Residents and shop owners were thrown into panic on Friday after a gang of armed men attacked shops and dispossessed passersby of their valuables along LASU Road in the Ojo area of Lagos State.

It was learnt that the incident occurred at about 11 am in the Iyana School and First Gate areas of the community.

It was gathered that the assailants, who were about 15 in number, were heavily armed with guns and machetes.

A resident of the area who identified himself simply as Omowunmi told PUNCH Metro on Monday that while some people ran for safety, others were not as lucky as they were robbed in the process.

She said, “We did not know where they emerged from; we just saw them all dressed in black and displaying different weapons, including guns and machetes.

“Some of them also wore nose masks. They started from First Gate down towards Iyana School. They were approaching people randomly while people ran for safety.”

Another eyewitness, who did not want his name in print due to security reasons, said the gang also stormed several shops, including a popular supermarket in the area, carting away goods and cash.

“While the robbery and assault were ongoing, some traders quickly locked up their shops, while others abandoned their businesses and ran for safety. They entered some of the shops, including a supermarket, and took away goods and cash,” the source added.

Residents in the area lamented that the hoodlums carried out the operation for several minutes unchallenged.

They also explained that there was no immediate security intervention despite the closeness of a police station to the location where the incident occurred.

“First, we were surprised that such an incident was happening in broad daylight. More worrisome is the fact that the operation lasted for several minutes without police intervention.

“A police station is just about three minutes away from where the incident happened, and no officer was in sight while the boys continued robbing,” a resident, Pius Oleme, told our correspondent.

Oleme said business owners now operate in fear of a possible return of the armed gang to the area after the incident.

An X user, @ThatOjoBoy, posted a video of the incident, in which one of the armed men, wielding a machete, was seen harassing passersby while also trying to catch up with passengers in a commercial bus.

“A lady captured this video yesterday, crying and begging the bus driver to move as armed men with cutlasses and guns stormed Iyana School in broad daylight along LASU Road, Ojo, Lagos,” he wrote.

When contacted for a reaction on Monday, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Adebisi, said the incident stemmed from a clash between two factions of the National Union of Road Transport Workers in an attempted takeover of a bus park in the community. She added that this was later hijacked by hoodlums.

“It was the National Union of Road Transport Workers that was fighting. A section wanted to take over the park in the area, while the other section confronted them. We were able to take charge of the situation, but hoodlums took advantage at the 1st gate area. One person was arrested and handed over to Command Special Squad 1.” (The PUNCH)

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