One Arrested As Community Foil Businessman’s Abduction In Lagos

Pandemonium broke out in Oko Oba, the Orile Agege area of Lagos on Monday night as residents resisted an attack by gunmen.

It was gathered that four gun and cutlass-wielding men, after robbing a pharmacy store on Ogundele Street, attempted to abduct the owner of the store in his car.

A resident in the area, James Alade, who witnessed the attack, said the culprits came on bikes, gained access to Navo Pharmacy around 10 pm, and robbed the store owner, Samuel Oshanugor, before making attempts to whisk him away.

“The gunmen dragged the owner from the shop into his car that was parked outside, but the tyres got stuck in a bad portion of the road when they tried driving it away,” Alade said.

The pharmacy manager, Lawrence Olawale, said he had closed and was going home when he was called that some thieves were robbing his boss, who was the only one left in the shop.

The manager, who said he ran back towards the store and raised the alarm alongside other residents, confirmed to our correspondent that his boss was rescued by youths in the area despite the weapons held by the suspects.

“When the Acura car got stuck, we observed that they couldn’t drive it out, so people who were aware of the development were already close to them but they could not move close to the armed men because of their weapons.

“But they began throwing stones and bottles at them. Three of them eventually fled while the fourth person who was monitoring people’s movement was overpowered by the men in the area,” Olawale said.

He said the incident lasted for about 15 minutes.

It was gathered that the arrested suspect, who was already beaten to a stupor by the angry youths, was handed over to police officers who arrived at the scene later.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, could not be immediately reached for comments as his line was busy as of the time of filing this report.

A text message sent to his line is also yet to be responded to.

One of the videos obtained from the scene, however, showed police officers taking the suspect away.

The Abbatoir Police Station Officer, Ofem Bassey, who spoke with our correspondent via the telephone in the early hours of Tuesday, said he was not on duty when the incident happened, but he was contacted that there was a crowd in the area and he had to send reinforcement.

“I called my people (officers) to go there for assistance. I called the DPO, and he met them,” he said.

In another video seen by our correspondent, several residents thronged the front of the pharmacy on Monday night.