Residents of Ibasa Ijegun-Egba, a riverine community in Oriade LCDA, Lagos, on Thursday, decried the invasion of the community by alleged police officers and hoodlums.

The residents told journalists that since penultimate Friday, peace had eluded the town and its markets, with police and hoodlums allegedly overrunning the area.

Tajudeen Ibikunle, the ruler of the Ibasa Ijegun-Imore community, said he was sleeping in his house on October 27 when some police officers and hoodlums came to arrest him.

Mr Ibikunle explained, “They took me and some other residents to the police command in Onikan and locked us inside a cell. I was released on Saturday with the help of Oba Afeez Oriyomi Shittu, the traditional ruler of Ijegun-Egba land, who came to bail out some of us who were in the cell.

“When I got back on Saturday, I discovered that these hoodlums had taken over all axes of my community in Ijegun and were disturbing the peaceful atmosphere. They had blocked everywhere and were beating and harassing residents, claiming to have taken over the community.”

The Ibasa Ijegun-Imore ruler appealed to the government to intervene “because I cannot even access my palace now because of their presence.”

Omolara Alebiosu, a resident of Ijegun-Egba, said she was arrested along with her three children in front of their house without any reason.

“About 50 hoodlums, some of them wearing masks, beat up myself and my children and forced us to enter their vehicle. We were taken to Ikeja before someone phoned them to come to Zone 2 Onikan. Even they didn’t know the way to the command, one of the police came to lead them to the place.

“They locked us up in a cell on Friday while the traditional ruler came on Saturday to bail some of us while others were released the following Monday. Now that we are back home, we discovered that the land grabbers are everywhere in the community, harassing us, telling us that the town belongs to them,” stated Ms Alebiosu.

Shedding more light on the incident, Kareem Idowu, the youth chairman of Ibasa Ijegun-Egba Youth Satellite Community, said someone wrote a petition against the community.

According to him, the petitioners claimed that youths in the community were involved in oil bunkering, malicious damage to property and threatening the lives of marketers.

“There is nothing like bunkering in our community because one can’t even go near the pipeline because of the presence of naval personnel. The community was trying to rebuild the Ogun shrine to give it a befitting status during the forthcoming festival and this belongs to us,” Mr Idowu stated.

Mr Idowu added that no community youth “carries guns to market in Ijegun-Egba.”

“We are law-abiding citizens,” Mr Idowu stressed. “The police should have done their findings before invading our community. Now, many people have been arrested and detained. Again, we don’t understand why land grabbers should be involved in this issue because many thugs have been tormenting the residents, claiming that they have taken over our property in Ijegun-Egba.”

Mr Idowu lamented that “nobody can go out or go to the market” worsening the “economic situation of the area.”

“We are appealing to the Lagos state government to intervene and restore normalcy to our communities as we are now living in fear,” Mr Idowu said.

Bukky Ishola, a resident and the daughter of the Iyaloja General of the Ijegun-Egba market said the market was invaded by hoodlums who took advantage of the chaos to steal, harass and assault many people.

Kazeem Salami, a meat seller, said they were not allowed to sell their meat as some hoodlums attacked and chased away their customers.

Mr Salami called for the government’s intervention so that peace could return to the market and the community.

Tunde Sanni, a contractor handling the construction of the Ijegun-Egba market, said the hoodlums seized their tools and other materials and chased away workers.

According to him, it took the intervention of the chairman of Ori-Ade LCDA before the tools were released.

“Up until now, our workers have not returned to the site because those hoodlums are still around tormenting the market and the town,” said Mr Sanni.

When contacted, Superintendent Hauwa Idris-Adamu, police spokeswoman for Zone 2 Onikan, said she was unaware of the attack, arrest and detention. 

(NAN)