April 14, 2012  by Akinwale Aboluwade

Residents of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, have witnessed a surge in crime in the last few months.

During that period, there was an increase in armed robbery attacks, political violence, rape, bloody feuds within the local transport unions, carjacking and other criminal activities.

The development led to the emergence of crime fighting apparatus and mechanisms in the city and its environs.

Top on the list is the Seven Cities Patrol manned by Tunji Ajimuda (former Police Public Relations Officer in Oyo State) and Skynet Patrol team, which is headed by Mr. Mohammed Dimka.

In spite of complaints that the Seven Cities team and the Armoured Personnel Carriers deployed to the city were being used to intimidate members of the public, the police patrol teams kept patrolling various crime flashpoints in the city to stem the tide of crime and violence.

At that time, bank robberies and car thefts were prevalent in the city. And it was discovered most of the offences were committed at some spots now commonly regarded as the flashpoints of crime.

They include the old toll gate on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the Iwo Road Interchange, Sabo, Mokola, Agugu, Olomi and Agodi Gate.

While the Iwo Road Interchange was perpetually under the siege by feuding factions of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, armed robbery attacks were and are still prevalent at the toll gate and on Ijebu Road.

Also, cases of rape and carjacking are still rife in the Agugu, Apata and Olomi areas of the city.

However, the new Commissioner of Police in the state, Mallam Tambari Yabo Mohammed, on assumption of office, reiterated the command’s readiness to fight crime to a standstill.

In a meeting with journalists recently, he said, “The Oyo State Police Command is ready to relate with the public to fight crime in the state. We solicit the cooperation of the peace-loving people of the state to assist the command in crime fighting. We are assuring all and sundry of our resolve to perform our duty creditably as a command.”

However, some residents of Ibadan believe that one of the major challenges facing the police is ridding the city of the menace of carjackers and rapists.

Only a few days ago, a car belonging to the Registrar of the Osun State University was stolen from his residence in Ibadan.

Several other cases of carjacking were recorded at the Oyo State Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan and the University College Hospital, Ibadan.

Sabo, Samanda, Iwo Road and Molete areas of Ibadan are said to be infested with criminals who specialise in disposessing members of the public of their property.

Two suspected criminals, Enoch Victor, 31, and Samuel Olatunji, 41, were paraded by the police for impersonation two weeks ago. They were said to have specialised in extorting money from unsuspecting members of the public in the rural communities within the metropolis.

Victor and Olatunji were said to have posed as a soldier and police officer, respectively. They were said to have for long been engaged in criminal activities until they were caught by the police recently at Ogbere and Kajorepo areas, respectively.

Also, another set of criminals, Obinna Nwadike, 18, and Monday Ibe, 17, specialised in snatching luggage and other personal effects on motorcycles at Sango area.

The suspects said they usually operated at Sabo, Sango and Molete areas of Ibadan and other areas where the roads are busy, as well as in remote and less populated parts of the city.

Nwadike and Ibe, who said that they usually targeted their victims from a distance, said they preferred to rob with motorcycles because this made escape easy and swift, especially during traffic jams.

A resident of Ibadan, Alhaji Moshood Ajibola, said the presence of police patrol teams in the city had drastically reduced the crime rate to the barest minimum.

Ajibola recalled that until recently, commercial banks were the usual targets of armed robbers.

He said, “The situation has become normal now with residents of Ibadan sleeping with eyes closed. The situation was not the same about a year ago.

“Interestingly, we usually experience high crime rate during festive periods and after elections. Most people say that political thugs usually rob with guns supplied by their political godfathers to cause trouble during elections.

“I think that is why we have high cases of robbery shortly after the election. We are happy now that the city is a bit calm. What we have in some areas now are light robberies and car thefts and the police are rising to the occasion.”

Ajibola noted that the last bank robbery in the city lasted for about two hours. He said, “Many people, including some policemen, were killed in the attack. In all, about six people were reported dead and many others injured.”

One of the 15-man robbery gang was killed, while a suspect named Fidelis Akpe was caught alive. Reports had it that Akpe was apprehended at a nearby motor park while trying to escape. The suspect was identified by a victim whose car was hijacked and used for operation.

CRIME DIGEST learnt that the hoodlums started their operation at Apata area of the city. They drove through Challenge, Bashorun and Idi Ape down to Iwo Road.

At Idi-Ape, one of the robbers, who attempted to rob the Zenith Bank in the area, reportedly gunned down a policeman in front of the bank. Before getting to the bank, the men were said to have killed two other policemen who were on duty at a nearby check point.

The police officer who gave an account of their encounter with the robbers said that five vehicles were recovered from the gang. Two of the vehicles, he said, were recovered from Egbeda, and one from Ojoo areas of the city.

A businessman, Mr. Tade Ogundele, who said that crime is one of the negative features of urbanisation, recommended effective policing of the metropolis for security of the residents.

Ogundele said, “One of the problems facing city dwellers is security. The problem partly lies with the government, who over the years, failed to provide infrastructure for ensuring security of lives and property.

“The police must be adequately equipped, just as well as closed circuit television and street lamps must be installed so as to light up the streets at night. With this, there will be no hiding place for men of the underworld and hoodlums at night.”

Efforts by our correspondent to get the reaction of the police commissioner on strategies by the police to fight crime in some of the flashpoints in the city at press time did not yield results, as he said that he was out of town and could not respond on the issue on the phone.

When contacted, the PPRO said, “Kindly give us time. We are not in town at the moment. We shall be ready to talk on the issue later.”

-Punch

Posted by admin on Apr 14 2012. Filed under Oyo, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry