Two robberies in six months traumatised my household – Nursing mom

A student at the Nigerian Law School, Azeezat Adedeji, narrates to AJIBADE OMAPE how her place of residence at Moniya, Ibadan, Oyo State, got robbed twice in six months

What is your background?

My name is Azeezat Adedeji; I was born in Epe, Lagos State, where I spent my early years. I gained admission into the University of Ilorin where I graduated with a degree in Law in 2022. I got married in July 2022 and I have a daughter.

In your post on X, you mentioned that in September 2023, one month after moving into an apartment, you were robbed. How did it happen?

My husband called me very early on a Friday around 5 am because I travelled home to Epe with my baby for an event the previous day. Unfortunately, the very day I travelled to Epe was the same day the robbery incident occurred in the house around midnight; it was only my husband who was at home when the incident happened. This incident was really bad, a lot of things were taken away, including my husband’s phones and laptops, and his car was also taken away.

Did your husband sustain any injuries as a result of the attack?

It was just my husband who was at home that night; we had not completed the remaining flats that we were building so we did not have tenants as of then, but my husband did not sustain any injuries in the attack, which I am grateful for.

Are there any insurance policies in place to cover the losses incurred as a result of the robbery?

I can say that we do not have any insurance policy; we own the house and I do not think my husband has any insurance policy available on the house.

What type of security arrangement do you have at your apartment?

When we moved in we already had a fence and the fence was quite high the compound was already gated then, and we had completed the remaining flats to a very secure point; so, there were no open spaces in the unoccupied flats, while our apartment had the normal doors and no burglary deterrent because it was barely a month that we moved into the building.

You also stated that on February 11, 2024, you were robbed again. How did that happen?

This time, I came home to Ibadan from school on Friday to pick up some things and go back to the Law School on Sunday, because I had just been admitted into the Nigerian Law School, but unfortunately, I could not go back to school on Sunday because our house got robbed again. I was not asleep that night; I am usually up working at night because I am into research and academic writing, so I usually get stuck with deadlines and other work, so I mostly spend my nights working. I was in the living room working on my laptop while my husband was sleeping in the room and a friend of his who was also staying with my husband was sleeping in one of the other rooms; I had no idea it was already that late at night because I was carried away with the work.

While in the living room, I heard voices in the compound but I did not think too much of it because we had tenants in the other two apartments in the building; after a while, I got up facing the windows, and asked, ‘Who is there?’ because my neighbour’s generator had just gone off so my thoughts were that the neighbour went to check it, but suddenly the footsteps got closer and louder and people were running all around in the compound; some of the robbers ran into our tenant’s flat, while the rest came upstairs to our flat; my husband was already awoken from his sleep looking confused while I ran into the room. After the first robbery, we installed a burglar deterrent at every entrance in the house; we also tried to improve our security measures in the house; as a matter of fact, my husband also facilitated the installation of gates in and around the community because there are various entrances into the community.

The thieves eventually broke in through the burglar-proof and at that moment everything happened so fast. My husband’s friend locked himself inside the room and went to hide in the restroom, and the thieves scattered everywhere asking for our items; one of the robbers forced me out of hiding in the toilet, and my husband and I surrendered and gave them everything; they took my laptop, and all my gadgets; they took my husband’s phone which he just got after the first one was stolen from him during the first robbery. The first incident was really bad as a lot of things were taken, and this time there were not a lot of things for them to take because we had not gotten back everything that was previously stolen.

The robber who forced me out of hiding took me to the kitchen and asked me to face down; I got scared because the robbery happened in the living room and he asked me to move to the kitchen so I thought he was going to assault me so I struggled with him then he hit me and asked me to face the ground. It was not long after that I started hearing receding footsteps as they left.

Can you describe the circumstances surrounding the two incidents within six months?

My husband explained that the first set of people who came to rob our apartment was much older compared to those who came the second time. The funny thing is that even when we moved into the house, we did not do housewarming and my husband and his friend were the only ones around. The two tenants occupying the other two apartments all go to work early and come back late at night, so there were no special activities in the compound, I can’t say if there is something that could trigger an attack on our house.

Have you filed police reports for both incidents and if so, what has been the response from the law enforcement authorities?

