Residents of Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, have cried out to the authorities to save them from incessant attacks by burglars and other criminals. This was after a house belonging to a couple presently on holiday in the United States, located on Wonder City College Avenue, along Afao Road, was burgled by unknown persons in the early hours of Saturday.
Some residents claimed that the hoodlums arrived the neighbourhood at about 2.00 am shooting sporadically. The gateman watching over the house was beaten up while valuable items belonging to the couple were carted away.
They claim that burglary has now become a common occurrence in the area.
A resident who craved anonymity said: “It has been a regular attack on this area especially that building. Being a new site, we have been making frantic efforts to gather our people together to make a formal report to the police to help us tackle the problem we are facing with men of the underworld.”
Police spokesman, Alberto Adeyemi, confirmed that some houses were burgled in the area but denied that there was any shooting incident during the dawn raid. “The location where the incident occurred is between an army checkpoint and a police checkpoint. There was no shooting there. A woman came to report at the police station that she went to the church for vigil and before she came back, her house was burgled. The matter concerning the couple said to have travelled to the United States has not been reported to the police,” he said.
Other residents claimed that some boys on Ajibade Lane, who smoke Indian hemp openly both in the morning and in the evening, have constituted themselves into terror and nuisance to others.
A resident claimed that the boys usually retire to their hideout located on 27, Ajibade Lane, after snatching bags and other valuables from their victims. Another resident alleged that not not less than four girls are raped every week in the area and hoodlums now use a building at the back of a mosque in the area, as their base.