Residents have expressed fear over renewed attacks by suspected cultists in the Mushin area of Lagos State.
TheNigerian Metro learnt that there was pandemonium on Friday in the Idi Araba area of the community after two rival groups identified as Kesari Boys and Hunter Boys clashed with each other.
Our correspondent gathered that the incident occurred at about 8 pm as residents scampered for safety while business owners hurriedly closed their shops.
According to residents, the clash was a result of a longstanding feud between both rival gangs.
The groups were said to have used dangerous weapons deployed during the clash.
A resident, Adedayo Adelumola, who spoke to our correspondent on Saturday said he was caught up in the melee before running for cover.
He said, “I was returning from Yabatech and heading towards Akintan Street on LUTH Road when I saw people running towards my direction. While I was trying to figure out what was happening, some hoodlums emerged from nowhere and started chasing each other and shooting guns. I had to quickly run into a nearby filling station.”
A team of policemen were however said to have been deployed to the scene before calm was restored.
Another resident who identified himself simply as Haruna said the rival gangs relocated to another area in the community to continue fighting after the intervention of the police.
He said, “It was a disturbing night for us in the area. The boys, after being chased by the police, relocated to Paul Oguntola to continue fighting. We had to call for the intervention of the police and vigilantes who were mobilised to our streets. We have always lived in fear since the last incident in December where they killed someone and damaged the vehicles on our streets on two different occasions.”
Meanwhile, some of the hoodlums were said to have been injured during the clash, while they also rescued themselves in the process.
“Any member who gets injured, the colleagues will quickly carry him away from the spot to prevent a further attack that will lead to the death of such member. That is the tactic they used yesterday too. Also, the Agege Motor Road was tense during the clash. The more the police moved to the location where they were fighting, they reconverged in another location. The same thing happened on Saturday afternoon, but that did not last long,” a member of the vigilante group in the community told TheNigerian Metro.
In a similar development, one person was also said to have been killed during a carnival held on Saturday, January 11, at Abule Ijesha in the Yaba area of the state.
A resident who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity said the deceased was shot in the head in what was believed to be a reprisal.
The source said, “A fight started during the carnival and before we knew it, we heard gunshots and later discovered one person had been shot in the head. The incident had caused problems for the DPO of Sabo police station because the carnival was not supposed to be held in the first place.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, could not be reached as calls made to his telephone were not responded to. A text message sent to him had yet to be replied to as of the time of filing this report.
