Attacks on public property continue as hoodlums set Ojodu Police Station, others ablaze

• Many ‘shot’ as security agencies foil attempted jailbreak at Ikoyi Prison
• Lekki, Surulere malls, ATMs looted • OPC decries looting

Hoodlums yesterday set more facilities belonging to the Nigeria Police Force on fire in Ojodu Berger, Ikotun and Onipanuareas of Lagos State, destroying properties worth millions of naira. Dozens of vehicles and police patrol vans were destroyed in the inferno by the mob.

An eyewitness, Idowu Jamiu, said the hoodlums also looted shops around the police station. An affected trader, identified simply as Iya Agbo, said: “They torched shops beside the station. They stole and destroyed our goods worth millions of naira. I don’t know where to start from. I am in ruins.”

It was gathered that the hoodlums had attempted to set the station ablaze on Wednesday but failed after the division called for a backup and soldiers mounted a roadblock to ward off the hoodlums.

Our correspondent learns that the hoodlums converged at an uncompleted building behind Amuf Filling Station at Grammar School bus stop where the police facility is situated and started attacking the station with bottles and stones on Wednesday night and in the early hours of Thursday.

Officials of the Lagos State Fire Service were later deployed to the scene to put out the fire, but not after no fewer than seven vehicles had been burnt.

Menwhile, some inmates were shot as a combined team of correctional officers and soldiers successfully tried to foil a revolt and attempted jailbreak at the
Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), Ikoyi Custodial Centre in Lagos yesterday.

The attempted jailbreak is coming three days after hundreds of prisoners escaped from the Benin prison in Edo State.

Some prisoners had tried to escape from the prison, which was captured in a viral video footage recorded by a resident living close to the prison, by setting a part
of the prison on fire.

According to the source inside the prison, several prisoners have been shot as some prisoners tried to breach the gate of the prison. The source said
troops of the Nigerian Army were called in to assist correctional officers who battled to suppress the
attempted jailbreak.

The Ikoyi Custodial Centre has dismissed fears that there was a jailbreak in the correctional facility, insisting that the fire only affected a part of the centre
and did not involve inmates.

The Public Relations Officer, NCoS in Lagos, RotimiOladokun, said there was no cause for alarm, adding that a statement would be issued soon.

According to the spokesperson, “There was fire on a part of the correctional centre but it has been contained. It did not affect the inmates in any way.

There is no jailbreak and all is fine. We will issue a statement soon.”

Earlier, Ikoyi residents had raised alarm following bilowing smoke and gunshots heard from that axis. It was gathered that as soon as the fire started, armed detachments of police operatives from Area A Command and Police Mobile Force, PMF, 2, Keffi Street were deployed to safeguard the place.

Confirming the incident, police spokesman, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said: ”The fire had since been put out by fire service, police and other security agencies. No cause for
alarm.”

Earlier in the day, hoodlums in Lagos had looted the CircleMall at Jakande in Lekki and the Spar Market near NiconEstate. The hoodlums further set ablaze shops in Circle Mall.

The looting began on Wednesday night.

Vandals on Wednesday night also attacked some shops including a branch of a popular mall, Shoprite, located on Adeniran Ogunsanya and Bode Thomas in the Surulere area of Lagos State.

The shops, which include phone stores were forced opened and looted by the hoodlums. Banks were not left out as ATMs were destroyed and some of the glass windows at the banks were shattered.

Residents in the area are however appealing for security presence. They claim the miscreants have promised to return and unleash more havoc.

Kayode Akintemi, who took a walk around the area yesterday morning, said: “I just returned home from my walk, where I strolled to Circle Mall at Jakande. The place is on fire, still being looted, and people are proudly carrying loot on their heads and shoulders. I couldn’t take photos. Boys were armed with cutlasses and knives. A few looked my way and for a moment, I thought I was going to be attacked but I escaped from the scene by parting a few naira notes.”

The Shoprite outlet in the mall was looted last year September in the wake of reactions to the xenophobic attacks against Nigerians in South Africa. The Novare Mall in Sangotedo, Lekki was similarly attacked, with many shops emptied.

Following the carnage unleashed by urchins, the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) has, in strong term, condemned the killing of innocent and unarmed protesters in Lekki, warning those miscreants that engaged in looting and destruction of public properties not to turn the southwest region to war theatres.

The OPC in a statement by the Publicity Secretary, Yinka Oguntimehin expressed concern on the situation leading to the death of some of the defenceless protesters in Lekki, arguing that the killing was barbaric and an attempt to stop the people from expressing their views against the government.

Oguntimehin also condemned the activities of some hoodlums that had used the peaceful protest todestroy public utility and properties.

“It was obvious that some enemies of the people of Southwest has decided to use the peaceful protests to unleash terror in the region.

How could a peaceful protest turned bloody overnight? Those behind the killing in Lekki decided to unleash terror on innocent and unarmed youths by shutting down the Close Circuit Camera and putting out the billboard light at the tollgate before embarking on their shooting spree, leaving in the wake, several persons killed while others were at the hospitals with various degrees of injuries.

This is barbaric and very dangerous.

“We have never had it so bad like this in this country, except during the military government of the late Sani Abacha that Nigeria was thrown into this kind of terror and killing.”

The OPC chieftain, however, urged the United Nation and International communities to put pressure on the Federal Government to investigate those behind the killing
and brought them to book.

“Those that were killed in the course of this peaceful protest still remain our heroes even in death. However, it is sad that the Federal Government had failed to act on the legitimate demands of the protesters, making the issue to escalate from peaceful protests to looting, arson and killings.”