One Feared Killed In Rival Transport Unions’ Clash

By Steve Oni, Ilorin
One person was feared killed while many others sustained varying degrees of injury in the fracas that ensued between members of two rival groups of tricycle operators in Ilorin, capital of Kwara state, on Tuesday night.
Shop owners around Gambari area where the violence broke out hurriedly closed their shops and scampered to safety.
Only few shop owners had the gut to open for business on Wednesday in the area, despite that normalcy has been restored to the troubled area.
The detachment of the state police command known as “Operation Harmony”, dispatched to the scene of the bloody clash has arrested six persons suspected to be among the masterminds of the fracas.
The suspects, said to have been arrested with their tricycles loaded with some dangerous weapons, were said to have been detained at the office of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in the state police command.
According to an eyewitness, the bloody clash was between members of tricycle association of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) in Gambari area of the state capital.
Sources in the affected areas said that the victim of the fracas was allegedly hit by stray bullet shot by the armed policemen said to have arrived the scene to douse the tension which had reportedly enveloped the area.
In the ensuing melee, one of the warring hoodlums was reportedly machete and was rushed to University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital where he was receiving medical attention alongside one other person that was allegedly hit by stray bullet.
The spokesman of the state Police Command, Mr. Ajayi Okasanmi, who confirmed the development, said that security had been beefed up in the area to avert possible reprisal.


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