Residents Fingered In Failed Ikire, Apomu Bank Robberies, Attacks

By Ismaeel Uthman

THERE are indications that some of the armed robbers that attacked Ikire Divisional Police Headquarters, First Bank, Ikire and Access Bank in Apomu, might be residents of the two communities.

This is just as the Akire of Ikire, Oba Olatunde Falabi described the incident as a deadly attack on Ikire as a community.

It would be recalled that about 35 dare-devil armed robbers stormed Ikire and Apomu in Irewole and Isokan local government areas respectively around 5:30pm on Wednesday, June 2, 2021 with five different vehicles.

Two policemen, ASP Osho Oluranti, Inspector Lekan Olalere, two special constabularies, Oladeni Olalekan and Oyedeji Muyideen, and three civilian residents of Apomu, Toheeb Oyebola, Temilorun Adebiyi and Segun Olamoyero, were shot dead by the armed robbers in the unsuccessful operations.

According to some residents of Apomu who spoke with OSUN DEFENDER when the medium visited the community on Tuesday, the armed robbers might have been in the town for some days before carrying out the operations.

They also asserted that some of the armed robbers were speaking Yoruba fluently and might be residents of the community.

Buttressing their assertion, the Apomu indigenes disclosed that three of the armed robbers who first attacked the branch of Access Bank in the community, emerged from a remote area in the vicinity, while all the men of the underworld escaped through a road that is not known to all the residents of the area.

They stated that Olamoyero and one other person were killed by the armed robbers after leaving the scene of the operations in the nook of Oke-Ola, the location of the Access Bank.

Also, the residents stated that the armed robbers that killed Olamoyero called his name before shooting him, reasoning that the hooded ones among the assailants might be indigenes or residents of Apomu.

They said: “We have reasons to believe that some of the armed robbers are indigenes or residents of this place, Apomu. The three armed robbers that started the operation at the Access Bank came from behind the Access Bank. People that saw them thought they were hoodlums until they began to shoot into the air and told people that they did not come for them.

“When the people were throwing stones at them, the armed robbers were warning and shooting to scare them away. But when they discovered that the people were getting close to them, the armed robbers began to shoot directly at the people but they were almost exhausting their ammunition.

“One of the armed robbers was shot and was gasping for breath. Another one was held hostage before the arrival of their colleagues who were attacking First Bank and Police Headquarters in Ikire. When those people came, they started shooting sporadically. One person was killed on the spot while several others sustained gunshot injury.

“The man that held one of the armed robbers hostage was shot in the leg. A madman known as Sunday was shot, but the bullet did not penetrate his body. Another pregnant madwoman was shot at her thigh. She is walking around with the bullet now. A 14-year-old girl who was going to buy soft drinks for her father was also hit by stray bullet.

“The armed robbers went through two different roads in the nook of Oke-Ola to shoot Segun Olamoyero and one other person. One of the armed robbers shot Segun from behind; the other moved closer to him and called his name ‘Segun’ before shooting him at close range.

“The other person that was killed was identified by armed robbers as part of the people attacking their colleagues.

“The armed robber that was shot and gasping for breath was shot again by one of his colleagues who later slaughtered him. His corpse was put in a Nissan Micra car driven by a lady that led the operations.

“The armed robbers escaped through Araromi-Owu road. The road is not known to strangers. It is a rough road that links different towns and villages without getting to the expressway. Only people who are familiar with the road could pass it.”

Speaking with the medium, Mrs. Iyabo Olamoyero, the mother of Segun Olamoyero, one of the victims of the failed bank raid, said her 25-year-old son died when life was getting meaningful for him.

The grieving mother, who was surrounded by women-sympathizers in her one-room apartment when OSUN DEFENDER visited her on Tuesday, could not hold back her tears.

She said Segun was a plank business apprentice who wanted to establish himself in the trade.

According to the mother and other women with her, Segun was not part of the people that confronted the armed robbers, even as they affirmed that his name was called by the assailants according to the people that witnessed the robbery.

The Akire of Ikire, Oba Olatunde Falabi, visited the Ikire Police Divisional Headquarters to sympathise with the Police.

Oba Falabi said: “The attack is not about bank robbery. It is a deadly attack on Ikire and its people. The armed robbers knew where bank is before attacking and killing policemen. It is an indication that there is no security in the land. May God restore security in Nigeria.

“This is not the first time we will experience things like this. But the previous bank robbery was not like this. The armed robbers faced the bank they intended to rob in the past. But the armed robbers that came for the last operation did not come for just bank raids; they came to wage war against Ikire as a community and God will wage war against them.”

The lawmaker representing Irewole/Isokan Constituency at the State House of Assembly, Hon. Olanrewaju Maruf visited the places affected by the failed robbery operations on Monday and sympathised with the people on the casaulties recorded during the incident.