Five killed in NURTW members’ gunfight

Pix: Courtesy Punch

Five members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) were shot dead by members of a faction of the union on Lekki-Ajah Expressway over supremacy battle.

The incident occurred on Wednesday night. It was gathered that the union members were returning from a naming ceremony at Ajah area of the Lagos metropolis in a chartered bus when five of them were shot death by members of the other faction.
The driver of the vehicle and one other occupant of the vehicle pretended to be dead and later escaped.
The deceased were said to be members of NURTW, Oyebanji branch, Lagos Island. The deceased were identified as Samson, Ganiyu, Idris, Ladi and one other. But yesterday, colleagues of the victims mobilised to attack the relatives of the assailants on the Island. The union members, who went on the rampage to protest the death of the five men, attacked traders and residents of the popular Olokodana family house on the Island.
The house of one Tunde, who was alleged to be the mastermind of the killing of the five NURTW members, was also torched by the protesters. A resident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said trouble started last Sunday on the Island when one Seego and another leader of the hoodlums identified as Alabi Yellow met at a social gathering.
He said: “At the event, Seego asked Yellow to bow for him, but he refused.” It was also gathered that Seego then ordered his boys to deal with Yellow by breaking a bottle on his head. They also tore his clothes. The source added: “To revenge the assault on Yellow, his supporters laid an ambush for some of Seego boys who went to Ajah for a naming ceremony and opened fire on their bus.
“The attackers also cut off the head of Samson alias Songa, believed to be the one who broke the bottle on Yellow’s head at the party on Sunday.”
Confirming the incident, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Kenneth Nwosu, said that two of the youth died and two others who sustained bullet wounds were presently at the hospital where they were receiving treatment.
The PPRO added that policemen were on surveillance to track down the assailants and brought them to book. Traders at Odunfa, Onola, Oyebanji, Adeniji Adele, Evans, Atiko and adjacent streets yesterday locked up their shops because the hoodlums had vowed to take revenge on anyone who has connection with the killing of their colleagues.
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