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| Pako Community |
But when our correspondent visited Obadore at the weekend, it was discovered that most of the residents had fled their homes as shooting continued. Some of the remaining residents said they were living in fear.
The community was as silent a graveyard. Many residents locked up their houses and fled. Shops were also shut as nobody, vehicle or motorcycle plied the Obadore-Pako Road where the mayhem took place.
On Thursday, 11 policemen, attached to the Anti-Vandalism Task Force, embarked on an illegal operation. The operation was led by a Deputy Superintendent of Police. They went to Obadore area, where pipeline vandalism is high.
The idea was apparently to make money from the vandals. Knowing they were on illegal operation, they booked at Igando Police Station, claiming to be detachment of policemen from the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit.
They said they came all the way from the Abuja on the directive of the IG, Solomon Arase, to carry out the operation. However, when they got to the site of the vandalism, they arrested a female vandal and demanded N10 million. She implored them to accept N1 million, but they refused.
After much haggling, they settled for N5 million. The lady made a call. They were unaware that she had called her cronies. Before the policemen knew what was happening, vandals, armed with pump action rifles, appeared from nowhere and started shooting them.
Four policemen died instantly while two were badly wounded. Other policemen bolted, including their leader, the DSP. The vandals took away the bodies of the policemen and six AK47 rifles belonging to the dead and wounded policemen. Shooting continued in the community through Friday and Saturday after Arase ordered the arrest and detention of the DSP. Meanwhile, Arase had also directed that operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos investigate the matter.
The SARS men have, however, arrested the female vandal who made the call that led to the bloodbath. One of the residents, who gave his name simply as Gozie, said: “Gunshots have continued through Friday and today (Saturday). Police have regrouped and are shooting sporadically.
The vandals also have been coming out from their hideouts, to shoot into the air. “Some of the vandals also boldly came out from their hideouts, shooting into the air, to pack their jerry cans of fuel which they had hidden. Many people are no longer sleeping in their houses. They have fled. “What we heard was that the vandals had scooped fuel at Jegemu community and came to Pako to pack them into their LT bus and Diana truck. Suddenly police came. Maybe they got information. When the vandals sighted the police, they ran away. They, however, came back with reinforcement.
They were fully armed and opened fire on the police. “You know police do not know the place very well, but the vandals know all the tracks in the swampy bush. In the process, some policemen were killed and their bodies were taken away by the vandals.”
Another resident, Ismaili, said: “We are still afraid because of what happened on Thursday. These oil thieves have been operating every day, but we have not seen this kind of clash before. We are praying for peace, but it seemed that only divine intervention can heal this land and help us.”
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