Gangsters storm Surulerecommunity on ‘revenge mission’

Residents of Obasun link in Aguda,
Surulere, Lagos woke up early
morning, yesterday, to count their
losses following the invasion of their
area by a group of street urchins
popularly referred to as "Star boys"
from Ijesha.
The incident which took place at
about 2 a.m left several people
seriously injured and about 17
vehicles badly damaged. According
to Mr. Yomi Arogbonlo, chairman of
New Kpako under Coker/Aguda Local
Council Development Area, LCDA, the
boys came on a revenge mission.
Yomi informed Vanguard that in
December 2012, when the Star boys
of Ijesha had their carnival, some
boys from Obasun attended the
party during which a slight rift
ensued between them.
He said the Star boys of Ijesha, after
the incident, accused the Obasun
boys of intentionally coming to
disrupt their carnival and vowed to
cut their pound of flesh whenever
Obasun boys would host their own
carnival.
Apprehensive of their coming, the
Obasun boys postponed their
carnival from January till February to
allow the situation subside.
The chairman said to ensure peace
during the carnival, he informed the
Divisional Police Officer, DPO, who
dispatched his men to provide
security during the occasion.
According to him, the carnival ended
some minutes before 2 a.m and
everybody, including the police left
the scene of the carnival.
It was oblivious to the parties
involved that the boys had
positioned themselves, waiting for
the right time to strike.
It was few minutes after 2 a.m that
they noticed over 30 youths armed
with guns, machetes, among other
dangerous weapons going on the
rampage, destroying property,
breaking and looting some shops.
Sadly, all the attempts to stop them
at that point proved fruitless as the
police had left the vicinity before
they struck.
Mr Ajao Abioye, whose shop was
raided, lamented the loss of most of
his valuables including all the shoes
he had for sale. Amidst tears, Abioye
said that he had lost the means of his
livelihood to the crisis.''
I woke up this morning to be
informed that there was a serious
crisis along Obasun link, I rushed
here( referring to the scene of the
incident) only to found out that all
the items including the shoes of
about N200,000 in my shop has been
looted. Even all my glass display
cases have been destroyed beyond
repair.
"Look at my brother's bus," he said,
"pointing at one of the buses whose
screen were totally smashed, "I have
lost everything" he narrated.
However, the level of damage and
loss involve are yet to be
ascertained as some of the shop
owners whose goods were looted
were not present as at the time of
this report.
The council chairman told Vanguard
that the matter has been reported to
the police and that the perpetrators
must surely be fished out soon as
their identities are not hidden.