The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Hoodlums

  • One killed in hoodlums, tricyclists clash

    One person was killed and scores injured on Tuesday night street urchins popularly called area boys and tricycle operators clashed in Ajegunle, the popular Lagos suburb.

    It was gathered that the urchins attacked the tricycle operators over some charges, a fee which the latter insisted, was not part of their daily payment.

    Eyewitnesses told The Nation that when some operators reported the matter to their union, they were told not to pay.

    “The area boys were demanding a certain ‘settlement’ which the executives of the tricyclists’ association refused to meet. This angered the area boys who started attacking them”, a source said.

    It was learnt that the hoodlums went on the rampage, attacking the tricycle operators and their passengers.

    They also looted shops and dispossessed residents of their valuables. Traders on the  street and the nearby Boundary Market hurriedly closed their shops.

    It was gathered that initially, the tricycle executives at Orodu Unit were intimidated by the invading area boys.

    They, however, went back and reinforced for a free-for-all in which one of them  was killed and others injured.

  • Hoodlums, rainstorm worry residents

    Residents have sent a save-our-souls (SOS) to the government over threats posed to them by an abandoned garden and rainstorm.

     The residents of Egbeyemi Street at Ilupeju in Lagos are praying the government to immediately evacuate the garden which is behind a building that “harbours a destructive tree that often gives way during the rains.”

    Whenever there are rain  storms, they said, the tree’s branches fall off, destroying fences, vehicles and other structures.

    The vehicles parked on the premises of an automobile company, De-Damak Nigeria Limited, were recently destroyed by such stormed, they said.

    The caretaker of the property, Mr Sadiq Olanrewaju, said hoodlums hide in the garden at night to harm passersby.

    A security official, who pleaded anonymity, said the former owner gave the garden to his son who now manages it.

    “Before, he always left the garden bushy until we called him to take care of it. Street urchins and Indian hemp smokers have turned it to their operational base”, the source said.

    Olanrewaju said in March, last year, the fence of the premises was destroyed by rainstorm . The tree’s branches, he said, fell into the compound and destroyed two new Pick-up vans.

    He said the owner of the garden promised to prune the tree, but never did till another rainstorm last Sunday.

    Olanrewaju, who said the owner of the garden could not be reached, said the case was reported to the police, adding: “I was told to report the case to the Lagos State Ministry of Environment, which I did. The officials promised to look at the issue, but nothing has been heard from them since then.”

  • ‘How hoodlums gave us hell’

    ‘How hoodlums gave us hell’

    THREE days after some hoodlums took their rage to some streets in the Mushin area of Lagos, the victims are still in grief.

    It was on the Easter Monday, when the hoodlums took terror to the defenceless residents of six streets, leaving them with heart-rending tales of woes.

    Over 30 vehicles – including posh cars – were either vandalised or burnt in the clash between two rival groups – Olanrewaju and Bakare Boys. Homes were also torched.

    The affected streets are: Bakare, Oriyomi, Olanrewaju, Ogundairo, Morgan and Mushin-Itire Road. The residents were still gripped with fear and agony when The Nation reporters visited the scenes on Tuesday.

    Many stood in shock, staring pitiably at the remains of their damaged property. “Not a few residents have fled into safety elsewhere. Some of us with the courage to stay behind have nowhere to run to,” said a resident.

    While the carnival was going on, according to the residents, the hoodlums turned an uncompleted building on Olanrewaju Street venue of the event into their rendezvous, where they took hard drugs including marijuana. The incident was said to have started around 12.30am, and lasted till day break on Tuesday.

    The Chairman, Morgan Community Association, Ustaz Mahruf Okusanya, told The Nation that the rampaging boys swooped on the streets with impunity as they engaged in wanton destruction of over 30 vehicles.

    “The crisis happened between two groups – Olanrewaju and Bakare Boys. A free-for-all happened in the night, leading to the vandalisation of more than 30 vehicles. No life was lost; the boys only injured themselves,” Okusanya said.

    He added: “The police have apprehended three of the boys and the community is now trying to liaise with the police because all hands must be on deck.

