Serious robbery attacks have rocked Ondo State, stopping churches in the communities from holding vigils.
Men of the Nigeria Police Force
The residents of Akure, the Ondo State capital have called on the state governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu and the state commissioner of police, Mrs. Hilda Harrison to save them from incessant robbery attacks which according to them occurred on daily basis, Punch Metro reports.
It was gathered that some of the areas in the capital city which always experience such robbery attacks included, Leo, Fanibi, Lafe, Ondo Road, Olusegun Agagu Road among others.
The residents said, in order not to fall victim of robbery attacks, many churches in the affected areas had stopped organizing daily, weekly and monthly vigils.
It would be recalled that in March some churches were invaded by some gangs of robbers during a vigil, carting away the offerings of the churches worth millions of naira.
One of the residents who spoke with Punch Metro on Sunday on condition of anonymity complained that the two police divisions in the affected areas were full of reports of the activities of the bandits on the residents, yet there was no solution to the problem from the police command.
She explained that the robbers usually spent hours to operate at the areas without any interruption, alleging that the police would not arrive the robbery scenes until when the robbers had left.
According to her, many residents of the affected areas had lost their valuables worth millions of naira to the hoodlums .
She said, “We are always helpless whenever the robbers strike because if we call the police they would not come until the robbers have left. That is why we are calling on Governor Akeredolu to assist us, robbery has now become a regular occurrence in our area.
“The robbers did not even have respect for God again because they also attacked churches, that is why many churches don’t hold vigil again, this is not good for this state. ”
In his reaction however, the Public Relations Officer of the command, Mr. Femi Joseph urged the resident to call on the Divisional Police Officers in their area whenever there is robbery attack, he had given the telephone lines of the control room and that of the D.P.O to the people .
He said, “We have to appeal to our people, I have given the telephone numbers of the four D.P.Os we have in Akure and if any one of them did not respond, the people should report him at the police headquarters."
Joseph insisted that the command was doing everything possible to ensure the capital city was free of robbery day and night.