Gangsters storm Surulere community on ‘revenge mission’

LAGOS — Residents  of Obasun link in Aguda, Surulere, Lagos woke up early morning,  yesterday, to count their losses following the invasion of their area by a group of street urchins popularly referred to as  “Star boys” from Ijesha. The incident which took place at about 2 a.m left several people seriously injured and about 17 vehicles badly damaged. According to Mr. Yomi  Arogbonlo,  chairman of New Kpako under Coker/Aguda Local Council Development Area, LCDA, the boys came on a revenge mission.
Yomi informed Vanguard that in December 2012, when the Star boys of Ijesha  had their carnival, some boys from Obasun attended the party during which a slight rift ensued between them.
He said the Star boys of Ijesha, after the incident, accused the Obasun boys of intentionally coming  to disrupt their  carnival and vowed to cut their pound of flesh whenever  Obasun boys would host their own carnival.
Apprehensive of their coming, the Obasun boys postponed their  carnival from January till February to allow the situation  subside.
The chairman said to ensure peace during the carnival,  he informed the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, who dispatched his men to provide security during the occasion.
According to him, the carnival ended some minutes before 2 a.m and everybody, including the police left the scene of the carnival.
It was oblivious to the parties involved that the boys had positioned themselves, waiting for the right time to strike.
It was  few minutes after 2 a.m that they noticed over 30 youths armed with guns, machetes,  among other dangerous weapons going on the rampage, destroying property, breaking and looting some shops.
Sadly, all the attempts to stop them at that point  proved fruitless as the police had left the vicinity before they struck.
Mr Ajao Abioye, whose shop was raided, lamented the loss of most of his valuables including all the shoes he had for sale. Amidst tears, Abioye said that he had lost the means of his livelihood  to the crisis.’’
I woke up  this morning to be informed that there was a serious crisis along Obasun link, I rushed  here( referring to the scene of the incident) only to found out that all the items including the shoes of about N200,000  in my shop  has been  looted. Even all my glass display cases have been destroyed beyond repair.
“Look at my brother’s bus,” he said, “pointing at one of the buses whose screen were totally smashed, “I have lost everything” he narrated.
However, the level of damage and loss  involve are yet to be ascertained as some of the shop owners whose goods were  looted  were not present as at the time of this report.
The council chairman told Vanguard that the matter has been reported to the police and that the perpetrators must surely be fished out soon as their identities are not hidden.