At least two persons
were shot dead while 10 others were injured when suspected members of the Oodua
People’s Congress (OPC) and scavengers of Hausa origin
clashed at the Ijegun
area of Lagos State.
The scavengers
resisted alleged extortion by men believed to be OPC members, leading to the
clash.
The
protesters, who claimed to have been living along the pipeline for years,
alleged that they had suffered harassment and intimidation in the hands of OPC
members, who kept watch over the pipeline that passed through the area. In
their resistance, a clash ensued, leading to the death of two scavengers from
gun shot. Ten others sustained injuries.
As reported by the Sun news; One of the
protesters, Haruna Ahmed, alleged that suspected members of OPC extort money
from them with coercion, before they are
allowed to operate in the area.
Trouble
started after some OPC members stormed the area in the early hours of yesterday
and allegedly demanded money from some of the scavengers, which was turned
down. The OPC members allegedly left but returned at about 5am and also met a
resistance from the scavengers, numbering over 100.
The OPC
members were said to have retreated, only to come back in their numbers,
shooting indiscriminately. In the process, two Hausa men identified as Gazali
Rabiu and Gadaffi Barawu were shot dead.
Ten others, who sustained bullet wounds, were
later rushed to the hospital.
The problem
escalated when the scavengers allegedly contacted their colleagues from
different parts of the state, who arrived and attacked a security post along
the pipeline occupied by OPC. They also wanted
to storm the OPC offices around Ijegun, when policemen arrived the
scene.
It took the
intervention of the Commander Area M, Idimu, Austin Akika, an Assistant
Commissioner of Police and the Divisional Police Officers in-charge of Igando
and Isheri to pacify the angry Hausa scavengers.
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