cult groups in parts of Lagos and Ogun . At Agbado axis in areas such as Itoki, Opeilu, Crossing, Dalemo and Adiyan, youths of these areas engaged the rampaging robbers in battle. Up to the time of this report, there has been daily vigil by residents of Ifo and Ado Oddo -Ota and parts of Lagos such as Ogba, Alimosho and AIT to wade off impending invasion by these robbers said to be teenagers and men between ages 20 to 25.
Police sources at Asking who confided in this newspaper on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak said they have mapped out strategy to curtail the activities of those hoodlums.
Earlier on Sunday, Kenneth Ebrimson, the Police Commissioner in the State, while conducting journalists
round the troubled areas after he paraded 150 suspects arrested in most of the affected areas said the command was on top of the situation.
While addressing newsmen during the parade held at Ifo Divisional Police Station, Ebrimson disclaimed the report that armed robbers had taken over some parts of Ifo and Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Areas of the state as being reported in social media.
Ebrimson said there was no report of robbery to the command by anyone in the troubled areas.
The Commissioner of Police said it was a case of cult clashes among seven rival groups within the areas as a result of the killing of one of them. But this version was contested by eyewitnesses who spoke to this newspaper at Agbado, Itoki, Odewale and Ijoko who maintained that the hoodlums though are cultists actually robbed innocent people, looted shops and raped women at will.
Ebrimson on his own said upon the receipt of information about the clashes , the command swang into action and made some arrests .
He added that the command had deployed men from Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Anti-Cultism unit, Anti-Kidnapping unit, Special forces and conventional policemen who were drawn from the Area command in Ifo and Ota.
Ebrimson explained that his men smoked the suspected criminals out of their hideouts and recovered various weapons.
According to him, eight locally made guns, 52 live catridges, eight knives, 12 handsets, two scissors, large quantity of weeds, several cutlasses, one axe and saw were recovered from the hoodlums.
He said, “The Genesis of this was from some criminal gangs that engaged in supremacy battle in Ifo and spread to Ado-Odo/Ota local government area of the state, it started on April 4, and the command tactical operation arrested some hoodlums and ammunitions.
“I want to say that there was no single case of armed robbery.”
