The police in Lagos have arrested a community head, who is also the Baale of Idiorogbo in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government area of the state, Chief Samsideen Bello, and two others for allegedly robbing a contracting firm and inflicting injuries on its workers.
No fewer than five workers of the firm, Fisayo Tobalase Enterprises, were seriously injured, when the suspects allegedly attacked the premises of the company in Ibeju Lekki and carted away the sum of N5, 320,000.
Our correspondent gathered that the incident occurred shortly after the firm was paid for the supply of about 600 trucks of sand to a company in Lagos. The suspected robbers, allegedly led by Bello, the traditional head of Idiorogbo community, stormed the site of the firm and attacked the workers with dangerous weapons such as guns and cutlasses, injuring some of them before carting away the cash.
A resident of the community, Fatai Faleye, however, told our correspondent that Bello must have attacked the workers of the firm to challenge their operations on the site.
“That is how the man and his people usually challenge whoever is working on sites in our community. He must have challenged them to collect money from them, because they also work like Omo Onile (land speculators),” he said.
Speaking with our correspondent, the Managing Director of the firm, Mrs. Ola Williams, alleged that Bello led suspected hoodlums numbering about 15 in the violent attack on her workers, which also led to the snatching of the cash by the suspects.
“On this fateful day, we were expected to deliver certain work to a company, which had paid us the sum of N5,320,000. With this amount, we were expected to deliver to the company 600 trucks of the sand that we were mining from the site. But to our surprise, few minutes after the payment was made to us, some hood Williams, however, told our correspondent that at the commencement of the firm’s operations on the site, Bello and his colleagues had earlier approached her and demanded the payment of N100,000 on a weekly basis for working on the site. One of the workers at the site during the alleged robbery attack, Adeniyi Samson, said, “I regained consciousness in the hospital.
At first, when I saw their vehicles arrive at the site, I thought they were one of the companies that usually come for order. But when we all saw the hoodlums alighting with guns and machetes from their cars, we had to run for our lives. It was in the course of this that I fell and two of them descended on me with their machetes. That was all I saw until I woke up in the hospital.”
Another worker, Oluwatobi Titus, said, ”Chief Bello himself, after collecting the bag that contained the money, put it in the boot of his car. They brought two cars, which are an ash-coloured Acura with registration number EXY 697 DM, and another black-coloured Acura with registration number AND 251 EA. Eventually, they began to assault us before they attacked us. Despite the fact that Bisi is a female, they beat her mercilessly to the extent that she was unconscious after they collected the bag from her”.
Titus added that other workers, including Deji Williams, Aromire Ibrahim, Funmi Ayodele and other workers were beaten and injured during the incident. Meanwhile, findings by our correspondent revealed that the Lagos State Government, in a letter by the Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr. Olawale Oluwo, had licensed Tobalase to operate from the site.
Police sources at the Area ‘J’ Command, Elemoro, Lekki, told our correspondent that Bello and some of the hoodlums had been arrested following weeks of manhunt launched for the suspects. It was also learnt that in the course of investigation, police had earlier found exhibits belonging to the firm in the office of the traditional ruler and his alleged accomplices, Tunde Onibeju and Nasirudeen Onibeju, said to be surveyors.
“The leader of the hoodlums, Bello Samsideen, and some of his men, have been arrested after they had been on the run for weeks. Earlier, while we were investigating them; we found exhibits belonging to Tobalase Company in their office and house.
We also found a laptop computer and other items with them”, the police source, who didn’t want his name mentioned, said. Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Olarinde Famous-Cole, could not be reached on the phone for his comments on the incident. Several calls put to his mobile phone were not answered.
