Residents of Diobu in Port-Harcourt City Local Government Area of Rivers State says that armed robbers come almost every day to operate in Afikpo and Echue Streets in Mile II, Diobu and would escape without being arrested.
A source who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that armed robbers usually come from Afikpo Waterside to carry out their operations, saying that they take phones and other belongings of people at gunpoint.
The source further said that the hoodlums also take women to the waterside and rape them at gunpoint.
He said: “It has been happening almost every day, so, people are being very careful how they live in the area. They harass people. They point them gun, they rob them and they also rape women”.
The source said that the hoodlums have been operating without being caught because the police have not been able to arrest them.
He said that the hoodlums would have fled the Waterside before the police would get to reach them.
He said: “The waterside is very open, before the police would get there, the bad boys would have seen them and would run away”.
The source disclosed that he would move from the area as soon as he gets money, saying that life is not safe in the Afikpo axis of Diobu.
Similarly, hoodlums have also been operating in Echue Waterside of Diobu in Port-Harcourt City Local Government Area of the state.
A source who did not want his name in print said that armed robbers recently carried out robbery operations and raped women in the presence of their husbands.
He said that the police had not come to the area to look for the hoodlums and appealed to the Rivers State Police Command to come to the rescue of residents in the area.
Protesting to the Mile One Police Station, Diobu over the weekend, some of the residents who sum up courage to participate in the peaceful protest said in a separate interview that there was no night in the month of February and March 2019 that the armed robbers would not visit them on a regular basis.
An elderly man who was among the protesters said: “During the nocturnal visits, the armed robbers would rob us of our belongings and as well gangrape our wives and daughters publicly while we the husbands and children watched the ugly scene crying.
One of the victims interjected, “even when we tried to resist them or call in the police, they will threaten to kill us”.
“Our action today is because we don’t know what else to do as these robbers have equally threatened the vigilante group who normally watch the night for us on an agreed monthly fee”.
The Rivers State Police Command PRO, DSP Nnamdi Omoii said when contacted, that the police is aware of the situation and will step up police patrol in the area.
The Police image make promised equally to intensify effort at apprehending those behind the nefarious activities, adding that the Nigeria Police is equal to the tricks and strategies of the criminals.