Yes, my husband did that for the first incident; I did not come to Ibadan at all, I wanted to but my husband insisted that I should not travel because of the stress it would cause my baby and me; at the time my baby was just five months. My husband made all the reports at the police station where he wrote statements and got different police reports, however, it was when we went to report the second incident that my husband mentioned to me that he knew some of the police officers and that to some extent, he had an unfavourable encounter with them when he came to report the first robbery as they were nonchalant and did not work as they were supposed to. Eventually, he had to track most of his gadgets alone because they were Apple products.

What steps have you taken to enhance your house’s security and prevent future robberies?

Well, at the moment we have improved the security measures at our place; we have installed CCTV cameras; we have had barbed wires mounted on the fences, and there have also been a lot of repairs done on the burglar deterrents that were damaged during the incidents.

You mentioned that your husband’s car, your laptop, and other valuables were taken, has any of the stolen items been recovered?

We were able to recover my husband’s car that was stolen during the first robbery, although we met the car damaged; my husband was contacted by the police where the car was found; the police found his identity card in the car, they went to his workplace to look for him but he was not there because he was busy going back and forth to the station, so the police asked about him from the office where his identity was confirmed. Unfortunately, most of the other items that my husband spent a lot of money trying to track were not recovered and even the police did not give any feedback, so my husband left it all.

Were there any witnesses to the robberies, or any suspicious activities or individuals observed in the vicinity of your house before the incidents?

There have been several instances of robbery in the area; some other residents have been victims of robbery in the area but it has never happened to anybody twice; however, for the second incident, there is somebody my husband sort of suspected; the PPRO reached out to us and promised to introduce us to the DPO of the station in our area so we could talk to him directly; the next day, they visited our apartment and even patrolled our area for three nights; we told the DPO of a suspect, an elderly man in the area who allegedly harbours criminals and lives irresponsibly, so the police said they would charge him to court, I objected and asked that they do further investigations; the suspect denied all the allegations, the police searched his apartment but none of our items was found in his place; the police still proceeded to charge the suspect to court, but the judge struck out the case because there was no evidence, so the court set him free.

Do you believe that there are broader security issues or concerns within your neighbourhood that need to be addressed by local neighbourhood authorities?

Yes, I believe there are a lot of security issues that need to be attended to because after the first incident that happened in our house, we heard about several other robberies in the area, which gave the residents concern, even the policemen at the station address the area as a robbery-prone area because it is on the outskirts of the community where criminals have easy access to the road and make away with anything, so the area is porous to non-indigenes and there are different gates that lead into the community. I will also say that the neighbourhood has not invested enough in security personnel, but according to the DPO, we have done a good job by mounting gates at every possible entrance in the community. And there is a hotel behind our house with a yet-to-be-completed part of it which poses a security threat to the well-being of my family and other residents around.

Are you traumatised as a result of these attacks, and have you sought any counselling or support services to cope with the trauma and stress caused by the robberies?

Yes, I am but I will say to a very large extent that my husband was more traumatised because he witnessed both incidents; he cried in front of everybody the following day and I even had to play strong. He felt the impact more; however, we did not receive any form of counselling, we have just been moving through each day and that is what matters to me.

You mentioned that you just got admitted into the Nigerian Law School, have you been able to go back to school?

Well, to be honest, I am not balanced. It has not been easy balancing it all because of the rush and the pressure associated with the classes that I missed as a result of the days I was not in school. I will say to some extent the incident has affected me a bit, but I know I have the time to catch up.

You stated that the landlords in your community have victimised you and your husband, can you share the experience?

 Yes, this happened after the first incident, although I was not around when it happened, my husband mentioned to me that he even had a serious argument with the landlords because they questioned his membership of the estate security, making it sound like a reason why we do not have the vigilante people around our area. I felt they were nonchalant during the first incident but after the DPO came to visit our place after the second incident, the landlords have been cooperative.

Are you planning to move to a different area or apartment?

Initially, my husband insisted that he would not go back to the house, but my family and other people helped to encourage him, and because of the help we got from X, we have been able to improve our security measures. However, I am in school but my husband has decided not to stay in the house for a while; so for now, we are still very much living there.

What support do you need at the moment?

Well, I think the first thing is to improve the security of our community; that is the very first thing we need because it will be a determinant of whether we decide to move to a different area or stay in the community.