Lagos State Commissioner of Police (CP), Fatai Owoseni, has vowed that the Command would arrest the perpetrators of the bank robbery that took place on Fourth Avenue, FESTAC Town, Lagos on Tuesday.
The CP told Crime Watch Today that the incident had challenged the police. “We are studying the trend of crime in the state. We are strategising. The command must rise up to the new trends in robbery attacks," he stated.
Mr. Owoseni, who noted that the police was closing in on the bandits, said with intelligence report so far, the police would soon pick them up.
He assured Lagosians of robust security, adding that the perpetrators would be arrested and paraded before members of the public.
He said Police intervention on Tuesday helped to reduce the number of casualties during the incident.
The CP said: “Incidents like this challenge us to rise up and strategise. What I can assure residents of this city is that there is no hiding place for the hoodlums. There is no way they can escape justice. Whatever it may take us, we must get them. I also want to assure citizens that there is nothing like insecurity in Lagos. We will continue to strategise. I won’t tell you all that we are doing but what I can assure you is that we will get the robbers.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Peter Njirika, the widower of the woman who was killed alongside her daughter by stray bullets from the robbers, spoke to newsmen yesterday.
Narrating his ordeal, Peter said: “When I got back home in the evening, I saw blood everywhere and I met people in the house and a girl cleaning blood and was shouting “my sister! my sister!” (My wife), and then I asked 'what happened to your sister?' But she could not give me an answer to the question. I was told to go to the hospital at First Gate.
“When I got there, I saw my wife lying lifeless and then I asked, what about my daughter? They told me that they had taken her to Navy Hospital at Satellite Town. I had to take my wife away from where she was. She was later taken to the Alimosho General Hospital where she used to work as a nurse. It was there that she was confirmed dead.
“She has since been taken to Isolo General Hospital mortuary. I was in a state of confusion. I was still in shock over the tragedy. When my wife’s younger brother called me on phone, I asked him where was my daughter? He told me that she too was dead.”
“My wife was a type of person that worked for humanity and all her intention was on how to please the next person by her side, that was her vision since when I got married to her. She cared for the less-privileged. She was a nice and lovely wife. She was always ready to help.
“The fact still remains that we don't have to blame anybody, even God who allowed it to happen. I believe there’s nothing that can happen in this world without His permission. We all should learn from what has happened.”