For residents of Alaja, a community in Ayobo-Ipaja Local Council Development Authority (LCDA)in Alimosho area of Lagos, Thursday, July 10, 2008, will remain the darkest day in their memories.

That fateful Thursday started like any other day, bubbling with social and commercial activities. But about 5:30 p.m., some 911 Mercedes Benz vehicles popularly called Molue numbering about 19 invaded the community.

The Molue were loaded with more than 50 men wielding pumping machine guns, sharp machetes, bottles and other deadly weapons.

Their mission was to execute a purported court judgment involving total confiscation of over 100 hectares of land, which currently play host to more than 15 villages including Alaja, with about 180 streets.

The men in a commando style took over the entire village by storm and began shooting indiscriminately, destroying everything they could lay hands on.

The serenity of the community was completely shattered, giving way to unprecedented pandemonium as villagers abandoned their duty posts, business premises, shops and houses and took to their heels, even without knowing the directions they were heading.

While the shooting lasted, the stray bullets killed about six persons, including a pregnant woman. Over 40 others sustained diverse gunshot and machete wounds.

More so, properties worth several millions of naira were either destroyed or looted by the "army of occupation". Several residential buildings and shops were either pulled down or vandalised.

Social and commercial activities in the once bubbling community came to standstill.

The attack also caused hundreds of villagers to flee their homes for safety.

Daily Independent gathered that the hoodlums were brought to the area by one Alhaji Maroof Kaka said to be an agent of Chief Ekundayo Bello, who is laying claim to ownership of all the land in the area through a controversial court judgment.

Bello, it was gathered, had claimed he got a court judgment in 1975 to take over all the 100 hectares of land in the entire area.

Daily Independent also gathered that the hoodlums first invaded Alaja Village as a first step to achieve their mission.

The mayhem also lasted till Friday morning during which several women and children sustained various gunshot wounds. Many are still receiving treatments in various private hospitals at Ayobo, Ipaja, and Egbeda parts of Alimosho Local Government and other parts of the state.

Even the house belonging to Executive Secretary of Ayobo-Ipaja Local Council Development Area, Alhaji Prince Bisi Yusuf, was not left out as it was completely vandalised including a mosque attached to the building. About 10 vehicles parked in the premises were damaged beyond repairs.

Yusuf told Daily Independent in a chat in his office that the attack was a daylight robbery.

"I would not call them land speculators because of their mode of operation, but broad daylight robbers. I can confirm that one person, an Igbo trader, was shot dead. Pregnant women and many kids were shot at indiscriminately. Some are now hospitalised with various wounds," he said.

The executive secretary maintained that when Chief Ekundayo Bello first invaded the area with thugs in 2005, claiming to have a court judgment in his favour, landlords in the area as well as the paramount ruler of Ayobo-Ipaja went to court to challenge the authenticity of the judgment, noting that the case was still pending in court.

"How can somebody claim ownership of such a vast land, which contains many villages and which had been in existence for over 150 years? The case is still pending in court and he was supposed to have waited till final determination of the case rather than taking laws into his hands," Yusuf stated.

When Daily Independent visited the Ayobo Police Station to ascertain the number of deaths, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO)was not on seat. But police sources said that not fewer than six persons died from gunshots while several others particularly women and kids sustained diverse injuries during the mayhem.

Already, more than five dozens of armed mobile policemen have been drafted to the restive area. But then tension is still mounting despite the presence of fierce-looking arm-wielding policemen.

Those who fled the village in the wake of the attack have refused to return home. Commercial activities have continued to suffer total paralysis as market men and women as well as shop owners have refused to return to their duty posts.