A rampage by robbers taking advantage of the lockdown to move in on people and rob them has forced the deployment of the special anti-robbery squad (SARS) across Lagos on Saturday, Bala Elkana, the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) told BusinessDay.
Residents in communities near borderlines between Lagos and Ogun states have been threatened in their homes by an army of thieving teenagers spreading around to steal and loot and at gun points.
Cries about the security threat heightened on Easter Sunday as many residents took to twitter to raise an alarm over robbery attacks allegedly launched around 1 am at Amikanle Alagbado area of Ogun state. According to tweets under the hashtags #LagosUnrest and #OgunUnrest, Ogba, Ijaiye, Abule Egba, Agbado, Agege, Iyana Ipaja, Akute, Ota and Sango are communities that have suffered the attacks. As a result, many communities have resorted to self-help, wielding sticks and cutlasses to wage against further attacks.
Seun Adeogun, a resident of Abule-Egba joined his fellow youths to keep a vigil on the community on Sunday after a robbery attack two days earlier at Agbe Road, a link between the popular suburb, Ahmadiyya and Abule-Egba.
“We just started hearing a noise that they (robbers) are around. Before we knew what was happening, there were already gunshots. They entered some buildings, raped some ladies, and forced open some food items shops. They were after food, money and whatever they could get,” Adeogun explained in a phone conversation.
“We had to put ourselves together as youths because we were not sure the police would come on time. We may have to defend ourselves. We have been on red alert just to make sure that they don’t come in to attack us.”
While some of the robbers escaped, he said two were caught, and battered before being handed over to the police.
But the Police have insisted that there has been no unrest in the state as claimed on the social media, pointing out that most of the alarms raised Saturday turned out to be false.
“We got a lot of calls via social media messages, tweets, that armed robbers were knocking house to house. We have our patrol teams on the streets to keep on moving into those locations,” Bala Elkana, the PPRO said many in a telephone call.
According to him, some communities under Ogun state have been experiencing clashes among cultists in the last five days and a lot of the events there are being misrepresented as those from Lagos.
At the same time, he admitted that some of them have moved into Lagos, with miscreants already within Lagos also going on a rampage, taking advantage of the lockdown. But the force has been responding with over 70 suspects arrested as of Sunday, across the state from places including Apapa and Ilaje, Ajah.
In response to the sprouting challenge to security also, Elkana said the force has deploy its tactical unit all over Lagos. The units including the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), special task-force on social miscreants and the anti-cultism team were activated on Saturday night with operatives spread all over.
“They are out patrolling the length and breadth of Lagos to deal decisively with hoodlums who want to take advantage of this lockdown to steal or loot. We are battle-ready. We don’t have unrest in Lagos. It is the wrong word to use. These have been happening and we have dealt with them in the past. There is nothing new,” he said.
Generally, people are gripped by fear, wondering what the stay-at-home order would mean with possible robbery attacks. Critics have described the attacks as the downside of the stay-at-home, arguing that it is only a matter time before the unemployed and people who earn meagre income on a daily basis reach their limit and begin to explore alternatives harmful to other members of the public.
In an Easter message to Christians on Sunday, President Muhammadu Buhari reiterated the need for the lockdown to continue since there is currently no known vaccine against the virus. The best and most efficient way to avoid getting infected, he said, is through regular hygiene and sanitary practices as well as social distancing.
“I am very much aware of the personal and collective inconveniences suffered by our people due to measures such as restriction of movements and closure of business premises. Being ‘a matter of life and death,’ these sacrifices are in everybody’s interest to save our country from calamity,” he said.
“The welfare of our people is paramount. Accordingly, the most economically vulnerable in our communities will continue to be uppermost in our plans, and efforts will be made to supply them with basic means of survival.”
