Robber kills woman after identifying gang member

Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Mr. Umaru Manko

The death toll of the Lagos robberies which occurred in various parts of the state on Saturday and Sunday, has risen to nine after it was reported at Ajah Police Division that a mother of two, Badejoko Akinrujomu, was killed by one of the robbers.

According to a friend of the deceased, the robbers had while attacking Akinrujomu’s home on Sunday night, tied up all the occupants of the house.

PUNCH Metro learnt that while the 37-year-old was being tied up by the robbers, she was able to identify him and the robber opened fire on her, killing her instantly.

She said, “What the neighbours told me was that the robbers came around 3am on Sunday and brought all the neighbours out of their houses. Badejoko (Akinrujomu) lives in the flat on the ground floor and was also brought out.

“The robbers then tied all of them and collected their car keys. As she was being tied up, she identified one of the robbers and the guy killed her. They entered the vehicles and drove away immediately. The deceased, who is a trader, had just moved into that area a few weeks ago.”

PUNCH metro learnt that the police were immediately alerted of the development and rushed down to the scene.

It was gathered that the policemen were on their way to the robbery scene when they were ambushed and killed by the robbers.

Meanwhile, the state police command has begun to beef up security across the state following the killing of six of its men and three civilians in Ajah and Oyingbo in Lagos.

It was learnt that the Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, on Monday summoned all the Divisional Police Officers in the state for an emergency meeting where security strategies were discussed.

A senior police officer, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that security had been beefed up in the state.

“We were all with the CP on Monday and we held a meeting for four hours. We are not happy about the development and we are on the trail of the robbers. We will get them,” he said.

The police officer added that  more patrol vans had been stationed in all crime-prone areas of the state.