The protest against fuel and naira notes scarcity in Oyo State turned bloody on Saturday as a military personnel reportedly shot a member of a vigilante group dead at Apata area in Ibadan, Oyo State.
An eyewitness said the shooting happened in the early hours of Saturday after men of the Nigerian Army were deployed on the streets to douse the tension in the state.
According to the source, ‘’Soldiers’ vehicles were seen patrolling through Brent and all we heard was gunshots. Everyone ran for their lives; some lay on the floor to avert being hit by stray bullets”.
The source added that there was also a female casualty in the shootout, who is currently receiving treatment at the Lafia Hospital in the NNPC area.
Oyo State Police Command who confirmed the death during a protest by some hoodlums at Apata Axis, recalled that a policeman attached to Governor’s Office was seriously injured on Friday when some hoodlums forcefully find their way into the state Secretariat during a protest over fuel and new naira notes scarcity in town.
The Command’s spokesman, Adewale Osifeso, a Superintendent of Police re-asserted its resolve to maintain the relative tranquility in the state despite pockets of protests witnessed in some parts of the states.
He said while embarking on a series of confidence building patrols around different black spots and flash points, the joint convoy patrol comprising the Police and other agencies ran into a band of hoodlums around Apata Junction Market, Apata Area under Ido Local Government Area.
‘’In a rather surprising event, the hoodlums who had perfected plans to molest residents, harass shop owners and loot shops on sighting the combined convoy of security launched a series of unprovoked attacks by firing guns, hurling stones, sharp objects and other dangerous missiles at them,’’ he said.
According to him, the trained officers, cautious of the level of casualties that might be recorded should they engage at the location, resorted to restraints and professionally took charge at the scene while arresting the situation with reasonable force in line with standard operational procedure.
He said during the rage, an individual identified to have been a member of a vigilante group and who was reported to have died in the fiasco has since been deposited at a government hospital for post-mortem.
Meanwhile, he said normalcy has since returned to the area with heavy deployment of patrol teams and other tactical assets visibly on ground.
