Bloody Sunday robberies in Lagos: robbers breached police network

*IGP visits five women police officers injured on Peacekeeping Mission

The inspector General of Police, (IGP), Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, yesterday in Lagos State, reacted on the bloody Sunday robberies, saying that the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), was definitely not losing the battle against robbers. 

This was even as emerging facts revealed that the robbers who went on the rampage on Sunday afternoon, killing three policemen and injuring about four persons, were able to escape police radar and evade arrest because they were monitoring police chase-strategy via police radio.

A senior police officer, who described the gunmen as spirits, said the robbers evaded arrest because they knew all the points, channels, where police squads were waiting and ably avoided those points.

The senior police officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, revealed that when it dawned on the police authourity that the robbers had breached their Walkie-Talkie frequency, police hierarchy immediately ordered that all policemen should start making use of their mobile handsets. But by the time the order came, the robbers had painted the town red and made good their escape.

Just as the Lagos command was taking stock of his gains and losses, the state Commissioner of Police, Prince Umar Manko, had vowed to catch the robbers if it was the last thing he ever did.

Another police source told the Nigerian Compass that the IGP narrowly escaped running into the robbers yesterday at about 4pm, when he left the airport.

The source said: “We were with the IGP, and ran into the robbers at Computer Village in Ikeja.  We were coming from the airport. The time was around 4pm. People said the robbers were in Armada jeep; it was actually a highlander jeep. In fact, some Okada men chased after them. Even the IG didn’t know what was happening. We were coming from behind in the convoy and had to stop briefly. If not for that, we might not have sighted them. We wanted to open fire, but we didn’t know what the consequences might be. You don’t leave a convoy, you know.”

Meanwhile the IG, who was at the 68 Nigerian Army reference hospital, Yaba, Lagos State, yesterday, to see five women officers, receiving treatment at the hospital, for various degrees of injury sustained while on Peace Keeping Mission in Darfur Sudan, said that despite the fiasco of the encounter between the police and the robbers on Sunday, that the police was definitely not losing the battle against robbers.

His words: “Before I became the IGP, about eight months ago, policemen, police stations and governments facilities were being attacked. But since my assumption of office, we’ve made massive arrests. Right now, the situation is sane compared to before. This is part of the hazards of the job! When you attack armed robbers, armed robbers will attack you. But we’re not losing the battle!

Abubakar explained that on June 5, 2012, rain storm struck the camp of the Nigeria formed police unit located in Zalingei, Darfur, where the Unit was deployed as part of the United Nations/African Union Mission in Darfur. The incident which occurred in the middle of the night blew off the female living quarters, which led to many of the officers sustaining injuries.

Fielding questions from journalists after he had been received and welcome by the Chief medical Director, in charge of the hospital, Brigadier General Chukwudi Okafor, Abubakar said: “While some of the officers who were slightly injured were treated and discharged at various hospitals in Darfur and Sudan, these five officers sustained serious neck and chest injuries, as well as multiple fractures, necessitating their medical repatriation back to Nigeria on August 1, 2012 under referral to the military hospital Yaba.”

The IG thanked the army hospital for taking care of the injured officers, said he was satisfied with the quality of treatment the officers are receiving and their level of recuperation. He said that the force was footing the officers’ medical bills and would do anything humanly possible to facilitate their quick recovery. He gave the officers cash presents, adding: “We are in liaison with UNAMID to ensure you’re adequately compensated for the injuries sustained in the course of service to humanity as UN Peacekeepers in Darfur.”