Hot Trouble in Lagos: Four killed, 27 vehicles destroyed in gang war
Isale area of Lagos State, after rival groups said to be
members of the National Union of Road Transport
Workers, clashed on Tuesday evening and early
Wednesday.
Four people were reportedly killed, while several
others were injured in the fracas which was stopped
after the intervention of security agencies.
We gathered that no fewer than 15
commercial buses were set on fire, while 12 others
were vandalised.
Makeshift stalls in the Mosafejo Motor Park were
also torched, leaving traders in the park mourning
their losses.
When visited the scene of the incident
on Wednesday, the atmosphere was still tense as
men of the Nigeria Police Force and some soldiers
were observed patrolling the area.
The motor park, usually filled with vehicles, was
deserted as the police armoured tanks and patrol
vans took over the space.
Broken bottles, shards of glass from shattered
windscreens and pebbles, said to have been
deployed by some of the hoodlums during the fight,
littered the road.
Bloodstains dotted the Oshodi Roundabout, where a
man was said to have been shot dead and his corpse
taken away by the police.
A vehicle was still burning as of 1pm when our
correspondent passed the area.
Around the same time, a police van manned by
police officers was observed by our correspondent
taking some teenagers away.
A source said that the fight involved
three groups ─ Big London boys, Railway boys and
Under-bridge boys.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
said the fight started after the police ordered that
there should be a stop in hemp smoking in the motor
park.
The move was said to have been supported by the
Big London boys, which brought them in conflict with
the Railway and Under-bridge gangs who saw them
as an ally of the police.
She said, "That was the beginning of the fight. The
Railway boys and the Under-bridge boys usually
conspire to wage war against the Big London boys
which also had Olu Omo as a leading member.
"Yesterday (Tuesday), the allied gangs struck again
and killed four people. One particularly was popular
here and we call him Afari. A man was shot in the
eye, another in the hand and leg. Several others are
in critical conditions in hospitals."
Another witness, who did not identify herself, said
one Idris was cut with machete in the buttocks, leg
and hand.
"No one knows if he will survive the attack because
his condition is critical," she said.
When we crossed over to the area where
the Under-bridge and Railway groups had their
camp, he met some of the men who alleged that the
fight was sponsored by the Big London gang.
"It was around 11pm on Tuesday that they came
here. They were many in the Big London group. They
had the police backing them and they want to drive
us away from here. They descended on our vehicles
and set many of them ablaze which you can see for
yourself.
"They shot and injured three of our people, who have
been rushed to hospital. We don't know why they are
after us and this fight could have been bloodier, but
we decided to be calm," a man in the group, who did
not identify himself, said.
Another member of the group, who equally declined
identification, showed our correspondent an injury
he sustained in his hand.
He said, "They shot at so many of us. This was where
I was shot. Those guys were many. They shot at
about 100 of us and burnt many buses."
Some of the traders, whose stalls were burnt,
appealed for government's intervention.
Mrs. Taiwo Olajide, a mother of three and dealer in
soft drinks, said she lost all her goods to the violence.
She said, "The hoodlums set fire on all the stalls in
this park. They have ruined our business. This is
where I feed my children and keep body and soul
together."
Another trader, Mrs. Josephine Eze, said all her
provisions were burnt.
Our correspondent also observed a cross-section of
traders who were seated in front of their shops,
which were not affected by the fracas.
They lamented that they had not been able to operate
their business since the area was cordoned off by the
police.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Kenneth Nwosu,
while confirming the incident, said one person was
killed, adding that the police recovered some
weapons from the hoodlums.
He said, "There was an attempt to breach the peace
at Oshodi. The hoodlums, who were rival members
of the NURTW, engaged in a fight of supremacy over
control of parks.
"In the process, about eight vehicles were burnt and
10 vandalised. One person was killed. Five cutlasses
and four expended cartridges were recovered.
Normalcy has been restored as adequate security
has been made to avert any further breach of the
peace."
Nwosu added that the police arrested nine suspects
in connection with the crime.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Lagos State Council
of the NURTW, Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede, has said the
union will unravel the cause of incessant violent
clashes in Oshodi.
He spoke on Wednesday while inaugurating a five-
man committee to find out immediate and remote
causes of the fracas in the area.
Agbede said the leadership of the union in the state
would not fold its arms and watch some persons
destroy the peace being enjoyed in the state.
He said, "We have been witnessing peace in Lagos
State council of our union since my administration
came in.
We have restored peace in all our parks, so we shall
find out the cause of the present problems in Oshodi,
with a view to finding a lasting solution to them."
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