Several persons are feared dead following clashes between aggrieved commercial motorcycle riders otherwise know as okada, at Ibeshe, Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the DSP, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who confirmed the incident, however, was not certain about the casualty figure.
It was gathered that the clash started on Monday when motorcycle riders operating around Ibese were at loggerheads with the union leaders over a hike in ticket fees from N600 to N800.
“The issue is currently under control,” Oyeyemi said, noting that “it was a minor struggle that snowballed into a crisis”.
“They said the unions increased their ticket fee from N600 to N800 and that was how the crisis started. But how it then turned into the Hausa and Yoruba crisis is what I don’t know. But, we are on top of the matter. The situation has been brought under control. Our men are still there as we speak”.
Sources say so far, over 12 motorcycles have been burnt even as the locals barricaded the area to stop movement.
A community leader who pleaded anonymity said while some soldiers were mobilised to restore sanity on Monday, the clash between warring parties, however, resumed today.
In the process of trying to restore peace, soldiers allegedly shot at aggrieved indigenes, killing one, while another has been hospitalised. (Adapted from a Channels TV report)
