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HELL let loose on Wednesday at Alaro area of Ibadan, Oyo State, when okada riders and hoodlums numbering over 100 stormed a building in the area and injured some people with broken bottles while the building was also vandalized.
Not only that, a brand new Toyota Sequia Sport Utility vehicle worth N7million was destroyed with all its glasses broken and the body dented by the hoodlums, while the landlady, an 81-year-old whose name was given as Mrs Oke, was seriously beaten.
However, Crime Reports gathered that some suspects were arrested out of who seven were found culpable after screening.
Among the arrested suspects was a 19-year-old boy, Ibrahim Odunoye who was decked in different charms, which he said were to defend his body against being penetrated by bullets and cutlasses.
Crime Reports learnt that the problem started at about 9a.m. when a man, Leke Ologbenla sighted a 15-year-old girl, Basirat Adebayo, who was living with him but left on the excuse that she wanted to go and see her parents about three months ago, on an okada with a man.
Mr Ologbenla reportedly stopped the man and took hold of the girl, saying that she must return home, at the same time asking the man how the girl came to be in his custody. Mr Ologbenla was said to be the one who brought the girl from Ile-Ife, Osun State, to Ibadan initially, and had immediately registered her at Cheshire Secondary School, Ijokodo, before she left his house some months back.
The way the girl was taken from the okada man, whose name was simply given as Sola, did not go down well with him, as he also claimed that the girl’s parents had given their consent on her staying with him.
Sola was said to have gone to mobilise his colleagues, who in turn called other hoodlums and stormed the residence of Ologbenla. They were said to have scaled the fence and went ahead to break all the glass windows of the storey building, after which they descended on the SUV parked in the premises and inflicted serious damages on it. They insisted that the girl must be released to them.
Not yet done, the hoodlums reportedly broke a lot of bottles found in the shop attached to the house and some that they brought themselves. They allegedly broke the doors of the main building and rained slaps on the old woman, after which they dragged her from the bed and continued to beat her.
Mr Ologbenla’s younger brother, Biodun, was not spared as they stabbed him with broken bottle on the head while he was trying to fend the invaders off.
It was further gathered that it took the intervention of policemen from Sango Division, led by the Divisional Crime Officer, and other security patrol teams such as Seven Cities and Operation Burst to calm the situation after they received information about the fracas.
The boy caught with charms said he was called by one Kayode to come and meet him where some people were fighting with him and others. “I went back home to equip myself with the charms but as I got there, the police came and arrested me with others,” he said. The boy disclosed that he was a member of Gani Adams faction of Oodua People’s Congress.
When asked about the fresh blood dripping from one of the charms, he said denied that it was fresh but said it was the blood of a dog which he sprinkled on it to ensure its continuous potency.
Confirming the story, the Police Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Ilobanafor said that the suspects had been charged to court while efforts were still on to arrest other suspects, including the okada man who carried the girl.
In an update, Crime Reports learnt that the suspects were charged to Iyaganku Magistrates’ Court 8, Ibadan on Thursday on a nine count-charge which included conspiracy, stealing, assault occasioning harm, malicious damage and conduct likely to cause the breach of the peace, among others.
The case has however been adjourned till February 12.
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