Gunmen yesterday stormed House 2, Herbert Macaulay Way, Ebute Meta, Lagos, and killed Sunmi Ige, an engineer.
Ige was shot in the head as he pleaded with the gunmen not to go away with his laptop.
Three of the eight men were said to have stormed Ige’s apartment on the top-most floor of the two-storey building; others waited on the street.
They tore the door net, broke the door handle before entering to attack Ige.
According to neighbours, the hoodlums ransacked his home and carted away his television set, phones, laptop and money.
It was gathered that the deceased, who worked with BHS International, a construction firm, was heard pleading with his attackers to spare his life.
A neighbour said: “Sunmi was shouting ‘I am your son, please, why are you doing this to me?’ He was also begging them to take everything but leave the laptop. We heard a gunshot while the robbers were inside his room. We don’t know if they shot at him there. But when they were leaving, Sunmi followed them down. He was naked and begging them to give him the laptop. He knelt down and was begging them but one short man who was among the robbers shot him in the head.”
The gunmen also attacked a 70-year-old woman, Mrs. Medinat Obalola, and took her phone and money.
According to the woman, they woke her up from sleep, after breaking into her apartment.
She said: “I locked the door and slept but they broke into my house. My husband, Alhaji Obalola was sleeping in the balcony. That’s where he usually sleeps whenever there’s no light. The robbers didn’t see him. As I was sleeping, someone woke me up and they were three. They told me they were not here to joke, that I should bring out my money and phone. They showed me guns and cutlasses that they would use it on me if I failed to comply.
“They took my phone, collected my money, and removed our television set. They told me to lie down with my face on the ground. My two-year-old granddaughter, who woke up while the robbery was going on, was marched on the floor. The robbers also used their cutlass to whip my son, Muri, who was on the bed because he tried to look at their faces. Then, they collected his money and phone too.
“When they left our house, I wanted to go to the balcony to tell my husband what has happened so that he doesn’t come out and encounter them but they heard the sound of the door and shouted at me that they will smash my head with their gun.
“It was from our house that they now went to the engineer’s place. It’s true that we heard gunshot while they were inside his house. We also heard him begging them to spare his life. This is a horrible incident. It is the first time I am witnessing something like this in all my years in this neighbourhood.”
Her daughter, Mrs Zainab Olarenwaju, who said she went for a vigil, described the late Ige as “a very quiet tenant”.
According to her, he usually came home around 8pm and doesn’t go out after then.
The late Ige, she said, moved into the compound about five months ago, adding that when he returned from work on Monday, he bought two bottles of beer and cigarette from her nephew.
She said: “He hardly speaks to anyone. He’s very quiet and it was only today that I even knew his name. I left for vigil around 11pm. I was not at home when it happened. But I am very surprised because it is impossible for anyone to open the gate by the stairs from outside. It can only be opened from inside, unless the robbers had master key.
“My father went to Denton Police Station to report around 5am. The policemen came here and saw the corpse downstairs, which was covered. They took him away. I heard that my mother was crying for help on behalf of the man so that people can rush him to hospital but no one came out. They were scared.”
