Lagos police fail to respond to distress call by robbery victims

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The Lagos State police command on Wednesday failed to live up to its statutory responsibility as its men failed to respond to distress calls from citizens who were being robbed by dare devil armed robbers in Nigeria’s commercial capital.

A report by Abuja-based LEADERSHIP newspapers said the robbers descended on Sebotimo Street, Mangoro, right in the city centre, at 2 a.m. and laid a five-hour siege on the neighbourhood, ransacking almost every building on the street while robbing residents of cash, telephone handsets and other valuables , and  forcing some to write cheques at gunpoint.

Residents say while the robbery lasted, they tried desperately to contact the police, but that they got no response. The police, they say, only arrived the scene long after the the robbers were gone.

One of the victims, who did not want to be named, said frantic telephone calls to the Lagos State police special number, 767, were unanswered. He said that other people in the neighbourhood also called members of the Nigerian Police Force to come to their rescue but received no help.

“It was after the robbers left that the policemen came blaring sirens,” he said, adding that the robbers, aged between 17 and 20, were armed with shotguns, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons. He explained that robbers invaded the area when there was no power supply.

LEADERSHIP