Residents and business owners were thrown into confusion on Thursday when suspected political hoodlums engaged themselves in an exchange of gunfire at Akute, in the Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State.
PUNCH Metro gathered that supporters of two political parties were engaging in a campaign ahead of the governorship and state House of Assembly Elections when they ran into themselves at a connecting section not far from the abandoned bridge in Akute.
The supporters engaged themselves in a shouting match and in the process, some suspected political thugs took advantage of the encounter and started shooting bullets into the air.
According to eyewitnesses, some other thugs who were not armed with weapons including guns, hauled stones and other objects at their opponents as traders and residents around the scene of the clash scampered for safety.
Speaking with our correspondent, a trader, who does not want her name mentioned in print for security reasons, said members of one of the political parties had been campaigning in the area with their branded buses since 11am, adding that supporters of the other political party were also campaigning in the area when one of the buses they were using broke down.
She said, “The bus conveying the supporters of one of the parties involved in the shootings got faulty along the road very close to where supporters of another political party were campaigning in the market.
“It was not a fight at the beginning. But the fight started when supporters of the political parties campaigning in the market told the other political party supporters to leave the area. They were initially shouting when we suddenly heard shots being fired in the air. The area was tense and it was not long before the police arrived.”
Another eyewitness, who spoke anonymously to our correspondent for security reasons, accused miscreants in the area of being responsible for the shootings.
He said, “Some miscreants in the area caused the shootings. The gunfire exchange started when some suspected political hoodlums who live in this area started throwing stones at their political opponent who claimed the vehicle conveying them to a campaign developed a technical fault.”
Meanwhile, members of the Ogun State Police Command were sighted at the scene.
However, efforts to get the state Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, to confirm the tension created by the shootings in the area proved abortive as calls and text messages sent to him were not responded to as of the time this report was filed.
In a related development, some suspected political thugs allegedly stabbed a supporter of a politician in the Surulere area of Lagos State around 2 pm on Thursday.
The state Public Relations Officer, SP Ben Hundeyin, who confirmed the incident via a text message sent to our correspondent, said no arrest had been made.
He said, “Police are aware. No arrest yet. Investigation has commenced. A get-away tricycle was abandoned by the attackers and has been recovered.”
