Five kill, 30 vehicles damaged as touts clash in Lagos

Five people were feared killed and over 30 vehicles damaged when two factions of motor thugs engaged in a supremacy tussle at the Oshodi area of Lagos State.

Eye witnesses said that the fight between the two factions, which started on Tuesday and continued today, as over who is supposed to be in charge of Mosafejo Saudi Motor Park.

The police authority however confirmed that only one person was killed in the fracas, while nine persons had been arrested.

The rampaging youths grounded commercial activities in Oshodi. Shops were quickly shut down, commercial bus riders reversed and parked vehicles were damaged.

A faction of the warring parties stormed the motor park around 1: 30am on Tuesday, setting parked buses on fire. Traders and passersby were manhandled.

A member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) who craved anonymity explained that two factions were loyal to different chairmen in the motor park, adding that they had been a standing feud which came to a head last week Thursday.  The fighting renewed on Tuesday and continued today.

The NURTW man said: “After the Thursday incident, the various branch chairmen in the motor park were invited by the state chairman NURTW, Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede to reach an amicable resolution.”

The chairmen were made to sign an undertaking, promising there would no longer be any crisis in both motor parks any longer.

He continued: “I was surprised to receive a phone call that the same thugs who invaded the park last week Thursday came to burn and destroy shops and vehicles parked in the garage at midnight. I heard that they started shooting sporadically when they invaded the motor park. I also heard that some traders hit by stray bullets.”

Remilekun, a trader said that she noticed that on Tuesday after some of the thugs returned from a political campaign, they had started yelling that there would be war.

Remilekun noted: “I was at home when someone called me this morning that my shop had been burnt down by some of the hoodlums. When I rushed to the market, I found that all my new stock and my refrigerator had been burnt to ashes. Some of my neighbours’ shops were also affected. We’re tired of these hoodlums in Oshodi, especially those residing under the bridge were they sell India hemps. We want the Lagos State Government to come to our rescue here.”

Another trader, Mr. Akinbode Taiwo said that the crisis had been on since last week Thursday when those who were selling Indian hemp were chased away from under the bridge by the police.

Taiwo said: “After the policemen chased them away from under the bridge, we never knew those hoodlums would come back. To our surprise, we just saw them yesterday when they were coming from a political campaign. They came into the park and started threatening everybody. This morning they came into the motor after everybody had left and set shops on fire. Policemen alone cannot chase these boys away. Police need the support of the army.”

When the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officers, (PPRO), Mr. Kenneth Nwosu was contacted to confirm the incident, he said that one person was killed in the fracas.

Nwosu said: “Our men are on ground to provide security and maintain law and order. For now, only one person was killed in the clash. Normalcy had returned to the motor park.”