As the academic session kick-started some weeks back, with each person resuming to continue from where they left off from last session; staffs, students, vendors, commuters, cafeterias resumed; thieves too, also resumed.
Cases of theft in Zik hall did not start today, it is like a tradition that has lingered on from year to year, one that runs parallel but simultaneously with the Zikism tradition. Freshers mostly are preys in the hands these thieves, as they are the most vulnerable due to various reasons like their innocence, ignorance, negligence and their lack of vigilance.
In recent years, no academic session has ended without a case of theft in Zik Hall. Even two sessions ago which was half-virtual, the popular story of the thief, Gala comes to mind. In fact, Zik press gathered that few weeks before the current session fully started, an inverter was stolen in one of the hall’s reading rooms.
Thieves vary according to what they cart; some steal gadgets like laptops, phones and other important expensive accessories belonging to students. Like in the past, this new session has seen a continuation of these swift-handed individuals pick up from where they left-off.
While in the past, cases of gadget theft has received the most attention, many cases of cloth-theft without go receiving the publicity they deserve as most victims keep the pain to themselves.
It is a phenomenon during weekends to see many Zikites wash clothes that the weekdays of classes would not avail them. However, the chances of resuming the new week with the clothes washed over the weekend are very slim, as there are those whose only business is to do the packing of the clothes for the owners.
How the thieves get away
To start with, the muddling-up of clothes on the spreading lines is one of the reasons that these thieves are able to easily carry out their atrocities, making them hard to nab.
“What has always worried me on this issue is how there has not been any record of anyone caught in the act of stealing clothes on the line despite how rampant it is in the hall. It is wearisome, and the hall management needs to find a way to curb it on time. It is not like we are careless or carefree but how these people perpetuate their acts must be checked and stopped”,
says Olawale, who was one of the respondents.
The reason for this is that there are mostly too many clothes on the line at once, thereby making it is easy for a thief to steal clothes with the guise of packing their own clothes, while in fact they are there to steal other people’s clothes. While it might be easy to catch a thief who has stolen a gadget, the probability of apprehending a cloth-thief is almost impossible, as the former would mostly involve entering a targeted victim’s room, while the latter just walks up to the clothing line disguising as someone who wants to pack their own clothes.
To salvage the situation, one of our respondents who said he tried to closely monitor his own clothes so as to avoid it been stolen, still ended up being a victim.
“[sic] last Saturday when I washed my clothes and spread them on a newly bought rope, as if I knew someone was watching over my clothes to steal, my mind told me to check on those clothes often which I did on a thirty-minute interval. Then, when I decided to go and park the clothes around 5p.m, I discovered that one black jeans which I checked about 30 minutes earlier was missing from the clothes”.
They steal any kinds of clothes, even underpants
For Elisha Ajiboye, the health minister of the hall, he was first the victim of cloth theft when the trouser he had planned to wear to the press night while he contested, had been stolen. More interestingly, as a second time victim, his underpants were stolen this time around.
“There was also a time, particularly after the last Christmas when I went home and bought a new pair of boxers, and I spread them on the grass behind the Alumni block that day because the line was full. And by the time I got there to pack, they had stolen the finest one among those boxers”, Elisha narrates.
What has the hall management done?
During a legislative sitting on the 9th of September, the Council Speaker, Rt. Hon. Igbaoreto Samuel (Gandoki), while addressing the house on the issue, narrated that he had also been a victim. He also encouraged the floor reps to educate their constituency members on keeping adequate watch on their clothes when they spread it. The legislative council however, proposed that the executive be instructed to buy more rope for the cloth lines.
While Zik Press gathered that some cloth lines were bought, it has not had the slightest of effects in tackling cases of cloth stealing in the hall.
In his reaction to the story, the Hall Chairman, Adeniji Uthman expressed his unfamiliarity with such cases of theft in the hall, he merely promised to look into it.
“To be very honest, I only got a report once, and about what, and a way to curb this problem, I don’t know for now, but I will call a meeting with the Defense team, IPM, and other stakeholders to brainstorm on how to curb it”.
As of press time, Zik Press has not seen any tangible effort from the Hall Chairman to address this issue that occurs frequently.
When one of Zik Press’s correspondents reached out to the Defense minister, Oluwaferanmi Eda, he refused to give any reasonable answer to the questions posed to him regarding these cases, his response simply was “no comments”.
