Robbers Again On Rampage In Ibadan - Security Man, Meat Seller, Feared Dead

By Ebenezer Adurokiya, Seyi Gesinde & Lawrence Amaku - 11.10.2008

IT was a bloody day in Ibadan on Friday when armed robbers, numbering about 12 invaded two new generation banks at New Gbagi market, allegedly killing a security man and a woman meat seller.

An eye-witness, who pleaded anonymity, related that the armed robbers stormed the two new generation banks at about 10 am, defying the police station located between the banks and carting away an unspecified amount of money, the police, though, denying the success of their raid.

The robbers who, according to information, drove into town earlier in the day en route Lagos-Ibadan Expressway had laid ambush on officers at the toll gate police station, injuring the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), who with his men engaged them in a shoot-out.

As the Saturday Tribune gathered, the state police command had been a tipped off of the robbers’ impending mission and had alerted its men at the toll gate police station to mount a road block so that the robbers would be an easy catch.

However, unsuspecting that the car in front of that they were after was also being driven by robbers exposed the policemen to a sudden attack by the robbers which led to the DPO receiving a gun shot in his shoulder.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Command, Miss Bisi Okuwobi, when contacted, confirmed the development, but said the robbers were unsuccessful in their plan.

According to her, “It was an attempted robbery; the robbers did not gain entrance into the bank. The police engaged them in a shoot-out and in the process, one of them was killed.

“No police officer died in the gun duel, except the toll gate DPO who was shot in his shoulder when his men engaged the robbers in a shoot-out as they were driving into the state.

“He and others who sustained injuries are responding to treatment,” Okuwobi said.

She added that one AK47 rifle, 47 rounds of ammunition, three cartridges, a Mitsubishi car, a Primera car and a Hummer Jeep were recovered from the robbers.

Saturday Tribune reporters at the scene later gathered that the presence of a police station had not deterred the robbers who shot sporadically in the air to scare away traders after which they attempted to rob one of the banks at the left side of the station but were not successful as the bullets could not penetrate the bullet-proof doors.

In anger, the robbers were said to have turned the place to a war zone shooting anything on sight.

The bank’s building, sign posts and some of the cars parked in the premises were riddled with bullets.

An account had it that the robbers divided themselves into two groups to rob the two banks simultaneously, while another account had it that after their unsuccessful operation at the bank by the left side of the police station, they advanced to the next bank by the right side during which time two of the robbers were felled by the police who were said to have mounted a swift resistance.

One of the felled robbers was said to have been whisked away by his colleagues while the other, a young man in his middle twenties, was killed. He was seen lying lifeless in the pool of his own blood in the premises of the bank when the Saturday Tribune visited.

At the second bank located by the right side of the police station, sympathisers who were seen bemoaning the ugly trend said that the robbers succeeded in carting away huge sums of money, and shot a security man working in the bank in the head. Some of the bank officials at the scene declined comments when accosted by the Saturday Tribune.

The security post of the man shot was riddled with bullets with blood on the floor while on his desk was a loaf of bread he had just bought for breakfast.