It was a well planned operation by bandits. The dare-devil robbers,
numbering about 50, stormed Auchi, Edo State, in a bus and three Camry
cars loaded with dynamites and bombs. They unleashed mayhem on three
new generation banks and one old generation bank.
As it seemed, the robbers were familiar with Auchi, buttressing the
argument by many that they may have been in town for about two weeks
plotting this attack. They started the attack around 6:30 pm when
security operatives were either praying in the mosques or handing over
to those on night shift.
They caught the security operatives in the town by surprise. The Army
School of Electrical Engineering is located in Auchi. The robbers
immediately stormed the areas they suspected were houses of the army
personnel where three soldiers were shot dead.
The robbers then organized themselves into groups and were operating
simultaneously in their targeted areas. As they shot sporadically in
areas suspected to house military men, they bombed the police Area
Command office and the Auchi divisional police headquarters.
Then they unleashed mayhem on the three banks located along Poly Road
and one at Igbe Road. They used dynamites to blow up the ATM machines
and the bank buildings in their efforts to loot the banks. While the
operations were on, some of the gang members shot ceaselessly.
About fifteen persons fell to the bullets including soldiers. The
robbers operated for close to three hours without resistance from
security agencies. Auchi was under siege for those hours while residents
ran to their homes, calling relatives and friends in Benin City that
Boko Haram members may have invaded the town.
Sunday Vanguard, however, learnt that the bandits could not gain
access into the vaults of three banks, but were able to gain entrance
into one because the staff were still at work. About N3.5million was
said to have been carted away from that particular bank.
At about 11p.m. on Monday, the Acting Commissioner of Police in the
state, Hurdi Muhammad, left Benin City for Auchi where he found that
his men were now homeless as the Area Command office and the divisional
police headquarters were razed. Several patrol vehicles, Armoured
Personnel Carriers (APC) within the Area Command and Auchi divisional
office were torched.
As a matter of fact, it would have been difficult for the police to
chase the robbers because their first move was to set ablaze most of
the patrol vehicles parked at the Area Command office. It was, however,
said that the robbers were infuriated when the police fired at them,
consequently upon which they went back to bomb the Area Command forcing
the policemen to take to their heels.
The state has been calm since Muhammad was made Acting CP; the Auchi
attack was his first baptism of fire. The Edo Deputy Governor, Dr Pius
Odubu, led a delegation comprising of the heads of security agencies
in the state to Auchi on Tuesday morning.
Embattled Muhammad, who slept in Auchi, joined the delegation to
the palace of the Otaru of Auchi, Alhaji Alhaji Aliru Momoh. Odubu was
shocked, particularly when he was informed that several dead bodies
were deposited at the Auchi Central Hospital mortuary.
The entire town was thrown into mourning. While speaking at the
palace of the Otaru, the Deputy Governor expressed grief over the
incident and stressed the need for the Federal Government to equip the
police with sophisticated weapons in order to face challenges such as
this.
Following the attack,soldiers have been stationed at strategic
points in Auchi, but there is no much presence of police officers.
Sunday Vanguard learnt that policemen in the area now wear mufti for
fear of being attacked. The situation is even worse for the police in
the area because they no longer have offices to operate from.
They now stay under cashew trees. All the banks in Auchi and several
shops remained closed late last week, while soldiers were seen at Jattu
junction and strategic areas in the town. Economic activities in the
area were at the lowest ebb as residents travel to Ekpoma in Edo Central
senatorial district for banking transactions due to the refusal of the
Bankers Forum in Auchi to resume operations as a result of what they
described as lack of adequate security in the town.
The chairman of the Bankers Forum, Auchi branch, Mr Bash Sanusi, who
disclosed the resolve of banks in the area not to open to customers,
attributed their travail to the inefficiency of the police and other
security agencies in Auchi.
The security situation in Edo took a dive when some bandits invaded
Benin City, the state capital, on Wednesday night, killing a Mobile
Police officer and a four-year-old child. The gunmen took over
Akpakpava Road at about 7 pm, shot sporadically along the road, and, in
the process, abducted a popular estate valuer, Chief Dan Odiete. It was
in that melee that a stray bullet killed the four year old girl who was
in the car with her mother.
The Mobile Police officer was shot by the robbers when he was
sighted. The people of the state are worried that even after seventeen
lives had been wasted in two days, nobody has been arrested giving
the impression that the police and other security agencies have either
been overwhelmed or they are helpless.
Sunday Vanguard however learnt that Governor Adams Oshiomhole, who
was out of the country during the Auchi mayhem, was engaged in marathon
meetings with security chiefs in Edo with a view to checking the
excesses of the hoodlums, particularly now that the Yuletide approaches.
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