Scores of residents of Tella Estate in Akobo area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, were injured on Saturday when a seven-man gang of armed robbers invaded the area and carted away their valuables.
It was gathered that the robbers arrived the estate around midnight and carried out house-to-house attacks on the residents.
When our correspondent arrived the community around 7 a.m on Saturday, bullet cartridges littered the ground while a night guard, identified simply as Victor, sustained machete cuts on the head.
Other injured residents were said to have been taken to the hospital.
The Chairman of the landlords association, Mr. Basiru Shodeyinde, told reporters that the robbers arrived the area at 12 a.m, adding that the landlords had reported the incident at Akobo Police Station.
According to him, the valuables the robbers stole included laptops, undisclosed cash, mobile phones and iPad.
He said: “From available information I have, the robbers had been in the community since midnight. I was not aware until around 2 a.m when a fellow landlord called me about it. I called other landlords to inform them about the incident. It was then we were aware they had entered seven houses.
The Nation reported that “they carted away mobile phones, laptops, iPad and other valuables. They collected huge sums of money from the victims.
“We reported the incident to Akobo Police Station around 10 a.m on Saturday and we were given a police officer to inspect the damages they did to our people.
“Though we couldn’t get the police at that time, but we have been given numbers to dial in case we have a similar experience again.”
A victim, who did not want to be named, told our reporter that the seven robbers were huge men without masks. He said they arrived his house at 12.15 a.m and operated for 45 minutes.
He said: “They had almost removed the window when my wife woke up. She told them not to disturb themselves, that she would open the door for them. That was because they had destroyed the window beyond expected. She opened the door for them and we dropped all the money we had on the table so that they would not begin to threaten to kill us. When they told me to bring more money or they will kill me, I said there was no more money. They attempted to shoot me. That was when my wife dragged it with them and she was hit with the gun butt. Thank God, my wife has been responding to treatment at hospital.”
Police spokesman Adekunle Ajisebutu, a Superintendent of Police (SP), said he was going to get back to our correspondent as soon as he was able to get information on the incident.
But he did not reply last night.
