Gun battle in Festac Town, Lagos

In recent time,  Festac Town has been under serious security threat ranging from One bank robbery to another. Residents of 7th Avenue, 4th Avenue, 23road and its environs were awaken very early hours of Tuesday morning by sporadic gunshots as pipeline vandals and the Nigerian army were engaged in a gun battle. Report has it that the military were on hand to repel some heavily armed pipeline vandals who were on illegal oil bunkery. This oil thieves has been on this criminal practice for awhile. As at this moment, they are trapped in the swampy canal at festac extension area of 7th Avenue, surrounded at both ends of the canal by soldiers who are seen in large numbers with heavy artillery armoured tank as sporadic gunshots is been heard in succession on a daily basis especially at night time.

On Thursday 19th Nov., around 1o:30am, Just in front of the GTBank 23 Road, a man was shot at both legs by a group of armed robbers who made away with some money which he had  withdrawn from same bank.

Later same day, Two Policemen, a driver and a security man were feared dead. Sources said the Policemen(not in uniform) were chasing after a man suspected to be a fraudster (yahooyaahoo guy)  driving a Honda EOD, when they unfortunately ran into same soldiers who had been on ground fighting pipeline vandals in the 7th Avenue area.  The shooting spree happened moments after the soldiers received a message to be at alert that robbers had attempted to rob Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB), on 23 road and that another set had attacked banks at Agbara, Ogun State.

It happened that the fraudster suspect who was cruising a HondaEOD car took the barricaded high risk 7th Avenue road in FESTAC and the military men on ground flagged down both vehicles but they refused to stop. The soldiers feeling threatened, took them for criminals and heavily opened fire on them leading to loss of lives. Both the driver, two Policemen and a security man who was hit by a stray bullet were all feared dead. The event took place at 6:30pm which further complicated issues.

A police source said: “Surveillance men were on patrol. They sighted a Honda car. They thought the driver was a ‘yahooyahoo’ guy. The policemen were in a commercial bus as against the instruction of the Inspector General of Police (IG).

Residents of Festac Town especially those living 7th Avenue where these soldiers lay siege for the pipeline vandals now live in great fear of being hit by stray bullets.

You and your household shall not be a victim of circumstances IJN