On April 6, 2020, under the heavy COVID-19 lockdown, Alfa Arab’s Sienna car was stolen by a mob of street urchins at about 3 am.

At the time, Odusanya was an open-ended, free-for-all 24-apartment community. It was – and still is – a vastly multi-tenanted, rent-controlled community.

With the absence of street lights, Odusanya community became more vulnerable to the brazen acts of street hoodlums and miscreants who clad in the shadows of darkness for their machinations.

FIJ spoke with Mummy Summaya – Arab’s wife – who narrated their pitiable plight. She was saddened by the incident, considering how devoted her husband had always been towards the development of Odusanya community.

“We were not happy at all. It was so disheartening that on getting to where it was parked, we discovered that our only car was missing that morning. It was indeed heart-rending,” she said.

“By the way, my husband still drove me to the hospital the day before the incident with the car. What if the car had not been there? I couldn’t have thought of any possible reason for the car theft.

“My husband, as a Muslim faithful that he is, has contributed immensely to the growth and development of the community.

“His generosity notwithstanding, he maintains the simplicity of mind and holds on to his own way. He never causes troubles for his fellow human beings. It still baffles me that such an undeserving punishment would be meted out to him for no reason.

“With the economic situation and condition of the country, the car had solely been our means of survival and livelihood. It’s so sad, so sad that such a thing would have been done.”

When the car was found in the Ilaje area of Bariga, after the futile intervention of the Divisional Police Headquarters, the brain-box had been removed.

Arab said he had “almost forgotten about the car because the same thing happened to him in 2013”.

“That was not the first time such a thing would happen to me,” the cleric said. “For me, I don’t like revisiting things or dragging matters. In short, I don’t like making a mountain out of a molehill. Actually, I’d almost forgotten about the car.”

“In 2013, about nine years ago, the same thing happened to my Sienna car. I’m not talking about this Sienna that was recovered.

“With different means and methods to find the car, all efforts to involve the police were fruitless and all hopes shattered.

Alfa Arab said that he’d always remain a committed community faithful.

THE SPIRIT OF THE GRASSROOTS PEOPLE

On April 7, 2020, at about 10 am, a group of concerned members of Odusanya community gathered at the 20th bungalow of the community discussing plans of securing the lives and property of the residents.

Not everyone liked the idea of collecting money from each house to fix the gates. Because of the COVID stay-at-home order, residents hardly had access to financial resources.

The concerned members, however, agreed that each house would make a yearly payment of N30,000 (that is, N7,500 quarterly) for the services of the security guards that would be employed.

Now, there’s a stringent rule guiding outsiders parking in the community: not more than two of them are permitted, and they must have obtained their parking license of N1,000 quarterly.

One of the leading community-development elderlies narrated to FIJ how dreadfully abandoned by the government, especially in terms of human security and road infrastructure, the community has been since 1987 after the Lateef Jakande governorship in Lagos and during the chairmanship of Sesan Olanrewaju in Shomolu in 1999.

Baba Eledu, an occupant at the 12th apartment of Odusanya community, who has been making an effort to keep human security on the front burner since he got to the community in 1960, said most of the theft threats came from insiders who had friends in neighbouring communities such as Ladipo, and that the 2020 incident awakened them to the community responsibility of security.

“We ignored our responsibility before the car theft incident in 2020. The street gates had always been there; they just needed some repairs. What happened in 2020 awakened us to the call for community security. Since we knew such a thing would potentially continue, we immediately summoned a meeting on how to employ security guards aninstall lamp poles on the street,” he said.

“Because it was during COVID-19 lockdown, the car could not have been taken to any far distance. With our communication, mobilisation and monitoring, we got a phone call that the car had been parked at a neighbouring Ilaje community. The battery had been removed. The divisional police we had reported to told us to bring the car, but we told them it was not necessary since we found the car ourselves.

“We also observed darkness had been harbouring the criminals, so we decided to install street lights from the beginning to the end of Odusanya. We intentionally employed two security guards – one from the community and the other outside, to prevent any attempt of potential betrayal from the outsider guard,” he added.

Baba Eledu said he would love to see residents in Odusanya community safe, and to achieve that, “residents have to pay regularly because nothing is done free of charge”.

“At times I use my money to pay them,” he said, “because the security guards would definitely go without being paid as when due.” “What we have been preventing, then, will still happen. There was a day the security guards locked down the gates because they had not been completely paid; I had to pay the balance of about N5,000. Security is important.”

He continued: “Early this year the guards were demanding five per cent increase in their salary. We pay each of them N25,000 and to increase their monthly payments means we would be increasing the levies on each house. We had to plead with them. With the present economic situation of things, residents would not buy the idea. We are fighting for the betterness of our community so that our suffering can be less.

“I’ve since called our local government leaders – Sesan Olanrewaju, Akeem Sulaimon, and Kolade Alabi – to come to our aid, but all have been fake promises upon fake promises. That’s very unfair, really.”

INDIVIDUAL SAFETY IS COMMUNAL SECURITY

FIJ visited the 17th apartment of Odusanya community, only to find out how dilapidated the bungalow structure had been. The occupants therein are all the more threatened by the cross-sectional neighbouring community housing structure.

The occupants have replaced the two wooden structures of the passageway with iron gates. In this particular 12-room multi-tenanted apartment, there is only one Igbo among 11 Yoruba-speaking tenants.

One of the tenants, Yoruba, in her early 80s has experienced some petty home pilfering.

Iya Ibeji said lately a mobile phone she had barely used for five months was stolen. “With newly admitted occupants, honestly, the rate at which one’s belongings go missing is scary,” she told FIJ.

“I was coming back from a Sunday worship service at about 3 pm around June or July, only for me to discover that the phone one of my children bought me had been stolen. It was a shocking experience for me and my children.

“You could not sleep with your two eyes closed, or leave very briefly to the restroom without padlocking your door. But I hope and believe with the new passageway gates, our things would be safe. And indeed, my things have been safe,” she said.

Ige is a reporter with FIJ, in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.