For shop owners on Badore road in Ajah, Lagos – Monday was a bad day as hoodlums took advantage of the coronavirus lockdown to unleash terror on residents in the area. The hoodlums stormed the community around 7 pm with guns, cutlasses and other weapons to steal valuables from attacked stores.
Hours after many shops have been looted, some police officers from Langbasa Police Station in Eti-Osa local government, reinforced themselves to disperse the criminals.
POLITICS NIGERIA gathered that there have been several reports of incessant robbery attacks in the state especially in Festac, Jankara, Ifako-Ijaiye and other major areas in Nigeria’s economic capital as a result of the lockdown put in place by President Muhammadu Buhari to curb the spread of COVID-19.
While police continue to tackle the hoodlums, many residents in the state have also embarked on vigils and bonfires to secure their communities. Speaking with our correspondent on Tuesday, Sherifa Jokoji, whose shop was also looted told POLITICS NIGERIA that cult boys in the community have become threats to them.
“Even before the lockdown, they don’t have job. They collect money from tricycle operators and now there is a lockdown, they don’t have opportunity to put food on the table”, she said.
“My phone and money were packed away. No one could face them because they came without notifying anyone”
Another victim who did not want his name on print told this newspaper that: “I used to know Ajah to be a peaceful community until yesterday. I came to realise that over five bags of rice is my store have been stolen.”
When contacted, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Langbasa, Ada Okafor told POLITICS NIGERIA that officers have been deployed to patrol the community from 6 pm till daybreak.
