20 Die in NURTW Factional Clash in Sango Ota

16 Nov 2011


By  Sheriff Balogun

About 20 people were feared dead yesterday in Sango-Ota area of Ogun State when factional members of National Union of Road Transport Union (NURTW) engaged one another in a dawn clash over which of the factions will control the motor parks in the state.

According to an eyewitness report, the clash was bloody to say the least as the union members freely used broken bottles, guns, and knives amongst other dangerous weapons on themselves.

THISDAY gathered that the bone of contention was the nullification of an application by an Abeokuta State High Court, which was challenging the conduct of a proposed election by a faction of the union.

Another source blamed the failure to conduct a fresh election for new committee members at the expiration of the old one led by Chief Tajudeen Ibikunle also known as Baruwa as the cause of the crisis.

He noted that those who felt marginalised by the act had taken their case to court and at the nullification of the case, problem started.
The violence was said to have started around 4am and lasted for about nine hours. The police and other law enforcement agencies tried their best to bring the situation under control, for the greater part of the day.

Residents, market men and women as well as pedestrians were taken aback with the brazen manner at which members of the union freely used dangerous weapons on one another.

Speaking, a member of the election caretaker committee, Alhaji Yusuph Bamgbola, blamed the fight on some of the aggrieved members led by one Akeem Balogun otherwise known as Jango.

Bamgbola also noted that prior to the fight, they had petitioned the governor based on a tipoff that the factions were planning a showdown, but that nothing was done to prevent it.

The fight was brought to a halt following the presence of riot policemen at the scene of the incident but by then corpses had littered everywhere.

When THISDAY visited the scene of the clash, 12 mutilated corpses were counted between under the bridge and the main Sango motor park, as a result of the clash, which was said to be a counter attack by factions loyal to Baruwa who was the chairman of the Sango branch before he was sacked by the Jango boys.

The witness also told THISDAY that the remains of the dead had been deposited at some undisclosed hospitals, while the warring factions had evacuated those who sustained serious injuries.


When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Muyiwa Adejobi, confirmed the violent clash but described it as minor, stating that he could not give the accurate figure of the casualties until the report of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the area was received.

According to him, “I don’t know the number of casualties. For now, I don’t have the exact number. Nobody can say somebody is dead, a medical doctor has to certify. The CP has not given us the exact figure. We have deployed armoured personnel carrier.
Everybody should go about his/her lawful business.”

Speaking further, Adejobi said: “We are even sending more men there; we are sending additional 40 men to that place. Our men in the place are in a show of force now, at least to show the people that we are fully on ground. We are trying to make some arrest. We must arrest some people for peace to reign in that place; that is what the command is trying to do now.”



http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/20-die-in-nurtw-factional-clash-in-sango-ota/102921/

Being so overjoyed to post this thread, you missed the fact that it has already been posted.

Calm down, shotigbo. Ko serious to be yen

Nawa o! This pple and thier agbero wahala. This is what laziness can cause. Odikwa egwu, Ara Ga Na Agba Ndi Ara.

And thier penchant for gangster names: Jango, Baruwa, Eleweomo, Tokyo, etc.

boko haram in the west