One feared dead in Lagos communal clash

One person was reportedly killed in a communal clash which broke out on Sunday at Oko Baba, a slum community in Ebute-Metta area of Lagos.

The community’s plank market was gutted by inferno on Friday with traders and marketers losing properties worth millions of Naira.

The state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has sent an inter-ministerial team to assess the damage and investigate the immediate and remote causes of the inferno, our reporter learnt.

But while victims still count their losses, a violent clash broke out on Sunday morning between a group of Hausa truck pushers and some Odua People’s Congress (OPC) members.

It was learnt that police officers of the Denton Police Station, Lagos State Command, were mobilised to the scene to restore peace and normalcy to the area.

The scrap dealers were said to have gone to buy some items from the burnt shanties when some OPC boys allegedly accosted them.

Hassan Ibrahim, a Leader of Hausa Youth at Oko-Baba, said the scrap dealers were harassed by some miscreants and OPC demanding for money before they could go with the scrap materials.

Police spokesman, DSP Bala Elkhana, however said he was not aware of the clash and promised to find out and get back to our correspondent.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Rabiu Olowo, who led the government team to the site which included the state’s Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Idris Salako and Special Adviser to the Governor on Civic Engagement, Mrs Adebowale-Owoeye, appealed for calm among the warring parties.