Commuters and motorists ran for their safety as a set of four-men robbery gang invaded Dapsey Oil petrol station at lgando, on the outskirts of Lagos State, killing a police officer identified as Sergeant Akor and leaving two others wounded.
The armed bandits were said to have stormed the petrol station located at Olowonla bus Stop along Igando-lba-Lasu Express road at about 9 pm on Sunday, January 28, 2018, in a Honda car.
According to one of the victims, who is an Army personnel, “Those bad boys stormed the petrol station in a ‘commando-style of operation in a Honda car.
“They targeted us where I was standing with those police officers near one of the parked petrol tankers, hitting us with the car with a view to crushing us, we fell down and I hit the floor sustaining this wound on my face and immediately they started shooting indiscriminately and one of the bullets hit my leg and I ran for cover.”
In the confusion that ensued, the wounded Army officer, said one of the armed police officer, who was also hit by the car, lost his rifle to the robbers and escaped with injuries.
The robbery incident, which lasted for over one hour, took place few meters away from Igando police Division headquarters and was said to have sent panic to residents, due to the sporadic gunshots from the robbers.
Another eyewitness, Mr. Frances Adeleke, recounted how the late police officer who was said to have stepped out of the petrol station before the attack, had on sighting the robbers, confronted them without his gun.
His words: “As the robbers started shooting, the sergeant came back and ran straight to them and they started shooting him but surprisingly, the bullets did not enter him and he was shouting, ‘You no fit, you no fit’.”
Discouraged, the robbers seeing that their bullets could not penetrate the police officer, fled with the police rifle they had earlier confiscated, leaving their smashed car behind.
But sergeant Akor against advises by some eyewitnesses and petrol station staff was said to have chased them to recover the police rifle from them.
However, about half an hour later, the petrol station manager known as Tijani, now in police custody, was said to have led some staff to trail the sergeant.
But when the search team arrived at ‘O’ Mark bus stop, Adeleke said, the sergeant’s body was found by the roadside, just a bus stop away from the crime scene.
His body and the robbers’ car have been moved to a mortuary and Igando police Division respectively.
Mr. Dapo, the proprietor of the petrol station, confirmed that the resistance of the late police officer prevented the robbers from gaining access to his office to steal money.
He, however, frowned at the inability of the Igando police Division to respond to their distress calls when the robbers struck.
He regretted that the robbers were not challenged by the police Division despite having robbed 3 petrol stations including Forte Oil at Lanre Bus Stop the same night and injuring a lady at Power Petrol station.
Efforts to confirm the incident from the Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO), Mr. Chike Oti, a Superintendent of Police (SP), proved abortive as he did not immediately respond to message sent to his phone.
