Saturday, June 8, 2013

Robber pointed gun at my one month-old baby, threatened to shoot –Victim


Mr Fatai Alao, before the attack

A  robbery incident at Aregbesola area of Agbado Crossing in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State, on Thursday morning, left four persons with gunshot injuries, with two of them in a critical condition.
Residents said the armed robbers, who were 12 in number, stormed Shonibare Crescent and Oyekola Street in the area at 1am and raided four houses. According to the residents, the robbers also carted away cash, jewellery, and handsets. In one of the houses, a Brazillian-styled (face to face) building, the robbers raided seven out of its eight apartments.  At least, eight of the assailants were reportedly armed with guns, machetes and sticks. Two of the casualties, Mr. Fatai Alao, a butcher, and Mr. Ubana Eta, who is unemployed, were both shot in the face by the assailants, and are lying in critical condition at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba. The others are a baker, who was identified as Mr. lsiaka and an unidentified man. Both men were shot in their arms, but Isiaka was reportedly discharged on Friday from the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, where he had received treatment, while the other injured person was referred to the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, from the hospital.
In the bedroom of the Alaos, the bedspread and the floor were wet with blood, while the room appeared to have been ransacked, Saturday PUNCH observed.
Since the incident, the residents of the area have been apprehensive, with many of them expressing their anger and sadness over the situation.
Alao’s wife, Mrs. Bola Alao, a petty trader, who spoke to Saturday PUNCH on the phone from LUTH, on Friday, where she was staying with her husband, said Alao’s condition could worsen if she failed to raise N160, 000 within the day.
 Speaking in tears, Bola said, “We have done so many tests already including an X-ray, but we’ve just been told to do some more medical tests and buy some things, which will cost N160, 000. We cannot afford it and I don’t know who or where to turn to for assistance. It is causing delay and they won’t attend to him again until we are able to raise the money and do the necessary things. We didn’t even struggle with the robbers; they asked for money and we gave them what we had and my jewellery.”
Residents of the neighbourhood stood in clusters, talking about the incident in a gloomy mood when Saturday PUNCH visited the community on Friday. The residents said the robbers, who were all youths in their 20s, threatened to “waste their victims” during the attack.
Alao’s landlord, Mr. Idowu Shonibare, said, “The oldest member of the gang could not have been older than 25 years. They broke the main entrance door and started breaking into each room, one after the other. They were calling each other by crazy names like Supo, Mopo, Ogidiga and so on.
“They shot Alao here and left our building for the next one. They shot two other persons on the street and another man on Oyekola Street . They also beat some people up with the flat side of their machetes and sticks.”
Eta’s 12 year-old daughter, Gloria, who also spoke to Saturday PUNCH amidst tears, recalled how her father was shot in the presence of his wife and five children.
Gloria said, “Only one of the robbers came into our place. He came in and saw us (children) first. He asked for our parents but we were all too scared to reply. When none of us could say anything, he started shouting that he would kill somebody here today if our parents didn’t come out. That woke my father and when he came out from the room, he asked the robber ‘what do you want? That was the last thing he said as the man pointed his gun at him and shot him in the face.”
Gloria said she felt “great sadness” as a result of the incident, adding that she and her younger ones were being taken care of by their uncle, Mr. Sunday Eta, in the absence of their mother who was with their father at the hospital.
Another resident, a nursing mother with a one-month-old baby, Mrs. Bowotola Ebenezer, said one of the robbers threatened to blow her baby’s head with a gun, when the hoodlums broke into their room.
Ebenezer who described the experience as “traumatic”, said her husband quickly gave the robbers the N10, 000 they had at home and begged them not to do anything rash.
“I was really scared when the man said he would kill my child. The robbers also collected N30,000 from one of our neighbours,” she said.
Concerning Alao’s situation, his landlady, Mariam Shonibare, told Saturday PUNCH that the community members had started to raise funds for the victims of the incident, particularly for Alao, who needed money urgently.
She, however, added that the community would still need outside assistance to raise the required amount.
She said, “We have started going around the community to see what we can get from everyone but it’s a poor community, so we are open to anyone who can assist us save the life of Alao. He needs money to survive and the wife has tried all she can.”
The incident also brought emergency response in the country, particularly regarding security and health, into question. Alao’s landlord, Mr. Idowu Shonibare, who was part of the team that took the victims to the hospital, described their experience as ‘very terrible”.
He said, “We first took them to the General Hospital, Ifako-Ijaiye, but surprisingly, the nurse we met there did not care at all. She turned us back and did not bother to give the victims anything or show any concern. She told us that there were others who had come before us and also did not get treated. She rudely asked us to leave and added that if the doctor should meet us there, we wouldn’t last a second before he would send us out.”
From there, Shonibare said the rescue team took the victims to the LASUTH, Ikeja, where there were no beds available for the victims.
He said, “They tried at LASUTH because they quickly attended to the victims and gave them treatment. However, it was only one of them that they asked to stay, the three others were transferred to LASU and the Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi.”
In his account, the Group Chairman, Aregbesola Community Development Association, Mr. Edward Olatunji, said that the police did not arrive until about two hours after calls were made to them.
He said, “We heard the police siren in the area like they were on patrol after about two hours that the robbers had left. This is my 29th year in this area and I had never experienced anything like that robbery incident. Even the private vigilante security outfit in the community ran away because they couldn’t withstand the firepower of the robbers.”
However, Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, in a phone conversation with Saturday PUNCH, said the Police Commissioner, Ikemefuna Okoye, had “ordered full investigation into the matter.”
He, however, added that the police did not arrive at the crime scene on time because the distress call that was made to them came late.
He said, “In Ogun, we respond swiftly to distress calls, but the police did not get the call on time. However, steps will be taken to curtail such in future. The CP has directed the Area Commander, Otta to do proper investigation. Since it was a robbery incident, the matter will also be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department and based on their report, the police might need to strengthen their presence in the area.”
PUNCH

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