Residents and shop owners in Ojo area were thrown into panic on Friday after a gang of armed men attacked shops and dispossessed passersby of their valuables along LASU Road.
It was gathered that the incident occurred at about 11 am in the Iyana
School and First Gate areas of the community.
According
to eyewitness accounts, the assailants, who were about 15 in number, were
heavily armed with guns and machetes.
A
resident of the area who identified himself simply as Omowunmi said while some
people ran for safety, others were not as lucky as they were robbed in the
process.
She
said, “We did not know where they emerged from; we just saw them all dressed in
black and displaying different weapons, including guns and machetes.
“Some
of them also wore nose masks. They started from First Gate down towards Iyana
School. They were approaching people randomly while people ran for safety.”
Another
eyewitness, who did not want his name in print due to security reasons, said
the gang also stormed several shops, including a popular supermarket in the
area, carting away goods and cash.
“While
the robbery and assault were ongoing, some traders quickly locked up their
shops, while others abandoned their businesses and ran for safety. They entered
some of the shops, including a supermarket, and took away goods and cash,” the
source added.
Residents
in the area lamented that the hoodlums carried out the operation for several
minutes unchallenged.
They
also explained that there was no immediate security intervention despite the
closeness of a police station to the location where the incident occurred.
“First,
we were surprised that such an incident was happening in broad daylight. More
worrisome is the fact that the operation lasted for several minutes without
police intervention.
“A
police station is just about three minutes away from where the incident
happened, and no officer was in sight while the boys continued robbing,” a
resident, Pius Oleme, said.
Oleme
said business owners now operate in fear of a possible return of the armed gang
to the area after the incident.
An X
user, @ThatOjoBoy, posted a video of the incident, in which one of the armed
men, wielding a machete, was seen harassing passersby while also trying to
catch up with passengers in a commercial bus.
“A
lady captured this video yesterday, crying and begging the bus driver to move
as armed men with cutlasses and guns stormed Iyana School in broad daylight
along LASU Road, Ojo, Lagos,” he wrote.
When
contacted for a reaction on Monday, the state Police Public Relations Officer,
Abimbola Adebisi, said the incident stemmed from a clash between two factions
of the National Union of Road Transport Workers in an attempted takeover of a
bus park in the community. She added that this was later hijacked by hoodlums.
“It
was the National Union of Road Transport Workers that was fighting. A section
wanted to take over the park in the area, while the other section confronted
them. We were able to take charge of the situation, but hoodlums took advantage
at the 1st gate area. One person was arrested and handed over to Command
Special Squad 1.”.
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