Slain mother and child.
During the operation which lasted hours, a two-year-old toddler, Mmesoma Ndirika, and her mother, Jane, who were inside their apartment in an adjoining building, were reportedly hit by stray bullets from the bandits who were shooting sporadically in all directions.
Reports said both mother and child later died as a result of injuries they sustained from the bullet. A commercial motorcyclist who was also hit by stray bullets reportedly died later in an undisclosed private hospital.
It took the Police more than one and half hours to respond.
Recoveries by the Police
However, police authorities said they were able to recover about N27 million and other rounds of arms and ammunition abandoned by the bandits while fleeing
How they struck
Reports said the bandits who were dressed in military camouflage uniforms, attacked the banks after alighting from boats at a nearby canal. They reportedly used dynamite to destroy the security entrance gates after which they gained entry into the banks. Eyewitness account said as soon as the dynamites exploded, the heavily armed bandits started firing bullets in all directions inside the first bank they entered.
Eyewitness
According to the witnesses, while some of them were inside one of the banks, another group broke into another nearby bank, while others took positions in front of the area, at the same time shooting indiscriminately.
A commercial motorcyclist, popularly called Okada, who was close-by, was hit by bullets and he was said to have collapsed later after fleeing from the scene.
Another witness who was also inside one of the banks, told Vanguard: “After the dynamite exploded, the bandits, who were dressed in army camouflage, invaded the banks threatening to kill anybody who attempted to confront them. They broke into all the rooms inside the bank and dragged everybody into the main banking hall. While doing that, they were at the same time brutalising customers and hitting others with the butts of their guns. They broke into the bank’s vault easily and carted huge sums of money away. ATMs were not spared as they also looted all the money in the machine. They operated simultaneously in the two banks, after which they escaped through the same canal they entered the area. In fact, as they were fleeing from the scene, they forced some butchers in a nearby market to help them load their massive loot into the canoe before escaping.”
How mother and child died
Uju, one of the residents of Block 8, 4th Avenue, where the stray bullet hit mother and child, told Vanguard: “While the shooting was going on, every one laid on the floor in their respective apartments. I was with Jane in her parlour while her child was inside the room. Suddenly, the child started crying and the mother stood up to carry her. As she was coming to the sitting room with the baby, a stray bullet perforated the window, hit the baby in the chest and also got the mother on the left side of her shoulder. Immediately, she took the child back to the room and started shouting for help. Nobody came to her rescue because people were running helter skelter for dear life.”
However, when the dust settled, a neighbour, identified as Irabor Sunday, reportedly rushed them to Mother and Child Hospital at the First Gate in Festac where they were confirmed dead. The baby was, thereafter, taken back to the house while her mother was rushed to Lord’s Chosen Church where a prayer session was organised for her revival. Vanguard gathered that at 3pm, her corpse was taken to Igando General Hospital mortuary where she worked as a nurse.
Conflicting reports
There were conflicting accounts of police response during the operation which created tension in Festac town. While some witnesses said policemen who claimed they came from Ikeja, Oshodi, RRS arrived almost one hour after the bandits had fled from the scene, the police said they confronted the bandits and during a fierce battle that raged for several minutes, the robbers fled abandoning some of their loots and weapons. Witnesses also insisted that even the policemen that arrived after the incident were openly blaming their colleagues at Festac Division for not informing them about the attack on time. According to the witnesses, the huge crowd that gathered at the scene also booed the policemen for coming after the operation.
Police statement
Giving a vivid account of the incident, the Area Commander, Festac and former Force spokesman, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Frank Mba said: “Today, the 13th of October, 2015, at about 8:25 am, the command received information of sporadic shootings going on somewhere around 4th Avenue, Festac town, Lagos. The joint team of policemen at Area E
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