Joy Anyim
Four persons were, on Tuesday, shot dead during the flag off of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship campaign rally in Lagos.
While several other people are the rally, including journalists, were injured, our correspondent gathered that a fracas had ensued between the two factions of the NURTW at the campaign ground, in Ikeja.
An eyewitness account had it that while a popular musician, Wasiu Ayinde, otherwise known as KWAM 1 was performing on stage, a popular factional leader from Idumota, Lagos Island, identified as Kunle Poly, reportedly climbed the stage, while the other faction attacked him (Kunle).
The source said, “When Poly climbed the musician’s stage, another rivalr leader of NURTW from Adeniji Adele area in the same Island, identified as Mustapha Adekunle (also known as SEYGO), appeared and was about to climb the stage when some supporters of Poly blocked him but they met with hard resistance from SEYGO boys”.
The source revealed further that the rowdy session immediately led to both factions’ supporters bringing out different types of weapons to unleash on one another.
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“A boy identified as Legacy from Onola, who was in support of SEYGO, was shot at the fore head and died on the spot.
“This trigger off the fracas where they started shooting sporadically to themselves.
“They started shooting themselves face to face, which led to abrupt end of the ceremony as everybody started to run for dear life.
“The bullets from the shooting caught three others whose identities were not known.
“Some journalists, who were held up on the stage, were not left out as some of them were hit by bullet shot from the Dane guns, while several other innocent APC supporters, who were there to witness the occasion sustained fatal injuries while they were trying to escape from the area”, he said.
The source added that the miscreants at the occasion used the opportunity to rob people of their personal belongings.
It was learnt that the policemen assigned to cover the event could not handle the situation as the armed men were shooting sporadically, “They even did same at the front of Area ‘F’ Police Headquarters,” the source added.
The report of the incident immediately got to Lagos Island which led to the early closure of shop owners and traders at Agarawu, Wahab Folawiyo, some parts of Nnamdi Azikwe, Balogun, Jankara market and some adjacent streets for fear of reprisal attack by the Seygo boys when they return.
When the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Chike Oti, was contacted to confirm the report, he said Seigo had been declared wanted for attempting to disrupt the APC rally.
Oti’s words, “The authorities of the Lagos State Police Command have declared one Mustapha Adekunle aka Seigo wanted for attempting to disrupt the APC rally held at Skypower Ground, Ikeja, on January 8, 2019.
“The said Seigo, an NURTW chieftain, came to the rally with a group of people and were identified at the entrance as supporters of the party. However, at the tail end of the event, Seigo and his group for a reason yet to be determined, violently engaged other supporters of the party.
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“In the ensuing melee, one MC Oluomo, another NURTW chieftain, was stabbed and was rushed to EKO Hospital where he is currently recuperating while two other victims of the attack were taken to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital for treatment.
“The crisis was quickly contained by policemen at the venue.”
It would be recalled that a few hours before the rally started, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, held a meeting with the leaders of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW ), the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) and other affiliate groups where all the parties agreed to eschew violence before, during and after the elections.
Oti said it was, therefore, surprising that a prominent member of NURTW would attempt to violently disrupt a peaceful political rally.
“In view of the development, the Command wishes to encourage members of the public with useful information on the whereabouts of Seigo, to report such at a nearest police station,” he said.
Meanwhile, two persons have been arrested in connection with the incident.