By Francis Ogwo
Residents of Iju ,a sprawling community in Ifako Ijaiye Local Government of Lagos State have lost sleep in a bid to protect their neighbourhood from robbery attacks by hoodlums.
On sunday,while the easter festivity was marked indoors and low keyed due to the lockdown order of the State and Federal Government,the peaceful atmosphere of Iju, a border town between Lagos and Ogun in the Ifako Ijaiye Local Government was disturbed.
News had filtered the air that the dreaded hoodlums who many reports say were Awawa cultists invaded the community sending people to scamper for safety of their lives and properties.
This brought an immediate halt to the festive clustering of residents marking the Easter and replaced with an immediate mobilisation for a repel of the attack.
Within an hour the streets were filled with cutlass wielding and battle ready residents who do not want a repeat of what happened in Agbado ,Jankara and Sango areas of the state.
Before the dust could settle,Galilee,a hilly neighborhood close to the Ogundimu area before the Grailland hills in Ajuwon had been attacked with many counting tales of woe and the hoodlums carting away properties.The attack, though repelled had sent shivers down th spines of residents who were taken unawares by the attackers.
KaftanPost gathered that the attack on Galilee was not too successful as there was a level of awareness of the modus operandi of the attackers who move in a large crowd wielding guns and other dangerous weapons.
John Kayode is a middle age man who runs a bet shop around the Guru bustop of the area.He shared his experience.
” I have never been this scared in my life before.I have just spent a year and half in Lagos.
“The youths came in large numbers about fifty armed with deadly weapons.I thought it was a gang fight and continued with my work until I heard a big bang on my door and a voice saying I should bring all the money I had made for the day.
“I ran out in fear and left my shop open.Luckily for me ,some OPC(Oodua People’s Congress) members within my shop area chased them away”.
John’s account is not different from Sade Akanni’s as she escaped rape in whiskers while returning from her shop where she sells alcoholic drinks.
” I went to get some wines for a customer from my shop close to my house.I didn’t sense any danger coming until I received a slap from behind and a hand held me by the waist and raised my skirts.I forced the skirt down and within seconds a group of young guys snatched my phone and the money I clutched in my hands.It took me some time to know they were the dreaded robbers everyone talked about.
“I held my ears and crawled to the side of the road and watched them troop down into the street and burgling houses and shops along their paths,” she added.
While speaking to a group of armed residents of Obawole who had in a move to scare the invaders from the neighborhood mobilised into large vigilante groups,many said the best way to help the neighborhood was to avoid total trust in the police who haven’t been quick in response since the recent attacks in the border towns.
Joshua Oni is a security guard in one of the houses in Obawole . According to him,there won’t be a repeat of the Ogun attacks in the neighborhood.
” We are all out on the streets to defend ourselves.What happened in Jankara ,Ijoko and Alagbado is devastating.We have learnt our lessons and are ready for them”.
A fortnight ago, the boys who many refered to as Awawa Boys suddenly had invaded Jankara in Ojokoro Local Government and raided the market with valuables carted away.
The hoodlums numbering above 50 according to random headcounts from previous attacks surrounded the market and scared away the traders with gushots before carting away goods and valuables.
Information revealed that the sit at home order had made it difficult for the hoodlums to successfully operate in the sorrounding neighborhood of Ifako Ijaiye.
KaftanPost spoke with some respondents who said it would have been worst if people were not home.
Helen Akor is a banker who said her neighbourhood is a bit safer since the lockdown as she could sleep confidently knowing that her male neighbours were home.
” I am the luckiest person in this lockdown as I can sleep with two eyes shut.My neighbours play music till dawn and that gives me confidence that no one will harrass my apartment.
“What if we were not told to sit at home?I am not sure I would have been home at this time of the attacks.I am so scared”
This account has been the view of many who said it has been nightmare for residents of the border town communities of Ogun and Lagos.
“It has been sleepless nights for residents of Alagbado and Ojokoro Area because of the Awawa Boys. We have an option of coordinating ourselves and starting a vigilante group.
“We stay awake all night to repel them when they come since our policehave failed us,” the respondent who pleaded anonymity added.
This attack is coming after the Jankara, Kola,Agege, and Egbeda attacks which many say revisits the issue of security in Nigeria and unemployment.
