Two feared killed as soldiers engage hoodlums in Lagos market

A soldier had been reportedly   assaulted by some hoodlums in the area, which made his colleagues to storm the market on a revenge mossion. But were resisted by the hoodlums, resulting in the fracas.

It was gatered that the soldiers fired gun shots to scare the miscreants but two people were allegedly hit by the stray bullets, resulting in their death.

Traders at the Paramo section of the market all scampered for their safety following the incident.

Authorities of the market locked the gate, forcing traders out.

This caused a gridlock on Oshodi-Ikeja Airport Expressway.

The Nation newspaper reported that Spokesman for the air force, Edward Gabkwet, said the soldiers were at the market to respond to a distress call,  reported and denied that the soldiers did not kill anyone.

 Gabkwet said: “Firstly, NAF personnel did not kill anyone. Moreover it was one person that died, not three.

“The information we have at the moment is that the NAF operatives who are attached to OPs MESA received a distress call that a soldier was having an issue with a debtor.

“So, they moved in to restore peace but as soon as some of the traders saw them, they started attacking them.

“They threw stones at them and destroyed the windscreen of the patrol vehicle. They attacked a soldier and seized his pistol.

“So, the army soldier who was having issues with a debtor trader managed to retrieve the seized pistol and fired a shot in order to free himself and the operatives from the crowd. It was that gunshot that killed one of the traders.

“Two of our operatives sustained injuries. The information we have at the moment is that our men acted professionally and were only in the market to ensure peace, giving the economic importance of the market to Lagos state and our country as a whole.

“Despite this account, we are going to investigate the incident to know what really happened.

“We will get to the root of the matter and if any of our operatives is found to have acted otherwise, they would be sanctioned accordingly,” he said.