By Francis Ogwo
Sleep seems to have eluded the once peaceful communities in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State since emergence of recent attacks by hoodlums.
Residents of Idi Iroko, Ijoko, Sango, Owode and other communities in the state have opted for self-help and taken their destinies in their hands by embracing community policing.
KaftanPost visited some areas in the local government in a bid to knowing the aftermath of the attacks and their survival strategies with the lockdown orders.
A visit into Ijoko town showed clusters of youths at makeshift checkpoints brandishing different weapons like cutlasses and sticks which they had armed themselves with as protection against the hoodlums who attack and cart away valuables from their victims.
The reporter was cajoled to give out some cash despite flaunting his identity card and face cap with the ‘Kaftan TV’ inscription.
They seemed to have let all hell loose in protecting themselves from the hoodlums.
With scars and tattoos all over his arms, and reddish eyes from an all-day consumption of alcohol, Kasumu Ayoola spoke to KaftanPost on their self-help security efforts.
“We have been on the streets every night since those small boys attacked our area. They were lucky we didn’t expect them so they had their way; robbing our wives of their valuables. We are waiting for them to return. We are ready.”
Another respondent who hailed from Enugu; a landlord in the area narrated thus;
“I am joining our community in this effort because the police have failed us. They don’t pick calls when we reach out to them.”
He accused the police of demanding for gratifications before coming to their safety.
“There was a day I called a police patrol team when I saw a group of young boys patrolling my house which is not fenced. The officer that picked the call was asking me what I kept for them, that they can’t spend time coming to my place and leaving empty. I was shocked and dropped the call.”
Efforts at reaching police patrol teams around to deny the allegations proved abortive as they refused to answer my phone calls. The only security personnel who spoke but pleaded anonymity said they have had misrepresentations from the media and therefore do not engage in chats with people (including news media). He insisted I go to the Commands for response.
Many residents have also accused some families of abaiting crime and hiding their wards who have questionable characters.A woman who’s son was fingered as one of the hoodlums in a recent attack; and was said to belong to a dreaded cult group in the area was almost lynched.
She denied her son’s involvement in the attacks or membership of any cult group insisting that her son has not been in the state in a while and only visited recently after the said attacks. It took the intervention of a patrol team to disperse the mob who had already started rolling in tyres.
According to most of the dwellers, the two weeks lockdown order of the government has been difficult for them as many of them survive each day through trade and transport in Lagos and its environs.
Oyemade, a driver living in the area, says the hardship on the masses has made many fall victim of the law and had clashes with enforcement agents.
“We are suffering a lot with this lockdown thing. How can you tell us to sit at home without food to eat. We have children and nursing mothers at home. How do they survive? I personally have been beaten by policemen who tried to seize food items I went to buy from Abule Egba in Lagos.”
He lamented that the fight against the virus may not be won anytime soon with the suffering people are made to experience daily.
“If we had food to eat and you tell us to stay home and lock ourselves indoors for a year, we can do it. Some people would prefer to risk the Covid-19 scare by breaking lockdown rules than to of hungers indoors”, he added.
While the general public enjoy the flow of communication from the social media, other communities have been cut off from sufficient information due to poor network signal.
Kelvin Anyaele, a businessman who lives in Atan, a community in Ado-Odo /Ota Local Government of Ogun State, has said he finds it difficult to get timely information on his phone due to poor network signal and even worse due to security scare.
“I have to go far away from my area to find reception. This has been made more difficult because of insecurity. Most times, I have to make phone calls to get updates. I can’t access Facebook and other platforms. Now that we hear of one million boys attacking our communities, it’s even more scary to go out at night”, he lamented.
Another resident in Jankara who pleaded anonymity said the number of bonfires in the community has posed great risk to their health.
“I am asthmatic and allergic to smoke. My window is directly facing a junction where bonfires are regularly made at night. I once complained about the effect on my health but no one would listen. Right now I can’t open my windows at night due to the smoke. My only saving grace is the constant light we have had over this period. How would people like me cope in this condition?” he querried.
Survival in Ogun State has been one of suspended sleep, night after night, to stay alive. Many were of the view that their location as a border town has not helped matters with the already lost hope on the police. They believe that with the cooperation of the communites in self-help, the crime rate has reduced as it has even helped them to know themselves more and easily identify strangers.
Communites like Ijoko, Idi Iroko, Ilepa, Ifo, Sango Otta, and others would only watch the tick of time while expecting normalcy to return to their troubled areas.
