Residents, monarch cry for help as hoodlums take over Ajah, environs

Residents of Langbasa, Addo and Badore in the Ajah area of Lagos State have cried out for help as criminals and cultists unleash mayhem in their neighbourhoods.

The attacks and reprisals by the hoodlums have heightened the fear of residents from carrying out their lawful businesses in peace.
Despite daily raids and arrests by the Langbasa Police Division to rein in the criminals, the hoodlums keep returning to unleash terror on citizens. According to sources, many of the hoodlums are members of the defunct Badoo cult group in Ikorodu, who usually migrate into Ajah on waterways via Ijede Badore and Oke-Ira ferry terminals.

On several occasions, there have been sporadic gun battles between policemen and the hoodlums.

Recently, a suspect was lynched on Addo Road after a successful robbery, where he shot at a soldier to scare people who were chasing him.

However, he didn’t succeed in scaring them away as he was eventually killed.

An eyewitness at the scene confirmed that robbers and cultists now use different schemes to rob and kill their victims. During the lockdown, robbers were daily invading homes to rob people both in the day and at night.

The residents are pleading with the government to come to their rescue by equipping the police with necessary apparatus to enhance their operations to curb crime and criminalities within Ajah area.

The monarch of the area, Oba Badiru Hafiz, the Elejigbo of Langbasa, while responding to The Guardian enquiries, called on the state government to give more support to the police. According to him, the police in the axis are trying hard to manage the situation.

“The Langbasa police officers and our DPO have been trying to gather information. It is all these cultists that have been trying to harass people. And for the past one and half month, the DPO and his men have always engaged them.

“Within those areas, these cultists and other criminals were committing crimes. As soon as I called the DPO and informed him of what was happening, he went into action with his men. They have been working very hard to make sure that there is peace,” he stated.

He, therefore, called on the government to do whatever it can to assist the community.

“I have warned the people and ask them to talk to their youths and children to make sure that they do not go against the law,” he stated