Bloodbath in Lagos
About six people, mostly commercial drivers
reportedly lost their lives in Iyana Ipaja due to injuries
sustained in an early morning mayhem unleashed on the area
by a yet to be identified gang of hoodlums, on Friday. The
incident which took place inside the Iyana Ipaja garage,
along Lagos-Abeokuta expressway left many people injured
and about twelve commercial vehicles, taxi cabs and buses,
set ablaze while others parked in the garage were vandalised.
Addressing newsmen at the point of the incident,
the Chairman of Alimosho National Union of Road Transport
Workers, (NURTW) Alhaji Saula, confirmed that those killed
in the mayhem were mostly drivers who had decided to pass
the night in their vehicles parked in the garage. According
to him the surprise attack was carried out at the early
hours of the day, about 3 am. The gang, he stated, simply
vandalised vehicles parked in the garage and set ablaze
others with their occupants.
Giving insight to the probable cause of the
incident, the chairman stated that this might not be unconnected
with the a recent disagreement at Car Wash Commercial Motorcycle
Unit, Iyana Ipaja, between a member of the unit, Michael
Asogba, an OPC member, and the authority of the park over
his refusal to secure a plate number for his motorcycle.
Trouble however broke out when Michael, apparently disatisfied
with the seizure of his motorcycle, mobilised members of
the Odua Peoples Congress to unleash mayhem on the park.
‘Due to the brilliance and vigilance
of some members of the Union, we were able to track down
the bus and the driver they used to perpetrate the crime.
The driver and the bus are in the Criminal Investigation
Department, Panti, Yaba’, he said. The Chairman however
believed that the latest incident must have been a reprisal
attack from this same set of people apparently in protest
of the arrest and detention of their member.
The Chairman of the Car Wash Commercial Motorcycle
Unit, Iyana Ipaja, Mr Niyi Oba, confirmed Alhaji Saula’s
statement adding that Michael had not been seen since the
first time he led his gang to attack the Unit. Meanwhile,
commercial activities were paralysed in the area as shops
and offices remain firmly shut. Though anti-riot mobile
policemen have been drafted to the place to forestall a
further breakdown of law and order, those affected, especially
those who lost their properties in the mayhem continue to
count their losses, bemoaning the fate that had just befallen
them.
In Akute, Ogun State residents woke up to
behold the burnt remains of a middle-aged woman accused
of being a kidnapper. The victim was allegedly intercepted
by people claiming to be members of OPC around 5 a.m. at
Akute main bus stop. The woman, who was holding two toddlers
was accosted by the OPC members and questioned about the
parents of the children. For being unable to provide satisfactory
answers the OPC member, joined by a mob, beat the woman
severely and set her ablaze with disused tyres.
A team of policemen who arrived the scene
shortly before the woman was killed and attempted to rescue
her unsuccessfully. Witnesses said the woman repeatedly
protested that she was not a kidnapper but could not give
her house address. By 8 a.m. when more residents besieged
the scene of the incident only a black mass and remains
of burnt tyre were visible. The state police commissioner
Mr. Ade Ajakaiye confirmed the story to newsmen. He however
stated that though he did not know the genesis of the crisis,
confirmed that five people have been killed in the mayhem.
Police Public Relations Officer, (PPRO) Lagos
State command, Mr. Olubode Ojajuni, a Deputy Superintendent
of Police also disclosed that police authorities in Lagos
have made spirited effort towards bringing peace by dispatching
a team of policemen to Iyana-Ipaja and another two units
to Mushin to avoid a spill over. He also hinted that members
of the National Union of Road Transport Workers were not
left out in the fracas. Also schools in Igbogbo area of
Ikorodu, Lagos State on Friday remained closed, as parents
kept their children and wards at home over fear that kidnappers
had chosen the day to strike.
Most parents who spoke to ST claimed that
the community decided on placing their little ones on forced
holiday, after unconfirmed story posited that three suspects,
held over an attempt to kidnap 27 pupils on Wednesday had
been released. Few children who actually made it to their
schools soon returned home, having found that most of the
teachers themselves had stayed at home. All the parents
maintained that the gang of dare devil kidnappers had written
to the Oba of the town on Friday, asking him to take measures
that he may deem appropriate.
When ST arrived the palace of Oba of Igbogbo,
Chief O. A. Alowonle, who spoke on behalf of the king said
the Oba was not in the palace. He however denied that the
monarch had received any letter from kidnappers, pointing
out that parents decided to keep their children away from
school, based on prediction from a prophet. “I live
in the palace. So, I can authoritatively tell you that”,
the palace mouth-piece stated further. At the Ikorodu Police
Station, though the DPO was not around a senior police officer
who spoke to ST denied any knowledge of kidnappers’
letter, even as he debunked the rumour that their command
on Wednesday rescued 27 pupils from kidnappers.
Meanwhile, a suspected kidnapper named Tajudeen
Agbojo, escaped being lynched by an irate mob in Ijebu-Ode
on Wednesday. The suspected kidnapper who was said to be
in his early 30’s ST learnt, was trying to entice
two school pupils with food at a popular market in the town
around 1.45 p.m. Agbojo, according to an eyewitness, attempted
to entice the school children when a passer-by raised an
alarm and he was caught by residents of the area who beat
him blue black. The angry mob also attempted to set him
ablaze but was saved by the quick intervention of some members
of the public who claimed the suspect was a mentally deranged
person. He was later taken to the Obalende Division Police
Headquarters, Ijebu-Ode for further investigation.
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