    “My advice to the owners of the damaged cars is that they should exercise patience. They can’t just go away with this. All the vehicles destroyed must be repaired.”

    The embittered owner of a white Nissan Mitsubishi car, marked BE 155 BDG, Princess Tosin Oviri, said: “I was rudely woken up. All sorts of noise rattled the area. When I came out with my tenants, we saw them with weapons. We wanted to move our cars, but we were afraid that they might attack us; so, we went back.

    “When we heard that the police were at the Kayode bus stop, we thought it was all over. But by 2.30am again, we heard that they were destroying cars; everywhere was scattered. And we couldn’t do anything. We called the police; they too could not do anything. It was this morning the police said we made a mistake by calling 767 instead of their own number. But when we got to Zone D, the Area Commander advised us on how next to handle such cases.”

    Mr Muhideen Makinde, a resident of Olanrewaju Street, said: “All these crises happen during Easter carnivals, when the boys are intoxicated. If government can stop carnivals, it will help prevent future re-occurrences.”

    Reacting to victims’ allegation that policemen at the Alakara Division left them to their fate, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ngozi Braide, said yesterday that the Force was informed that some hoodlums with dangerous weapons emerged from Fadeyi and stormed the Jibowu Motor Park to extort money from motorists and passengers. They also stormed Lawani Street, where a number of vehicles were vandalised, she said.

    Braide said following a distress call, Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Sani O. Fodio led a team of policemen to the scene. On sighting them, having done their havoc, Braide said the hoodlums disappeared.

    She said Area Commander, ACP Garba Danjuma led three patrol teams to reinforce the division’s team. The situation, Braide said, had been brought under control.

    She debunked reports that the hoodlums operated for seven hours, adding that there was no rape case as none had been reported by anyone.

    She said the incident was not a robbery, but a supremacy fight between two rival cults over returns from motorists.

  • Ajimobi, Rochas’ convoy dislodges hoodlums

    Ajimobi, Rochas’ convoy dislodges hoodlums

    The convoy of the governor of Oyo State, Senator Abiola Ajimobi and his Imo state counterpart, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, on Friday dislodged a group of hoodlums operating at the Dugbe area of the state capital.

    According to a release issued by the Special Adviser to the Governor of Oyo State, Dr. Festus Adedayo, the hoodlums had been having a field day in the area shooting guns and wielding machetes before the arrival of the governors.

    The governors, who had just left the burial ceremony of the mother of Chief Niyi Akintola (SAN), were on their way to the Rochas Okorocha Foundation when they heard sporadic shots from the hoodlums and stampede from the adjoining market in the area.

    Initial information collated suggested that the hoodlums were members of rival factions of the road transport union.

    The governors’ convoy, according to the release, then came to the aid of the fleeing traders to dislodge the hoodlums before reinforcement was called from the police headquarters and the state crime-fighting outfit, Operation Burst.

    The number of casualty could not be ascertained.

  • Hoodlums vandalise public schools in Edo

    Some public primary and secondary schools in Edo State, which were recently constructed or renovated, have been vandalised by hoodlums.

    Some of the affected schools are St Maria Goretti, Akenzua Seconday School, Fabiyi Akpata Primary School.

    Aluminium windows, ceiling fans, white-board markers, computers and electrical fittings were removed.

    At newly renovated Western Boys High School, classroom doors and windows were removed.

    The Headteacher, Precious Omodolor, blamed the vandalism on the lack of perimetre fencing and absence of security men.

    He said the school property were vandalised by the hoodlums and not the pupils.

    Omodolor said: “We have written to the ministry and they have come to take stock of what was stolen. Recently, laptops, inverter batteries, ceiling fans and electrical fittings were removed. What we need is a perimetre fencing and security. In all the schools, there are no security personnel.

    “There is no security in this school. Outsiders vandalise the property of this school and not the pupils. Other schools, such as Akenzua, St Maria Goretti, have been vandalised.”

    Esogban of Benin Kingdom David Edebiri said some universities could not boast of infrastructure in public schools.

    He advised the people to stop destroying government investment in schools.

