Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
Diobu, a densely populated ghetto-like but fast developing town in Port Harcourt, is notorious for its high rate of crime.
Over the years, such crimes as cultism, armed robbery, kidnapping, pick-pocketing, rape and rugged life style have made Diobu a dreaded place to live in.
Ironically, despite the high crime rate, Diobu has remained one of the business nerve centres in Port Harcourt.
As a matter of fact, it is the printing hub of the city.
Efforts by successive governments, especially those of Celestine Omehia, Chibuike Amaechi and the incumbent, Nyesom Wike, to reduce the crime rate in Diobu, have yielded only little results.
Investigation shows that while crimes like cultism and kidnapping have reduced a little, armed robbery and pick-pocketing still occur frequently in Diobu, although they have taken a more subtle dimension as the criminals have devised new tactics.
Rather than first scare their victims with gun shots and create a scene like before, they now quietly walk up to their victims, calm them down with soothing words before showing them guns to force them to comply without making noise and then go ahead to rob them.
According to sources, what the criminals usually rob now in Diobu are phones, palm tops, lap tops and money.
They now operate mostly between six and seven o’clock in the evening and sometimes in broad-day light to the full glare of passers-by, who, even when they see it, pretend as if nothing is happening, for fear of being attacked by the criminals.
As a result of this, those doing business in Diobu, such as printers, canteen and restaurant owners, business centre operators, among others, now get edgy and more apprehensive as soon as evening draws close while some close their businesses between six and six-thirty post meridiem (p.m.) to avoid being taken unawares.
Confirming this latest development, a manager of a printing press in Abakaliki Street, Mile 1, Diobu, told our reporter that their reason for closing early is to avoid falling victim to armed robbery attack. He said on many occasions, armed robbers had attacked some of the printing presses, stealing money, generators, papers and other printing equipment.
The printing press manager added: “Diobu has become worse now. These boys (the criminals) can come at any time, especially from seven o’clock. That is why we tell our customers to bring their work early before six, so that our operators will start the printing on time. If they come after 6:30 or 7 p.m., we cannot do anything because our printers will go and come back early, sometimes 5 a.m., to start the work. Sometimes we finish the work a bit late. Many of our clients- the publishers- are complaining but there’s nothing we can do.
“Even, somebody can be walking along the road and all of a sudden he will be surrounded by two or three boys with gun and before you know it, they have robbed him. That is how Diobu is now; so everybody is being careful. People don’t carry bags in the night again in Diobu because the boys may think there’s money in them and attack the person.”
For Madam Rose, a canteen owner at Udi Street, Diobu, the activities of the robbers have drastically affected the canteen business in the area.
According to her, many of the traders, printers, business centre operators, paper sellers and other petty traders who would have been patronizing them in the evenings, now close early.
She said that customers are also afraid of walking about late because of the activities of the hoodlums, adding that nobody wants to fall victim of armed robbery.
“My brother; before my own very eyes, armed robbers have robbed people of their phones, money, bags. If you attempt to stop them or drag with them, they will stab or shoot you. Nobody wants to die; so everybody is being careful. It’s affecting all of us. I used to stay up to 10 p.m. before but now I don’t stay till 8 p.m. even if I don’t finish selling my food for the day. I don’t want their trouble,” Madam Rose said.
Although the security agencies, especially the police, are making efforts to curb the menace, it seems their efforts are not yielding much result.
Two weeks ago, a three-man gang of armed robbers invaded a telecoms shop at 11 Ikwerre Road, Mile 1, Diobu, around 10 a.m., robbed all the workers in the shop and killed one man there for arguing with them.
Eye witnesses revealed that there were about two or three traffic policemen who were busy controlling vehicles in front of the three-storey building at No. 11 Ikwerre Road that day, yet the gun-wielding armed robbers entered the compound to rob and shoot a man at the ground floor of the building.
The collaborative effort of theRumuwoji-Diobu Vigilante/Community Police in Diobu, which is helping the police to provide security in the area, we gathered, has also contributed in checking the activities of the bad boys.
Unfortunately, the government is not funding the community police in Diobu. Efforts by the leader of the Rumuwoji-Diobu Vigilante/Community Police, Alalibo Gogo Abite, aka Mandela, to get assistance from the state government, have not yielded result so far.
A member of his group who attempted to catch an armed robber who shot a man and stole about six million naira (N6,000,000) in September last year in Mile 1, Diobu, was shot by the armed robber in the process and it took the intervention of the group’s leader and a few individuals to treat the boy in the hospital.
According to Alalibo Gogo Abite, the group still thrives on his own little support and the philanthropy of a few well meaning individuals.
Residents and business owners in Diobu are afraid that if nothing is done urgently to reduce the increasing rate of armed robbery in Diobu, sooner than later, businesses in the area will start folding up.
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