5th June, 2015
Kazeem Ugbodaga
Barely 24 hours after the Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, issued an ultimatum to residents in possession of arms illegally to surrender them or face the music, a street gang has shot dead five youths in Ajah area of Lagos, southwest Nigeria.
The victims were said to belong to another group on Lagos Island and were returning from a naming ceremony in Ajah on Wednesday when they were ambushed and shot dead by a rival gang in a battle of supremacy.
It was gathered that the deceased, with other youths from Lagos Island, went for a naming ceremony in Ajah area on Wednesday afternoon and were returning home in a hired bus when rival gang members opened fire on the bus and killed five of the occupants.
The driver of the vehicle and one other youth who pretended to be dead escaped the attack.
The victims were alleged to be working with a branch Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) on the Island.
The deceased are Samson a.k.a Songa, Ganiyu a.k.a. Asaro, Idris a.k.a. Aloma, Ladi and one other youth whose name could not be gotten.
There was mayhem on Lagos Island when the news got to relatives of the deceased.
In the early hours of Thursday, a large number of hoodlums were said to have regrouped and attacked relatives of the youth believed to have masterminded the killings.
Houses belonging to Olokodana family on the Island were torched by the miscreants who claimed to be protesting the killing of the five youths.
Also, the residence and lock-up shop belong to a man alleged to have masterminded the the killings was invaded by the hoodlums and burnt along with all the property inside.
P.M.NEWS gathered that trouble began last week Sunday on the Island when the rival groups clashed at an event. It was the reprisal attack that led to the ambush and killing of the five youths who were returning from a naming ceremony in Ajah.
It was gathered that the attackers also cut off the head of Samson (Songa), believed to have been the one who smashed a bottle on another gang member’s head at the social gathering last Sunday.
As a result of the mayhem on Lagos Island, traders at Odunfa, Onola, Oyebanji, Adeniji Adele, Evans, Atiko and adjacent streets hurriedly packed their goods and locked up their shops to avert being attacked by the hoodlums who vowed to attack anyone connected with the alleged killings.
The Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Lagos Command, Ken Nwosu confirmed the tragedy, claiming that two of the attacked youths died and two others who sustained bullet injuries were being treated at an undisclosed hospital.
He added that the police are on the trail of the suspects who masterminded the attack.
Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has ordered that people in possession of firearms illegally should surrender them within four weeks or face the wrath of the law.