Two Killed As Hoodlums Clash In Fadeyi

Two persons were feared dead yesterday when a fight broke out at Fadeyi , Ikorodu road area of Lagos State when two cultist groups clashed. Before normalcy was restored in the area , it was a reign of terror and panic leading to the closure of shops and other businesses in the area.

As sporadic shooting rented the air , which left people scampering for their lives , the busy Ikorodu Road was closed down for hours . At about 12 : 38 p. m . some of the street boys had blocked the Ikorodu Road under the bridge at the old Fadeyi bus - stop . Fadeyi is noted for incessant cult clashes , and residents of the area confirmed the fight was between two factions of ‘ area boys’ of two streets in Fadeyi.

A resident working with the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) said it was a supremacy war between the cult groups . “We had been hearing they wanted to fight for quite a while . The cause of this fight is that the two sides of Fadeyi want to know who is supreme over the other . They started fighting at about 10 :00 a . m . ”

It was gathered that the two persons killed in the crisis were a dispatch rider killed by a stray bullet when he ran into the scene and an unidentified man among the warring hoodlums . Police officers , stationed at the area to maintain orderliness , confirmed the killing , adding they have deposited the bodies at the morgue.

Another resident said : “The crisis is not a small matter . Immediately the shooting started , the police on ground ran away , because those boys were heavily armed . They were not carrying pistols. I don ’ t know how to describe their guns , but the guns they carried surpassed that of the police in terms of the sophistication . It was after the whole crisis had simmered that the police and some SARS officials came to the scene.

“ The fight initially started with the two warring factions throwing bottles at each other . Before you knew it, they started bringing out guns . A man , identified to be motorcycle rider for a logistics company was killed at Shiro Street, ” he said.

When The Guardian visited the scene, there was high presence of patrol vans and armoured personnel carriers of the Lagos State Police Command . Remnants of broken bottles, blood spills and sticks also littered the area and adjourning streets . Residents , who sustained various injuries, were also seen receiving treatments on the street.

Two police vans were parked at Adewusi Street and one at Shiro Street beside Oando filling Station , with officers sighted at strategic points in a bid to restore calm and order to the area.