Security: Police re-assure Ijora-Badia

Residents of Ijora Badia, a suburb of Lagos State, have been assured of the safety of their lives and property in spite of the recent upsurge in armed robbery attacks in the area.The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Ijora- Badia, Saleh Samaila, told newsmen, that the police had evolved new strategies to contain the incidences.Samaila said that part of the strategies involved partnering members of the community in tracking the people involved in the nefarious activities.``I am currently working on a seminar for the public to help arrest the situation.``We are also strategising by sending out policemen in mufti to mix with the people in order to identify the hoodlums,' he said.He added that the police community partnership had started yielding fruits as one of the hoodlums involved in recent robberies had been arrested.The DPO also said that they had increased the presence of uniformed and plain clothed police patrol of the area to curb any breach of peace.Meanwhile, some of the residents affirmed that the recent spate of armed robberies in the area had kept them perpetually under fear with an attendant loss of businesses.Mrs Oluwaremilekun Ajurojo, a resident, said that the activities of the hoodlums were beyond police efforts, as the robbers appeared more armed than the law enforcement officers.``The police cannot handle it any more as the robbers have more ammunition than them,' she said.She said that most parents have sent their grown up daughters away as part of the measures to prevent them from being sexually harassed by the hoodlums.``When they come in the night, they rape young ladies, so we have all sent our daughters out to prevent them from being harassed,' Ajurojo said.One of the recent robbery victims in the area, Mr Olanrewaju Yusuf, said that the hoodlums carted away huge amount of money from the occupants of his house on October 1.Yusuf, who claimed to have been tortured by the robbers for his inability to offer money, said that the Independence Day incident was the third in a series.``I don't have money, that was why I was beaten with iron and this happened in one of their attacks in the last five weeks,' he said.Another resident who pleaded anonymity, said that the increase in crime rate in the area and the continuous fighting among the 'area boys', were as a result of the forthcoming council polls in Lagos.
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