    Commissioner for Basic Education Patrick Aguinede directed our reporter to the Chairman of State Universal Basic Education Board, Steven Alao, who could not be reached.

  • Traders cry out to govt

    Traders at Orie-Ukwu market, near Aba in Abia State, have cried out to the government to assist them replace their goods allegedly destroyed by hoodlums and military men last Tuesday.

    Chairman of the market Mr. Adindu Eleke, speaking yesterday, described the incident as unfortunate.

    He said the goods destroyed were worth over N3 million.

    Eleke said the traders lost all they had laboured for in life.

    He alleged that people from Abayi Umuocham, a nearby village, came to the market with military men and bulldozers to destroy their goods.

     

  • Hoodlums attack Ogun APC secretariat

    Hoodlums attack Ogun APC secretariat

    Men suspected to be members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) yesterday stormed the Ogun State Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and disrupted the Harmonisation Committee meeting of the party’s federal lawmakers.

    Reporters covering the meeting were assaulted and their TV cameras seized. A blackberry phone was stolen.

    It was gathered that while the thugs attacked reporters, security agents looked the other way.

    Residents and visitors to the area were injured by the thugs, who attacked anyone in sight.

    Cars at a dealer’s shop near the secretariat were vandalised by hoodlums, who cashed in on the situation to dispossess residents of their valuables.

    Members of the Harmonisation Committee, led by Senator Gbenga Kaka, fled the secretariat. They later addressed reporters at the Iwe Irohin Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), where Kaka announced the names of the committee members.

    Kaka (Ogun East) is the secretary.

    Members include Senator Akin Odunsi (Ogun West) and Senator Gbenga Obadara (Ogun Central).

    Ogun APC Interim Chairman Alhaji Tajudeen Bello described the violence as the handiwork of “a few elements, who are desirous of disrupting the peace of the state and the APC”.

    Dismissing the Harmonising Committee as “a charade”, Bello said what should be done, according to the directive of the APC national body, is preparation for membership registration and not Harmonisation Committee.

  • Hoodlums chop off corps member’s hand in Bayelsa

    Miss Folakemi Akinbode’s commitment to serve her country under the compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was yesterday rewarded with a bitter experience.

    Unknown persons in her host community severed her right limb.

    The 26-year old, who hails from Ondo State, is now a patient at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, Okolobiri, her place of primary assignment.

    She was rushed to the hospital after a gang of two suspected to be cultists attacked her on her way home.

    The nursing graduate from Madonna University was attacked at about 8.30pm by the machete-wielding bandits.

    The bandits were said to have waylaid her on a lonely path and aimed the cutlass at her head.

    While trying to protect herself, the corps member was said to have used her right hand as a shield.

    But in the process, the machete landed on her hand and chopped off her limb.

    “The limb was dangling. It was only the flesh that held it together,” a source said.

    A corps member, who gave his name as Fred, said the victim was assigned to the teaching hospital.

    “She was attacked by two persons. The machete blow landed on her right hand while she was trying to fend off her attackers,” he said.

    He lamented that the Corpers Lodge was also attacked the same night by armed youths.

    He added: “Five bandits attacked us at the lodge late at night from the nearby bushes. It was so sudden, and before we could realise what was happening, they attacked everyone in sight with machetes and knives. Many of us fled into the darkness.”

    Panic-stricken corps members were seen in groups discussing the development.

    The victim was still unconscious at the time of filing this report. The dangling limb has been sewn together by doctors.

    The NYSC state secretariat failed to comment on the incident.

    The Ibolou XI of Obunagha, Godsgive Apoh, condemned the incident.

    He said he had summoned an emergency meeting of the Youth Vigilante Association to investigate and apprehend the perpetrators.

    Police spokesman Alex Akhigbe said the police were yet to arrest any suspect.

    “The operatives of the command have been deployed to track down the attackers,” he said.

  • Hoodlums loot Onitsha hotelier’s plaza

    •Traders allege police connivance

     •Property worth millions destroyed

     

    A 100-shop plaza, Mokwe Park and Plaza, in Onitsha North Local Government Area of Anambra State, belonging to Bonaventure Mokwe was yesterday looted by hoodlums.

