There was palpable tension around Ladipo Auto Spare Part Market on Tuesday afternoon as no fewer than seven people were injured in a clash between Yoruba and Igbo traders at the market.
There was heavy shooting as the two factions battled each other, while security operatives attempted to put the situation under control. Goods worth millions of naira were in the process destroyed with 15 vehicles vandalised, and eight others set ablaze.
It was gathered that prior to the Tuesday clash, Yorubas and Igbos in the market had been in supremacy battle over collection of levies at the market.
Lagos Metro gathered that Yoruba traders had reportedly accused their Igbo counterparts of collecting levies at portions that belong to them (Yorubas).
A trader who identified himself as Famas, told Lagos Metro that: “the problem on Tuesday started when Igbo traders reportedly ordered Yoruba traders not to display their goods, until after the weekly sanitation exercise. The Yoruba people accused them of displaying their own goods, while preventing the Yoruba traders from doing so. That was when a serious misunderstanding ensued.”
“The Yoruba traders mobilised one another and started throwing away the goods displayed by the Igbo traders,” Famas added.
Both factions freely used various dangerous weapons on each other, leading to injuries to no fewer than seven people and millions of naira worth of goods destroyed.
Policemen from Area D Police Command and Operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) were drafted to forestall further breakdown of law and order.
The image maker in charge of the state police command, Dolapo Badmos, in her reaction, insisted that the police had taken total control of the area and also added that only four people were injured.
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