HELL was let loose on Wednesday at Alaro area of Ibadan, Oyo
State, when okada riders and hoodlums numbering over 100 stormed a building in
the area and injured some people with broken bottles while the building was
also vandalised.
Not only that, a brand new Toyota Sequia Sport Utility
vehicle worth N7million was destroyed with all its glasses broken and the body
dented by the hoodlums, while the landlady, an 81-year-old whose name was given
as Mrs Oke, was seriously beaten.
However, Crime Reports gathered that some suspects were
arrested out of who seven were found culpable after screening.
Among the arrested suspects was a 19-year-old boy, Ibrahim
Odunoye who was decked in different charms, which he said were to defend his
body against being penetrated by bullets and cutlasses.
Crime Reports learnt that the problem started at about 9a.m.
when a man, Leke Ologbenla sighted a 15-year-old girl, Basirat Adebayo, who was
living with him but left on the excuse that she wanted to go and see her
parents about three months ago, on an okada with a man.
Mr Ologbenla reportedly stopped the man and took hold of the
girl, saying that she must return home, at the same time asking the man how the
girl came to be in his custody. Mr Ologbenla was said to be the one who brought
the girl from Ile-Ife, Osun State, to Ibadan initially, and had immediately
registered her at Cheshire Secondary School, Ijokodo, before she left his house
some months back.
The way the girl was taken from the okada man, whose name
was simply given as Sola, did not go down well with him, as he also claimed
that the girl’s parents had given their consent on her staying with him.
Sola was said to have gone to mobilise his colleagues, who
in turn called other hoodlums and stormed the residence of Ologbenla. They were
said to have scaled the fence and went ahead to break all the glass windows of
the storey building, after which they descended on the SUV parked in the
premises and inflicted serious damages on it. They insisted that the girl must
be released to them.
Not yet done, the hoodlums reportedly broke a lot of bottles
found in the shop attached to the house and some that they brought themselves.
They allegedly broke the doors of the main building and rained slaps on the old
woman, after which they dragged her from the bed and continued to beat her.
Mr Ologbenla’s younger brother, Biodun, was not spared as
they stabbed him with broken bottle on the head while he was trying to fend the
invaders off.
It was further gathered that it took the intervention of
policemen from Sango Division, led by the Divisional Crime Officer, and other
security patrol teams such as Seven Cities and Operation Burst to calm the situation
after they received information about the fracas.
The boy caught with charms said he was called by one Kayode
to come and meet him where some people were fighting with him and others. “I
went back home to equip myself with the charms but as I got there, the police
came and arrested me with others,” he said. The boy disclosed that he was a
member of Gani Adams faction of Oodua People’s Congress.
When asked about the fresh blood dripping from one of the
charms, he said denied that it was fresh but said it was the blood of a dog
which he sprinkled on it to ensure its continuous potency.
Confirming the story, the Police Public Relations Officer,
Olabisi Ilobanafor said that the suspects had been charged to court while
efforts were still on to arrest other suspects, including the okada man who
carried the girl.
In an update, Crime Reports learnt that the suspects were
charged to Iyaganku Magistrates’ Court 8, Ibadan on Thursday on a nine
count-charge which included conspiracy, stealing, assault occasioning harm,
malicious damage and conduct likely to cause the breach of the peace, among others.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I like knowing my fans better. Kindly drop your comment using your name/url/Google accounts and not as Anonymous. Thanks for your understanding.