For sometime now, residents of Adekunle Street, Isolo Lagos, were subjected to untold torture in the hands of robbers who operate on motorcycles. Majority of the victims being women, whose hand bags were snatched, immediately they alighted from commercial busses at their designated bus-stops. Some of them reportedly sustained severe injuries in the process. Following the worrisome development, most women in the area, particularly those who return late from their respective places of work, sought the company of men as escorts to avert possible attacks from these robbers.
 |
| Adekunle street -Isolo |
Recently things took a different turn when one of the robbery suspects was apprehended at the verge of snatching a woman’s handbag on Adekunle Street, Isolo, Lagos. It was gathered that the victim, a shop owner around the area had closed for the day and was waiting along the road at about 9pm for her husband to come pick her . Just then, a motorcyclist pulled up to her and attempted to snatch her bag. But her firm grip on it rendered the robber’s mission impossible. She held the motorcyclist and raised alarm which alerted a mob. They beat the suspect to a pulp.
While they were descending on the suspects, five women, said to have had their hand bags snatched within the previous month, identified the suspect as the person that attacked them.
Eye witness report says the suspect, later identified as Alliu Sanusi, was at the verge of being set ablaze when he managed to escape through a tunnel around the area, abandoning his motorbike.
The 24-year-old robbery suspect arrived home at about 11.30pm. Surprisingly, he was discovered to reside on Adeyemi Street, Isolo, which is just a stone throw from the crime scene. On to the make shift room he shared with two other people, Suleiman Ibrahim and Ibrahim Oyigye, both of whom are cousins. Alliu lied to his friends that he knocked down a woman and in the he was beaten and his motorbike seized. His room mates were said to have disbelieved him, and insisted on his getting back the motorbike. During the argument that ensued, Suleiman and Oyigye revealed that a relative bought the bike for the trio, to enable them eke a living. While Oyigye engaged in other kinds of menial jobs, Suleiman used it for commercial purpose between 6.30am and 7pm, while Alliu continued from 7pm till 9.30pm. The argument degenerated into a fight as the duo (Suleiman and Oyigye) attacked Alliu, who insisted the motorbike was seized by an angry mob.
Two days later, Police Men raided some commercial motorcyclists around Isolo for flouting the Lagos State Traffic law. On getting the station, some of the arrested motorcyclists discovered Alliu’s motorbike and upon enquiry they were told the motorbike was brought in by some residents from where it was abandoned by a fleeing robber.
When news of the true story of the missing motorcycle got to Oyigye and Suleiman, they felt betrayed and disappointed. The discovery according to a resident who spoke on condition of anonymity, led to another round of questioning.
“Alliu insisted it was seized by a mob who attacked him for knocking a woman down. At this stage, they started beating him (Alliu). They beat him to a pulp and gave him two days to go retrieve the okada . But next day, he took ill and two days later, he died, apparently from the beating”, the resident said.
Suleiman Ibrahim and Ibrahim Oyigye, were charged for murder of Alliu Sanusi at the Magistrate Court seating in Oyingbo, Lagos - Nigeria.
