Some victims of Iyana Iba
Market robbery, which occurred on Friday in broad daylight, have
revealed how robbers attacked and carted away their wares.
Recalling the events of
that Friday, some of them explained that they lost huge sums of money.
This was even as they disclosed that the suspected robbers, numbering over 20,
stormed the market around 1 p.m.
The robbers, who stormed
the Iyana-Iba Market, located in Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos, were
alleged to have carted away phones and money.
Reacting to the
incident on Friday, Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO),
Olarinde Famous-Cole, said that it was not really a robbery.
According to him, the
marauding men were suspected cult members from the Lagos State University, Ojo,
Lagos (LASU), whom, after their final examination, entered the market and started
harassing and extorting people. He disclosed that 11 students of the university
were arrested in connection with the crime.
Speaking on
Saturday with our correspondent, one of the victims, Ogechi Ibe, trading
in phones, said that she lost all her goods after the robbers stormed her
selling point.
According to her, when
one of the armed robbers walked to her stand, she thought he was a customer.
She came out and welcomed him with a smile.
Ibe said: “As I was
waiting for him to point to the phone he wanted, so that we could start
negotiation, he broke into my show glass. I shouted and asked him what was his
problem; he flipped his shirt and showed me the butt of a gun. I nearly
urinated on my body. I was so scared. I had never experienced such a thing
before in my life. He packed 17 set of phones, including Android phones, screen
touch and button phones and disappeared.”
Ibe explained that she had
been to the police station to complain and had also written a
statement. She said some hours after leaving the station; she
received a call from the police. She was told that some of the suspected
robbers had been arrested.
She narrated: “I went
back to the police station with other traders who were also robbed. The people
police arrested are students of LASU. When I looked at them, none of them
resembled the men that attacked and robbed us. For me, they should allow the
students to go. If government wants to do something, they should come and help
us with money. I just borrowed over N300, 000 to buy goods because of December
rush. I don’t know what to do, where to go or who to run to for assistance.”
Another phones seller,
Irene Michael, said that she was still reeling in shock. She said that it was
right in her presence that the robbers stormed the market and started shooting
into the air.
Michael said:
“Immediately they finished shooting into the air, one of the armed robbers used
his bare hands to break my show glass. He carted away all my
phones. The shattered show glass injured his hand. It was this
morning that I washed his bloodstains off. The armed robber slapped my younger
sister, Blessing. He slapped her because she tried to remove his hands from the
show glass. I was just looking at the robbers. I couldn’t do anything.”
An eyes witness, Isah, a
shoemaker, said that he scampered for safety immediately the robbers started
shooting.
Isah said: “It was clear
that the armed robbers came solely for the phone sellers.”
Another eyewitness, Mr.
Stephen Nwaeze, said that the armed robbers didn’t bother to enter the main
market; rather, they concentrated on traders selling phones in show glasses by the
roadside.
Michael disclosed that
the incident didn’t last for more than 10 minutes.
His words: “Immediately I
heard the gunshot, I laid face down in my shop. At my age and my experience, I
don’t just run without knowing where bullets are coming from. I was in my shop,
watching people running left and right. It’s very dangerous to run like that.”
LASU’s Head, Centre for
Information, Press and Public Relations, Ademola Adekoya, denied that the
robbers were students of LASU. He noted that it was bad for people
to come up with allegations, without first investigating or verifying an
incident.
Adekoya said: “It can
never be students of our university; our students had never done such before
and couldn’t start now. If those police arrested are students of LASU and are
part of those that robbed the market, then the police should report to the
school authority. The school will investigate, and if it’s true, the students
would be dismissed.”
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