A daring robbery attack has taken place at one of the highbrow areas in the city of brown roofs without the intervention of the police.
File Photo
Suspected armed robbers attacked residents of Tella Estate in the Akobo area of Ibadan, Oyo State, on Saturday in a reportedly coordinated operation that lasted several hours.
Residents said the seven-man gang arrived at the residential estate a few minutes after 12am and raided one house after another, carting away valuable items belonging to the residents.
It was also gathered that a large number of residents were injured in the attack. Several expended cartridges were found at the scene of the raid, while a private guard, identified simply as Victor, received machete cuts to his head from the suspected robbers.
Chairman of the landlord association in the area, Basiru Shodeyinde, said the incident was reported at the Akobo Police Station.
Shodeyinde said, “From the information I have, the robbers have been in the community since midnight. I was not aware until around 2am when a fellow landlord called me on the telephone to inform me about the attack.
“I called other landlords to inform them of the incident in the community. It was then that I became aware that they had attacked seven houses. They carted away mobile phones, laptops, iPad and other valuables. They collected money from their victims.
“We have reported the incident at the Akobo Police Station around 10am on Saturday and we were given a police officer to inspect the damage the robbers did to our people. Though we couldn’t get the police at the period of the attack, we have been given numbers to dial in case we have such experience again.”
A victim of the attack, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the armed robbers wore masks, adding that after he gave them everything he had, they threatened to kill him if he did not give them more. He added that his wife was hit with the butt of a gun by one of the robbers.
He said, “They had almost removed the window’s burglar-proof bars when my wife woke up. She told them that she would open the door and she did so. We gave them all the money we had so that they would not harm us. But they told me to bring more money or they would kill me. I said there was no money and they pointed their gun at me, but my wife confronted them and she was hit with a gun butt. She is in a hospital now.”
The Public Relations Officer of the Oyo State Police Command, Adekunle Ajisebutu, said nobody made any distress call to the police while the attack lasted despite the fact that police authorities released telephone numbers to every community in the state.
He said the attack was reported around 2pm on Saturday, adding that the Divisional Police Officer in the area had been told to ensure the patrol of the area. He said investigation was ongoing.