Traders at the Okobaba Sawmill market in Lagos Mainland have accused police officers from the Adekunle and Denton divisions of standing by for 11 hours while hoodlums looted their stores.
InsightnaijaTV reports that armed thugs entered the market at 5 p.m. on Friday and plundered roughly 35 shops until 4 a.m. on Saturday.
The hoodlums allegedly brought in a van to transport their booty.
Police officers from the Adekunle and Denton divisions were reluctant to enter the sawmill, which was located in a slum.
According to reports, the incident began with a fight between boys from Jebba and Ibadan streets and their Abeokuta Street opponents.
Omo B, Baba Muri, Gideon, Abu Onigbo, Ila, and Epon are among the notorious members of the warring gangs, as seen by InsightnaijaTV.
They were reported to have taken advantage of the resulting chaos to plunder innocent traders, taking valuables and cash with them.
Titus Ikuejamoye, General Secretary of the Lagos Mainland Sawmillers Association, said the hoodlums took generators, phone accessories, freezers, and construction materials worth millions of naira.
He said, “Around 5pm on Friday, those boys stormed the sawmill, armed with guns. Everyone was surprised that such thing could happen in broad daylight. They were shooting into the air. I managed to escape and called the DPO Adekunle Police Station and told him what was going on.
“I also called a policeman at Denton Police Division and he told me a team was coming. Surprisingly, the policemen parked their vans at a distance and watched those boys looting our shops.
“They raided shops till around 4am on Saturday. They even brought in a vehicle to pack their loot. They stole generators, phone accessories, freezers and building materials. I tried to call 112 thrice, but it didn’t go through.”
Ikuejamoye claimed that the sawmill’s traders had no beef with the criminals, but lamented that the hoodlums had used brawls as a method to plunder innocent people.
He added, “They injured a security guard who tried to prevent them from breaking into shops. They looted about 20 shops under the bridge around the sawmill and burgled over 15 shops selling building materials inside the sawmill. About a month ago, they burnt part of the sawmill.”
Orioye Agbudeloye, the secretary of Ward F Unit, the area of the sawmill assaulted on Friday, said hoodlums had instilled fear among traders and created a tense market environment.
He claimed he escaped the sawmill and stood by and watched as the stores were robbed without restriction.
He stated, “They came in around 5 pm on Friday and were here till 4 am the following day. The policemen were watching them from a distance; they didn’t come in to stop them.
“People were calling me after I got home on Friday night. People kept on telling me that those guys were still operating all through the night. They burgled over 35 shops. They looted some shops without leaving anything behind.
“They were about 200. They overpowered the local security men in the sawmill and the policemen who were supposed to provide backup could not help. That was why they were able to wreak a lot of havoc.
“The situation is so tense that we are not even sure when next they are coming. They threatened to come back. This problem has been on; they have been terrorizing the sawmill, they started from Ward A.”
Mr. Musbau Agbodemu, the leader of a local security organization in the area, begged security agents to end the crisis, which he said had been dragging on for more than a week.
He said, “I called the Area Commander Area C on Friday night and he assured me there was no problem, but policemen could not stop those boys. They operated for 11 hours.
“The boys from Jebba and Ibadan streets have been fighting those from Abeokuta Street every day for over a week now. The fight started a long time ago but they stopped only to resume over a week ago. Nobody knows the cause of their fight but they are using the opportunity to rob.”
SP Benjamin Hundeyin, the Officers Public Relations Officer for the Lagos State Police Command, claimed it was not true that police stood by while hoodlums robbed the stores, adding that if the situation had been overwhelming, they would have called for help.
“It is not true. No policemen will stand aloof and watch criminals looting shops. They (the traders) should present evidence,” he added.
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