…Oyo govt, NSCDC urge residents to be cautious, assure adequate security
There is palpable fear in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, as men underworld are on the prowl snatching people’s phones and wiping away money in their bank accounts.
As gathered, after snatching phones of their victims, the criminal elements would go into the victims’ phones, access their personal details and information, change codes on their bank accounts and open new accounts in their names to defraud them and unsuspecting members of the public. On some occasions, the criminals even use phones and account numbers of their victims to obtain loans.
Many residents of the city have been victims of phone snatching acts have bitter and excruciating tales to tell.
On Friday, October 13, a 26-year-old Folakemi Abdulkareem was reduced to tears while narrating how her phone and other valuables were carted away.
Folakemi explained that it was like magic to him.
She said: ”The bike conveyed me from Iwo Road to Ojoo but when we got to Rainbow bus stop, he asked to get down, saying there was a soldier at the front. He just sped off with my bag containing my phone, money and some personal effects”.
Also, a broadcast journalist with one of the popular stations in Ibadan, who is simply known as Kabiesi also had a bitter taste of the experience.
The broadcast journalist said: ”It happened August 27 around 7.20 pm at a bus stop called Adex in Iwo. I wanted to board a Micra. I was already inside the vehicle. The driver snatched my phone from me and his partner in crime pushed me out and they both drove away or sped off with my phone. It was like a film to me. I was dumbfounded by the incident. When I even got a bike to pursue them.
”In the following when I wanted to withdraw from my account I discovered that a sum of N13,000 had been withdrawn from my account. A sum of N2,000 was withdrawn from my opay account. They also used my account to borrow a payday loan to the tune of N90,000.
‘’I reported them to a security agency which is currently working on it’’.
Kabiesi also disclosed that one of his colleagues suffered the same fate. ”The colleague journalist was receiving a call at the Dugbe axis ; his phone was snatched from him by a man on a bike. A sum of N300,000 was withdrawn from his account”, he told The Guardian.
Another victim who lives in the Bodija area of Ibadan, Rosemary Ugboko suffered the same fate.
The woman explained that her son was called by a man who introduced himself as a pastor. Her son who picked the call was naïve to give the supposed pastor the number they requested. At the end of the conversation, the money amounting to N20,000 in the woman’s account which she wanted to use to fend for the family was wiped away.
Also narrating his experience, a popular public affairs analyst and former bank, Sanjo Akanmu, said he was stunned how the fraudster snatched away a passenger phone around Dugbe axis of Ibadan.
‘’We boarded a taxi going towards Dugbe. On the way, the driver just stopped and started jerking up the already agreed fares. This infuriated the passengers and they decided to disembark from the taxi. All of a sudden, the driver sped off. Unknown to the victim that his phone had been clandestinely taken. It was after the taxi had left for like one minute, the commuter realized that his phone had been carted away”, Akanmu explained.
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps {NSCDC} in Oyo State advised every phone owner to have a password to protect their phone information from being accessed to others, knowing their IMEI number offhand is sacrosanct.
The state Public Relation Officer of NSCDC, Oyindamola Okuneye , said:”The phone is literally a handset and it is expected to be with one and not to be displayed anyhow”.
Okuneye warned phone snatchers to tread softly, saying if being caught, they would pay through their nose when they get tracked,
She said the State Commandant Michael Adaralewa was putting so much effort even on security matters to make the state safe for all and sundry.
The Oyo State Government through the Executive Assistant to Governor Seyi Makinde on Administration, Rev. Idowu Ogedengbe, urged phone owners to be more cautious of their phones. Ogedengbe also warned criminal elements to desist from such acts, saying consequences of evils are monumental.
Ogedengbe said: ”My advice to the owners of the phones is to be more cautious of their phones. It is a small gadget which can easily be spotted. They should keep their phones more closely from the prying eyes of those who want to steal them. They should keep it in the purse. If you are in a vehicle, don’t expose your phone. Put it in a secluded area where people will not be able to see it and in the pocket.
”We all know what is happening in the economy. A lot of people are looking for the way out by stealing phones. I want to advise those buying stolen phones and laptops to desist from the act. The person who buys stolen items is also a thief. In the event that the law enforcement agents know that they are the one buying stolen devices, they will be prosecuted and may end up in jail”.
For those stealing phones, he said: ”I know times are hard, if they steal to live a life, they are on a quick path to destruction. It is just a matter of time, because stealing will always want to be appealing to them. Things may be hard, but there are still some opportunities to work decent jobs and earn legitimate income from such enterprises that are dignifying”.
The governor’s aide assured all residents of the state of adequate security, saying the government takes issues of their security seriously and would continue to ensure that all are safe.
”One of the pillars of this administration is security. We have been doing our best to provide adequate security for the state. We have supported all the security agencies to perform their work effectively. We have monitors and CCTV deployed in some areas. Most of these incidents happened in places that are off the radar of our security personnel. We want to assure all residents of the state that the government takes issues of their security seriously and would continue to ensure that all are safe”, he said.