By Evelyn Usman & Dapo Akinferon
LAGOS—Uneasy calm has returned to the troubled Mafoluku area of Lagos where no fewer than five persons were said to have lost their lives including one Jamiu Shodimu, following heavy presence of policemen now combing the area for the suspected killers.
Although the Lagos State command said no arrest had been made in respect to deaths three days ago, it however disclosed that it was closing in on some major lead.
The late Shodimu was murdered and his body dumped in front of a building on Mafoluku, which residents have since fled for fear of arrest.
Report said the late Shodimu was a member of the outlawed Odua Peoples’ Congress, OPC, whose death was blamed on the lingering battle over control of a bridge that linked Ajao estate and Ejigbo area of Lagos, by factions of OPC.
Reacting to the development, leaders of OPC described as untrue report that the clash that paralysed business activities in the area was caused by their men.
They denied involvement of members in any fracas or illegal toll collections of foot bridge, let alone killing anyone, denying that the late Shodimu was not their member.
Founder of OPC, Dr. Fredrick Fasheun, told Vanguard yesterday that he was not aware that members of the OPC were involved in the clash, claiming rather that those involved were members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW.
Similarly, OPC national coordinator, Otunba Gani Adams, maintained that those involved in the clash were not members of the group, but those of the NURTW.
But in a sharp reaction to the alleged involvement of NURTW, the Lagos State Deputy Secretary of NURTW, Mr. Paul Ogini, exonerated members of the union from the fracas, wondering what NURTW had to do with illegal toll collections on foot bridge.
According to him, the allegation against the union was merely a way of giving a dog a bad name for it to be hung, arguing that the troubled area was dominated by OPC members and political thugs and not NURTW members.
Ogini said, “Is there any garage there? Did the fight occur at the motor parks? It is true that every organisation has a bad egg that is why anytime chaos occurs in any part of the state, they blame it on NURTW.”
SOURCE: Vanguard Newspaper, 1 March 2012. http://www.vanguardngr.com/
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