Following the skirmishes reported in Shasha market in Akinyele Local Government Area of Ibadan, the Oyo State Government has ordered the immediate closure of the market indefinitely.
Shasha market is one of the destinations of farm produce from the north to Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
The crisis, according to the residents of the area, started on Thursday evening when a Hausa head porter had a hot argument with a pregnant woman, which aggravated anger of a cobbler beside her shop.
The report had it that the cobbler approached the head potter to find out the reason for his action, but in the process of the argument, the cobbler was hit with charm, and later died while receiving treatment on Friday morning.
As a result of the development, youths took to the street of Shasha on Friday morning when information filtered in the town that the injured cobbler had died while receiving treatment at the hospital as a result of the complications that arose from the injury that he sustained which led to the death of another two people.
But the state government, through a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, Mr Taiwo Adisa, on Saturday, said the governor gave the order to close the market to forestall breakdown of law and order in the area and equally imposed a curfew on Shasha and the market area.
The curfew is to run from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m.
The statement warned residents of the affected area to go about their legitimate businesses peacefully, stating that anyone caught perpetrating violence will face the wrath of the law.
The statement read: “His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde, has directed the immediate closure of Shasha market indefinitely following reports of a breach of peace in the area.
“The governor has also approved the imposition of a curfew on Shasha. It will run from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m.
“Residents of the affected area are enjoined to go about their legitimate businesses within the hours stipulated by the law.
“Anyone caught disrupting the peace of the community will be made to face the wrath of the law.”
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