Robbers invade community for hours, injure residents

Over 10 residents of Tella Estate in the Akobo area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, were injured on Saturday when a seven-man gang of armed robbers invaded the area.

Daily Trust reliably gathered that the robbers arrived the estate about 12am and carried out a house-to-house attack on the residents carting away the occupants’ valuables.

When our correspondent visited the community on Saturday, spent bullet cartridges littered the floor. He learnt that a night guard popularly called Victor was macheted in the head, while others were also inflicted with injuries.

The chairman of the estate’s landlord association, Basiru Sodeinde, told reporters that the landlords had reported the matter at the Akobo police station.

He added that among the valuables taken away by the robbers were laptops, huge sums of money, mobile phones and iPad tablets.

A victim, who preferred not to be named, told our reporter that the robbers were seven huge unmasked men.

He said, “When they arrived, they were almost removing the window when my wife woke up. She told them not to disturb themselves as she would open the door. She opened the door for them to come in and we dropped all the money we had on the table so that they won’t begin to threaten to kill us.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Adekunle Ajisebutu, confirmed the incident to our correspondent.

Ajisebutu said it was unfortunate that the residents didn’t call the police while the robbery was on, adding that despite the effort of the police in the state to ensure that all the residents have the contact numbers of the Commissioner of Police and the state police control room, the people were not making use of the opportunity adding that investigation has started on the matter.