Residents of Oke-Eletu and Abule-Eko communities in Ikorodu local government area of Lagos State have appealed to the Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Muiz Banire, to save the communities from a terrorist gang using policemen attached to one of the state government’s monitoring teams to harass and arrest residents of the two communities.
A petition written by the solicitor to the two communities, Mr. Kole Bello of Kole Bello Chambers, dated 9 July, 2008 and addressed to the Commissioner, Lagos State Ministry of the Environment, alleged that two members of the same family, and their armed gang have unleashed mayhem on the residents of the communities for the past two years.
The petitioners revealed that when members of the communities could no longer stomach the violence, they petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mike Okiro, two months ago to come to their aid.
The intervention of the police, the petition further stated, paid off as key members of the armed gang were arrested while their sponsors took to their heels.
However, the relative peace restored to the communities was short-lived as those arrested jumped bail immediately they were released, “while the kingpin called Anjorin and others ran away from the village to escape prosecution.”
The newest strategy by the leaders of the armed gang from their hideouts is to employ the Lagos State government machinery to terrorise the people of the communities, they alleged.
According to the petition, on 8 July, “our clients were going about their normal lawful duties when policemen came to arrest several members of the community. We have also been informed by our clients that the arms allegedly recovered were the remnants of the arms left behind by the fleeing kingpin and others as they hurriedly departed the community. Moreso.
“The arms were discovered in a vehicle with registration number AJ 7878 APP, Mitsubishi Lancer belonging to the leader of the gang. You can investigate the ownership of the vehicle to get to the root of the matter. Our clients were never aware of the existence of those arms.”
In the light of this, the communities appealed to Mr. Muiz Banire to assist the police to apprehend the armed thugs whenever they appear in his office “and hand them over to the police for peace to reign in our clients’ communities and all the surrounding communities, as their present action is calculated to using the state government to divert the attention of everybody so that their dangerous gangsters can return to unleash another round of violence on them.”
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