Man inside home as hoodlums set buildings on fire

A young man died after some hoodlums who had been clashing with another faction, stormed Railway Line Street in the Mushin area of Lagos State recently and set buildings on fire.

The deceased, Kunle was sleeping inside his apartment, unaware that buildings were on fire. When he was finally rescued and rushed to hospital, he died.

A witness in the area said: “The late Kunle was an easy going person in the neighborhoods. He didn’t belong to any faction of the hoodlums. Kunle was inside their house, at No, 46, Railway line, when some suspected hoodlums, numbering over 15, from Akala area, stormed the street and started setting buildings on fire. Kunle was trapped. He was later rescued and rushed to the hospital.”

Another resident, Iya Ope said: “We were surprised when we saw some hoodlums who came through Alhaji Lasisi Street and set our homes on fire. Till now, we don’t know the reason for their action. We don’t accommodate hoodlums in our houses here. Those of us who were living in the buildings are mostly business women. Since our buildings were set on fire, I and my family have been sleeping outside. The clothes I’m wearing, is what I’m left with. Even my children school uniforms and stationeries were all consumed in the inferno.”

Mrs. Bukola Adeleye, an occupant of the building said that she was outside when she saw some mobile policemen. She said that the first thing that came to mind was that the Akala boys had started again.

She added that a few hours later, the Akala boys who were fully armed, rushed across the railway line and made a beeline for their homes, setting them ablaze.

She said: “To our surprise, when this was going on, the policemen who were supposed to provide security for us in the community watched helplessly. They didn’t do anything. Those of us, who were outside the building when the arsonists came, ran away for fear of being attacked and killed.”

Mr. Abdurask Olarewaju whose furniture workshop was also burnt in the inferno wept bitterly.

He sniffed back tears and said: “I was in my workshop working on that fateful day when I saw several youths, wielding dangerous weapons. Many were armed with gallons of fuel. I quickly ran out of my shop.
“Unfortunately, when I came back from where I went to hide, my entire workshop had been burnt down by the hoodlums. Even some of the finished chairs that had been collected by my customers were also burnt by the
hoodlums. I’m tired of all these! My wife and I had agreed that we were moving out of Mushin before the election, because I believed that during the election period, it would be bloodier than this.”
An elderly man, who craved anonymity, opined that the crisis cannot be stopped by police alone; stressing that army should be drafted to Mushin.