    Mokwe is the owner of Upper Class Hotel, Onitsha, where two human heads, two AK47 rifles, three loaded cartridges and a military cap were discovered. The hotel was demolished on the orders of Governor Peter Obi.

    Buses and vehicles in the park were vandalised and looted.

    Traders were chased away by the angry mob. When our reporter visited the scene yesterday, all the doors of the shops have been removed.

    Some of the traders- Mrs. Nzube Onyima, Chinedu Ezeh and Chibuzor Nnamani- said the traders did nothing wrong as the plaza had nothing to do with the hotel, except that they are both owned by the same person.

    They said the mob allegedly acted in connivance with the police, because “the police were just standing there doing nothing”.

    Mrs. Onyima said: “There are 100 shops here and all of us were chased away. They destroyed the doors and looted our property.

    “You can see everybody is crying but these people over there (from another park, Ose Park) are happy and I suspect they masterminded our predicament because there has been an issue between us.

    “My shop was worth over N15 million but they took away everything. Onitsha people came in here to loot our property just because our landlord had problems with them.

    “When we made efforts to salvage some goods, the police arrested some of the traders. We watched hoodlums loot our hard-earned goods and cash while the police aided them.”

    Nnamani said he lost N10 million to the hoodlums, who chased him and his colleagues away.

    “I suspect this people are from the other park. They chased us away from our shops and collected my phones and cash worth N50,000 and even removed the door.

    “I saw one man with a big stomach ordering people to go into our shops and they just rushed in.

    “This is unbearable and you can see the plaza has become a shadow of itself. Imagine, we are idle and thieves are enjoying our sweat because we are doing business in Mokwe Park.

    “I am married with children. I am calling on Governor Peter Obi and Commissioner of Police Bala Nasarawa to intervene before something tragic happens to us.”

    Ezeh said he lost over N4.5 million to the looters. He said: “What they have against Mokwe should not affect us because we are his tenants in this plaza and this plaza and the hotel are not the same.

    “We are not happy that Governor Obi and CP Nassarawa watched us suffer this way unprovoked and I wonder what they tend to benefit from ruining the families of over 1,000 people doing business in this plaza daily.

    “They should allow us go back to our shops and pay us for our goods and cash. The goods we bought on loan were all stolen and imagine the horrible situation- policemen arresting people trying to save their goods and cash. “The police even arrested traders coming into the plaza. That action was a plan against Mokwe because his park was chosen by traders and passengers than the other park.”

  • Students, hoodlums protest in Ibadan

    There was a riot yesterday at Monathan in Ibadan, as students and hoodlums attacked and set ablaze a truck.

    The action followed the serious injuries sustained by a student of Oyeshina High School, Monathan, Ibadan, Oseni Yusuf, after a truck, which was on the fast lane, knocked him down.

    The students, thinking their colleague has died, stormed the scene of the accident and attempted to kill the driver.

    But the driver, whose identity is unknown, was said to have escaped. The students, however, burnt the truck belonging to Seven-up Bottling Company.

    Motorists abandoned their vehicles and fled. There was a confrontation between policemen, students and hoodlums, who capitalised on the confusion to harass people and steal.

    Gunshots and canisters of teargas were fired by the police to scare away the protesters.

    Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) were later drafted to the scene of the riot.

    Many shop owners were forced to shut down and there was a traffic jam on Iwo Road, Monathan.

    Fifteen people were reportedly injured in the fracas.

    Peace was later restored by anti-riot policemen.

    Police spokesperson, Mrs. Olabisi Ilobanafor, described the action of the students as unfortunate.

    She said: “There was an accident involving a Tata truck with registration number EKY 990 XA driven by Adegoroye Kamoru, which hit a student of Oyeshina High School, Monatan, Oseni Yusuf. He was taken to Divine Hospital and is responding to treatment. “Policemen moved to the scene to control the irate students but they went on the rampage, throwing bottles. They set the vehicle ablaze. Patrol teams were mobilised to restore peace. The area is now calm.”