Residents Send SOS to Makinde, say ‘Ajibode, Sasa Area Now a Den of Robbers’

Residents of Sasa Area in Ibadan, Oyo State have expressed fear and dissatisfaction with the security situation in their vicinity.

Speaking to our correspondent, early Sunday morning, one of the residents of the UI Alumni Post Graduate Hall who pleaded anonymity said that the security situation in the Ajibode Sasa area just before the UI Distant Learning Center (DLC) has been so porous as there have been motorcycle robberies on a weekly basis.

The resident revealed that there have been incessant robberies of motorcyclists of their motorbikes in the area as three cyclists were robbed of their bikes last week and another three this week with one happening just last night.

Narrating the incidents, the witness said, “for more than a month now, we’ve been hearing shouts of “Ole! Ole!!” every week and since last week, the shouts have become more frequent than before.

He went on to say, “last week three bikemen lost their bikes to robbers and this week three more lost their bikes between Monday and Saturday and the latest happened yesternight.

“I was sitting outside the hall of residence yesterday and I saw a bikeman drive down to stop in front of the hall and the passenger came down and pretended to look for money and within the twinkle of an eye, another bike drove to them and a gun was pointed at the other bikeman. He was asked to come down and his bike was taken from him and the fake passenger mounted the bike and moved with it as the owner of the bike was asked to run in the opposite direction”.

He further said that efforts to alert security agents have proven abortive as the robberies happen real fast and within two minutes adding that the attack is orchestrated and completed without any mistake.

Confirming these incidents, the Chief Security Officer of the UI Alumni Post Graduate hall said that these robberies are constantly happening in front of the hall as that is the only residential building between the UI back gate and the Distance Learning Center. He noted that the quietness makes it easy to rob without being caught.

He further added that these incidents have made life increasingly difficult for the students residing in the hall as they can’t get means of getting to the area after 7 pm as these robberies happen around 7 to 9 pm every two to three days.

He further revealed that he has interacted with one of the victims and he discovered that these fake passengers will take the motorcyclists from a place as far as Mokola Roundabout to the area before robbing them in front of the residence hall.

While expressing fear that these robberies might soon get to the hall of residence and other residents if not curbed soon enough, the residents called on the State Government and the security agents in the state to step in before a life is lost during one of these robberies.