Christopher Oji and Lukman Olabiyi
Two persons have been reportedly killed when hoodlums in Ogolonto and Magidun areas of Ikorodu, Lagos, engaged each other in a supremacy fight.
The fracas which began Saturday afternoon has paralysed activities in the area, with several persons injured, others robbed and many vehicles vandalized.
As the time of filing this report on on Sunday evening, entry and exit from Ikorodu was impossible as the hoodlums were having a free day with nobody to check them. Stranded passengers had to stay in people’s houses, shops, and commercial centres to escape being attacked.
Broken bottles had littered the roundabout at Ogolonto in Ikorodu. Unconfirmed report claimed that the melee had already claimed at least two lives and property worth million have been destroyed.
During the fracas, the hoodlums who were in free for all used cutlasses, axes, stones, and bottles to engage themselves. It was learnt that the hoodlums took advantage of the clash to rob unsuspecting members of the public of their valuables.
According to a resident who identified himself as Moses, the fracas was as a result of sharing formular of the proceeds of a land sold in Magidun and Ogolonto.
“Initially, people thought that gridlock in the area was caused by #EndSARS protesters but commuters and pedestrians ran helter -skelter and it became clear that it was beyond the protest.
“Many commercial drivers who have loaded there vehicles from Ikorodu Garage dropped their passagers at Agric bus stop and turned so that their vehicles won’t be destroyed.
However, the Lagos State Police Command blamed the attack on # EndSARS protesters.
A statement by Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, noted that “The attacks on innocent passers-by and residents of Ogolonto Area in Ikorodu, Lagos State, on Saturday were caused by violent protesters who threw caution into the wind and suddenly became violent.
“However, today Sunday at about 6am, the residents and victims of the Saturday attacks resisted the moves of the same violent protesters to gather and foment troubles again. Incidentally, the situation became rowdy, but the Area Commander Area N, Ijede, ACP James Usen, has raced to the area to restore normalcy.
“The protesters, who had barricaded the Ikorodu Expressway at Ogolonto end, as a result of the ongoing #Endsars# protest, started looting shops, attacking motorists, breaking vehicles’ wind screens, side mirrors, snatching bags and phones from passers-by, throwing and breaking bottles, brandishing cutlasses and other offensive weapons.”