Armed robbers take trade to Oyo banks

Like a wild fire, the rumour of the influx of armed robbers into town spread to most of the other banks in the metropolis, a development which compelled them to hurriedly close their offices for the day, for fear of possible attacks by the suspected invaders. The usual hustlers and busters around the banks were […]

Like a wild fire, the rumour of the influx of armed robbers into town spread to most of the other banks in the metropolis, a development which compelled them to hurriedly close their offices for the day, for fear of possible attacks by the suspected invaders.

The usual hustlers and busters around the banks were absent for the day as vehicles of customers and bankers usually parked outside the banks were not there.

In effect, majority of the bank customers who had come to transact one business or the other were stranded while some of them eventually resorted to cashing money at the ATM.  However, the ATM section of the banks was not as busy as it used to be as fear gripped many customers to be in the vicinity to use the facility.

In some ATM sections, few people were seen using the machines to collect money as a result of armed robbery rumour.

In another development, no fewer than ten houses along Aribisala Street, Oke-Ado, Ibadan were serially raided by dare devil robbers in the wee hours of Wednesday, December 7th, 2011.  The robbers who stormed the area at about 1.30 am were said to have raided the houses one after the other.

One of the vigilante men who raised alarm was overpowered and wounded by the hoodlums who inflicted matchete wounds upon him.

A tenant in one of affected houses was smashed on the head with axe by one of the robbers.

Eye witness account said some of the robbers who came to the area were youths of between 17 and 25 years of age.

They reportedly used axes to break down the entrance doors of most of the houses visited.

But the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Moses Onireti, described as mere rumours the reported bank robbery scare in Ibadan.  The Police boss told newsmen that the news of bank robbery being peddled about was untrue and baseless and enjoined people of the state to go about their normal businesses without fear as because, his men were on top of the situation to prevent any untoward happenings.

Apparently worried by the sad development of armed robbery scare across Oyo State, the State Governor, Senator Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi inaugurated Joint Military Police Patrol Squad, code-named “OPeration Burst” with a warning to criminal to steer clear of the state.

The 146-member Squad, is made up of 65 policemen; 55 soldiers; 12 Air Force personnel; 7 from the State Security Service (SSS) and 7 from the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).  Gov. Ajimobi, while inaugurating the squad at the Government House the move was a symbol of his administration’s total zero tolerance for insecurity.

While noting that security was the essence of government, the governor emphasized that a government exists, only to provide security for its people, adding that any government that failed in this regard had lost touch with the fundamentals of governance.

He recalled that recently, there had been renewed onslaught of men of the underworld and activities of undesirable elements in the country.

“Outcries over the activities of hoodlums and armed robbers, who have literally frozen the peace of the people, have been on the increase,’’ the governor lamented.

Although he said that the state had been lucky not to have a share of the unpleasant attacks of the men of the underworld, any proactive government must not wait until it happened.

“Hence, the need for us to guard our loins security-wise, lest these nefarious people have inroads into the relative peace enjoyed in our state.

Governor Ajimobi, who attributed the upsurge in criminal activities to the Yuletide season, said that having loafed for the previous 11 months of the year, it had now dawned on the criminal elements that the massive social requirements of the Yuletide period needed to be addressed urgently. “Being loafers and lazy men and women that they are, criminal activities become ready tools with which they hope to circumvent the requirements of the festive period,’’ he said.

According to him, joint security patrol of military and police is the most desirable move at this moment.

He said his administration had outlined several developmental and economic-activities towards the rejuvenation of the state, saying this could only come to fruition in an atmosphere of peace and tranquility.

“We have lined up investors who are expected to jump-start the economy, as well as lift social activities in the state from its present state of inertia to one that we can be proud of.

“This cannot be achieved in an atmosphere of chaos and disorder of violence and armed robbery. This was why we found it expedient to inaugurate this joint task force.

Governor Ajimobi, while enjoining the people of the state to be security-conscious all the time, said armed robbers and hooligans were not spirits who just sprang from Uranus.

“They are our brothers and sisters. The problem with us is that we shy away from making public examples of our wards, children or family members who exhibit symptoms of association with hooligans and are involved in nefarious activities.

He described the officers of the joint patrol as thorough-bred professionals who would not shirk their responsibilities in whatever form.

“They have been briefed on the need to be civil, firm but ruthless against men who tend to freeze our peace, especially during this Yuletide period.

“We will not stand by and allow the loss of peace and orderliness that is being experienced in other states of the federation to be our experience in Oyo State,’’ he said.

The Special Adviser to the Governor, Mr Segun Abolarinwa, explained that the squad would begin with the patrol of Ibadan metropolis with 15 vans and eight Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs).

He said additional 34 patrol vans and four APCs would soon be purchased by the government after which the squad would extend its operations to other towns like Oyo, Ogbomoso, Saki and Igbo-Ora.