The alleged hideout of the hoodlums.
| credits: Samson Folarin
| credits: Samson Folarin
Some residents of Baale Crescent, Ajegunle, Lagos State, have insisted that the police shot dead some protesters on Saturday on the Ikorodu road.
They claimed that the police, after the disappearance of the protesters who were not residents, went into people’s houses to handpick innocent residents and clamp them in detention.
PUNCH Metro had reported on Monday that the crisis began after the police raided a criminal hideout in the area on Friday, where some hoodlums were smoking hemp.
Four of the fleeing hoodlums were said to have fallen into a canal. While two escaped, the other two were feared dead.
Other hoodlums, who were enraged by the development, had staged a protest on the Ikorodu Road, burning tyres and vandalising vehicles.
There were reports that policemen from the Owode Onirin Division shot at the protesters, killing some of them.
But the police authorities had denied the reports, saying no bullet was fired and all the police did was to disperse the crowd who threatened to burn down a station.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, added that 25 of the hoodlums were arrested, and investigation was on.
When our correspondent visited the scene of the incident on Monday, there was tension and fear among the residents.
A few of them who spoke with PUNCH Metro said the police shot bullets and killed an unspecified number of people.
A resident said, “They (police) started by firing into the air before shooting at people. I am aware that four protesters were seriously injured. One died on the spot and has been buried.”
Another source said she could not tell the number of those that died, adding, “The police shot many of them on the road.”
Our correspondent learnt that after the dust had settled on the confusion, the police started arresting residents in their houses.
PUNCH Metro met Chizoba, a 20-year-old girl, who said her father, Emmanuel Ugwu, a leader in the Deeper Life Christian Ministry, was preparing for a church meeting when the police grabbed him in front of his shop.
Chizoba said, “The police arrested my father as he was preparing to go for a workers’meeting. It took four people to convince me. He has been in the cell of the State Anti-Robbery Squad since Saturday for what he knows nothing about.”
Another resident, who was said to be in his room, sleeping, was awoken and arrested.
An artisan on the street told our correspondent that the main suspects were not residents.
She said, “Many of those hoodlums are bus conductors and drivers who come from very far places to smoke beside the lagoon here. We don’t know where they come from.”
Meanwhile, it was learnt that the corpse of one of those who fell into the water had been recovered.
The deceased, popularly called “Pastor”, was said to be among the hoodlums who jumped into the lagoon when the police were on their trail. His remains were said to have been sent to his relatives.
The Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Laima Kollen, said he would get back to our correspondent, but had yet to do so as of the time of going to press.