More than 48 hours after suspected militants killed
several people in Ogun and Lagos states, the affected communities are still
like ghost towns with the people having fled to safety even as 5000 policemen
and soldiers have been deployed by the Lagos State Police Command and the 81
Division, Nigerian Army, to restore normalcy in Igbolomu, Ikorodu where
suspected militants slaughtered scores of residents of
the area.
A resident who spoke
with Sunday
Sun about 4.30pm
yesterday, on condition of anonymity, said that the place was still a death
zone.
His words: “The militants
do not to come out in the afternoon. They wait for everyone to go to bed and by
11.30pm, they would come out and slaughter anyone they see. Residents are still
leaving the community as I speak with you. These killers are pipeline vandals
whose illicit business has been ruined due to government checks. The residents
are paying for what they did not cause. We need presence of more security
personnel and they should not just come and go, they should stay with us
because these Ijaw boys would still come again.”
At least 20 persons
were feared killed and scores injured when suspected pipeline vandals raided
Igbolomu, a border community between Lagos and Ogun State. The vandals had last
week attacked a neighbouring community, Ibeshi, Ogun State, killing four
persons.
The vandals accused
people in the communities of giving information to security operatives about
their illegal activities. The hoodlums had been angry at the way joint security
operatives took over the area, preventing them from vandalizing pipelines.
The hoodlums stormed
the Igbolomu community about midnight shooting sporadically and killing anyone
on sight.
A community leader,
John Ogunike said, “Some of our relatives were slaughtered like ram. Mr.
Isioluwa Angus and his wife Rosemary were slaughtered with knife. Some of the
victims were shot at close range while some were hit by stray bullet.
“At the Lagos State
side,five Police patrol vans were used to evacuate 20 dead bodies. In Ogun
side, we don’t know how many people lost their lives, but, information reaching
me showed that many dead bodies had been discovered. The Ogun State people are yet
to evacuate the bodies on their own side.
We are relocating from
this community. Everybody is scared. Even the neighbouring communities are also
running away because, no one knows their fate.
It happened last week
at Ibeshi and no one suspected they would storm our area.
Who knows the next
place they would go tomorrow as they have vowed to wipe out communities within
this axis. We are begging the government to come to our rescue.”
As at the time of
filling this from the affected communities. Effort to reach the Commissioner of
Police, Ogun State command, Abdulmajid Ali proved abortive as his telephone was
switched off.
Army spokesman in
Lagos, Lieutenant Colonel Samuel said on telephone that the army had cordoned
off the area. He explained that patrols by men of Operation MESA had increased
with more personnel deployed to avert any repeat.
“Normalcy has returned
and our officers are there. There is no issue anymore. Patrol has
been increased,” he
said. A source at the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) also said the situation at
Ikorodu had been brought under control by teams of policemen from the Lagos and
Ogun commands.
The source said: “The
Commissioner of Police has ordered deployment of more men to the place as at
noon yesterday.
As we speak now, there
are thousands of policemen from the mobile police squadron, the RRS, Ikorodu
Divisions, Area Commands and military personnel. Residents are no longer
deserting the area because we are all there to secure them.”
-Sun News
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