Afeez Hanafi
Residents of Abule Ijesha community, Yaba, Lagos State, say the neighbourhood is not safe until the police arrest hoodlums who killed a senior member of staff of the University of Lagos, Akoka, and a final year student of the institution.
They claimed that the mastermind of the crime was a drug dealer known to the police and demanded that he and his accomplices be apprehended and prosecuted.
The victims, Akintunde Fadugba, of Centre for Information and Technology System, UNILAG, and the 400-level student, Rasaq Akokia, were shot dead on Opayemi Street, Abule Ijesha.
We learnt that the hoodlums, numbering six and reportedly led by the drug dealer had stormed the community around 11pm on Friday on motorcycles and shot indiscriminately.
Fadugba, who was said to be relaxing in front of a barber’s – a stone’s throw from his residence – was shot and died on the spot.
It was learnt that Akokia was ill and had gone to buy drugs from a chemist on the street.
He was returning home when a bullet hit him in the chest.
Our correspondent, who visited the community on Tuesday, observed that residents were still in panic as many of them declined to speak on the incident.
However, an eyewitness, Sunday Ebah, said he was at a restaurant on Opayemi Street when the hoodlums struck.
He said, “I was with a food vendor around 11pm when I saw three motorcycles. While they were approaching a church, they put off the light of the motorcycle. Two persons were reportedly on each motorcycle.
“Two men came down and one of them, a tall guy, started shooting. The drug dealer was directing him.
“When I saw them, I ran to Martins Street. Two men faced Martins Street, while two others headed towards Odenike Street, shooting.
“The UNILAG worker was outside a barber’s when he was shot. They saw the light of a pickup truck arriving in the community and fled. They thought it was a police van.
“As they were leaving through Fatai Kadri Street, Rasaq (Akokia), who had been hiding, thought they had gone. As he came out from hiding, they shot him and he fell into the gutter. He was a final year student at UNILAG.”Continue reading.
