Residents of a certain ‘Joseph Harrison Estate’ in Yaba, Lagos State, Nigeria, has raised alarm that they received a letter from robbers warning them of the robbers’ imminent visit. According to the scanned copy of the letter sent to the residents, the robbers warned that the residents’ failure to be of support to them will result in bloodshed.
Last Wednesday embers of the community woke up to see the letter which asked them to get ready for their impending visit. The robbers said they were coming to collect their dues for the Yuletide.
The letter was placed on a vehicle of one of the residents and discovered when the owner was about to wash it. The letter was stuck to his windscreen. When the man first saw the letter, he initially thought assassins addressed it to him, but after reading through it, it dawned on him that it was meant for the estate.
The letter reads:
“We are coming this week to collect our dues and to visit you tenants and landlords of Joseph Harrison Street in the week. If you like, go and bring police or solders; we’re coming to perform our duty.
If you cooperate, we’ll not kill, but if you fail to cooperate, blood will flow.”
According to a report by the New Telegraph newspaper, the man who saw the letter on his car windscreen said;
“We’ve enjoyed relative peace before the robbers brought that letter. We engaged guards and policemen from Sabo Police Station. We’re also mindful of the slum that surrounds us.
We’ve been conscious.” It was learnt that the estate had not received such letter before. The residents, however, remembered that there was a robbery case in 2013, when robbers attacked a company in the estate.
Two policemen, who confronted the robbers that year, sustained serious injuries. “Immediately we received the letter, we reported to Sabo Police Station. We have also contracted local vigilantes and increased the number of the security guards.
The guards we hired had been deployed to the three main entrances of the estate,” Akinyemi added. A resident, Dr. Otun Adeyemi, said if it was overseas, police would have traced the source of the letter.
He said: “What we’re experiencing in Nigeria is not the best. You’ll now see them coming after the deed had been done to carry out investigation. We urge the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, to deploy policemen to patrol the estate on a regular basis.”
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