Olusakin Babalola, Ibadan
An armed robbery syndicate on Thursday morning at Apete community in Ido local government area of Oyo state unleashed terror injuring a photojournalist with the Guardian Newspaper Mr.Raheem Najim and two other members of his family.
Najim’s son Faroukwas attacked by the hoodlums when he resisted the robbers in their criminal exploits.
Four other students residing in 10 houses in the community were also matcheted by the 20 members of the hoodlum.
His father, Najeem Raheem had escaped by the whiskers from the attackers but the wife was not that lucky as she was matcheted on her hand by the men of the underworld.
A student hostel was also attacked in the area where no fewer than four students sustained matchet cuts with others inflicted with other varying degrees of injuries.
An aggrieved victim alleged that he expected police to arrive to the scene earlier than they did.
Investigations revealed that the House of an Islamic cleric who rare cow in the neighborhood, Alhaji Adekunle, the house of a Lead City University lecturer and that of another staff of West African Examinations Council (WAEC) were among the houses robbed.
Some of the victims stated that the thieves, mostly young boys distributed themselves to the houses stealing laptops, phones and cash and also destroyed valuables.
The emotionally disturbed residents stated that the entire Apete, and particularly Yidi-Arola and Ariyibi communities have been under attacks by thieves since the partial lockdown of Oyo State due to Coronavirus pandemic.
They called for security deployment to the area.
A resident of the community who pleaded anonymity stated “that the police that came were even blaming residents asking them where they got the phones that were stolen by the thieves.
Dayo Ojelaru, one of those who sustained matchet cuts on his legs described the experience as harrowing.
Faruk Najeem, the son of the photojournalist has however been revived and sleeping at the time of filing this report.
His father, stated “I thank God I didnt lose my Son and wife. They came in through the fence and stormed my compound. My wife sustained matchet cut and my son was hit with iron making him to loss consciousness. We called the police but the response was not encouraging.
He called on the Commissioner of police to deploy more teams to Apete community and Yidi-arola for regular patrol. These are serial attackers. We cant sleep with our eyes closed anymore. Governor Makinde also needs to see to this rising insecurity. We have turned ourselves to night guard. We are suffering the bad economy and the government must protect us. We need more police presence in Apete, Yidi-arola and Ariyibi .
The Police spokesman for the state’s Command Superintendent Gbenga Fadeyi could not be reached as at press time but it was learnt that the incident was under investigation.
