Layinka Street
Two
brothers along with three other persons have been shot dead in the
Ajegunle area of Lagos after hoodlums hijacked a campaign rally while
the politicians were distributing gifts to the residents.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the
campaign rally, which was organised by a Senatorial candidate of the All
Progressives Congress, went through Oduduwa and Layinka streets in the
area, and moved down to Cemetery Road in Amukoko.
Our correspondent gathered that the
rally, however, turned violent on Layinka Street when some politicians,
who were said to have accompanied the Senatorial candidate, began to
share out gifts.
It was learnt that as the supporters and
residents scrambled for the items, some thugs, who felt they were being
sidelined, attacked the supporters.
Two other factions of the thugs also reportedly clashed, shooting at one another and vandalising property.
Our correspondent learnt that two young
men of the same parents, identified simply as Abeeb and Idris, were
among the five persons killed by the bullets.
It was gathered that Abeeb, more commonly
called Abere, was shot twice in the belly and died instantly, while
Idris, his younger brother, was initially rushed to a private hospital
in the area before he died.
The two youths lived with their parents on Alayabiagba Street, Boundary, Ajegunle.
When PUNCH Metro visited the
area on Wednesday, a police source told our correspondent that two
corpses were brought to the Ajegunle Police Division on Tuesday after
the police had restored normalcy to the area.
He said, “Two dead bodies from the rally
were brought to the station by evening. Later, a well known politician
showed up to arrange how they would be buried. This morning, we have
gone to the Cemetery Market, Ajegunle, to pick up another corpse.”
Our correspondent also observed broken
bottles and smashed windows and doors on Layinka Street where the rally
had turned bloody.
A shop owner, who gave her name as
Ojedokun, said the thugs looted her goods and shot continually, during
which stray bullets injured several passersby.
She said, “Trouble started when the
aspirant began to share out gifts to supporters. He gave out mobile
phones, pressing irons, among other things. As people scrambled for
those gifts, trouble began.
“The thugs brought out guns and began to
shoot to scare away people. They began to smash bottles on the ground
and attack one another. Even the policemen, who accompanied the rally,
fled for their lives.
“Stray bullets hit people. We later heard that about six people were shot dead.”
Another resident told our correspondent
that the corpse recovered by the police at the Cemetery Market was a
young man, who was hacked to death.
He said, “The two brothers, who were shot
dead, are being buried as I speak to you. There is no one in their
house as they have gone away. The corpse that we saw at the Cemetery
Market was a man hacked to death, but the police have taken him away.”
When PUNCH Metro got to the
Amukoko Police Division, our correspondent observed yet another dead
victim of the violence, who was covered with a wrapper and laid on the
ground.
It was learnt that the parents of the
deceased, who hailed from Badagry area, had shown up at the station and
were planning to come back for the corpse.
Our correspondent was told that a policeman was also shot during the unrest and had been taken to a hospital for treatment.
The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, confirmed the incident.
He added that the police were making efforts to apprehend the “criminals”.
He said, “The police in Ajegunle recovered two corpses, and the Amukoko division recovered another one.
“The cause of the violence was that some hoodlums again went on a rampage.
“Intense efforts are ongoing to arrest the perpetrators of the violence.”
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