#EndSARS Violence: Victims Recount Ordeals As Gbajabiamila Visits Looted Properties In Lagos

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, heard sad tales of losses on Monday as he visited victims of properties looted by rampaging hoodlums in Lagos.

The violence was a spontaneous reaction to the death of some #EndSARS protesters said to have been shot by soldiers at the Lekki Toll Plaza.

Gbajabiamila, who represents Surulere 1 Federal Constituency, spoke with residents and victims
at Shitta Roundabout, Surulere, before he paid a visit to burnt shops and visited the Bode Thomas Police Station.

He said, “You have all spoken, and the government heard you loud and clear. While in Abuja where you sent me to represent you, I heard all your complaints. All that happened in Lekki is what we have all seen and it is being investigated, but you see the social media has its good and bad until it’s fully unravelled that we can know the next step to take.”

“On the issue of EndSARS, you should all know that I am there for you as your representative. It’s all you want we are going to do. EndSARS cannot come up again, because there is no more SARS. You see all that happened at Adeniran Ogunsanya and Bode Thomas, I can boast that it was not carried out by children from Surulere, we all know they came from outside Surulere because I know my own people. Surulere shall continue to prosper by the grace of God.”

The owner of a shop at AOS Mall, Mr Oladimeji Ogunniyi, narrated how the mall was vandalised in the dark.

He went on, “The looting of this mall started precisely from 7:45am till 4pm, so what we did was that we advised the security in the mall to put off the light so that they would be operating in darkness, thinking there may be restraint.

“You can see blood (stains) still on the ground. Immediately the mall lights were put off, they forced themselves into the glass and they sustained degrees of injuries. All the looting was done in the dark. We have over 100 shops in the mall and none was spared.

“All the items in my shops were taken. This is the only mall that gives indigenous and local entrepreneurs opportunity to operate, except for Shoprite, KFC and few others that are multinationals. In each shop, we have at least three staff.”

One Mrs Fausat Shomade complained that she lost all that she had to the looters.

She said amid tears, “We don’t have any other thing that we eat except from this shop. This shop is loaded to the full of textile materials. It was only this few that we were able to recover from the police station.”

According to Gbajabiamila’s media aide, Lanre Lasisi, “The Speaker also visited damaged shops on Bode Thomas, Surulere and Bode Thomas Police Station where he was received by the Commander of Area C Police Command, Lagos, Tijani Fatai; the Divisional Police Officer of Bode Thomas, Ibrahim Fasesan and the Divisional Police Officer of Surulere, Adebowale Adeoya.

“The Speaker sighted recovered items, including Shoprite trolleys at the Bode Thomas Police Station.”