War broke out in the Mosafejo, Oshodi-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. Over 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. As at yesterday, 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 and a vehicle was still burning as of 1pm yesterday.
The fight which involved three groups─ Big London boys, Railway boys and Under-bridge boys.
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.
Another witness, who did not identify herself, said one Idris was cut with machete in the buttocks, leg and hand.
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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