*Residents allege police negligence/connivance

By Ifeanyi Okolie

The seeming insensitivity of the police in Lagos State may have given rise to hostilities and continuous bloodshed at Mushin area in Lagos State.  The densely populated area has been plunged into severe civil unrest by cult groups fighting for supremacy.

The mayhem that occasioned security lapses in the volatile area has also led to the death of more than 50 persons in the past three months while many others sustained severe injures.  In fact, the carnage is so frightening to the extent that residents of the area are relocating to other safer places in the city of excellence, Lagos and beyond.

Investigations conducted by Crime Alert recently indicated that the police in the area may have treated the violent situation with kids gloves,  which led to the repeated attacks on residential areas and other suburbs.   Some residents accused the police of  being compromised while others alleged that they have been aiding some  warring factions to attack their opponents.

Kolawole Jegede told Crime Alert yesterday that the police in the area have been predominantly slow because their responses to violent attacks that occur almost on a daily bases, leaves much to be desired.  He alleged that the attitude of law enforcement agents has given the hoodlums ample opportunities to terrorize people in the area.

“The bulk of the blame should go to the police who have showed so much insensitivity to the crises in this area since it’s inception.  The police at Area D   Command are  not helping matters at all.    They  have a very  bad  attitude at responding to crisis in this area on time.    They always arrive at the scene after the hoodlums might have finished wrecking havoc,” he stated.   Other residents of the area also alleged that none of the arrested offenders has been prosecuted since the inception of the crisis.

Firemen at work in one of the razed buildings at Mushin

How they use the police
Those interviewed told Crime Alert that over the years, policemen  from different sections in the state, especially, those attached to the dreaded Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) in Ikeja,  have been used by  the warring  factions  to intimidate  and harass  opponents in the area.  This, they pointed out, is more evident as no body has been prosecuted or sent to prison since the inception of violent clashes in the area.

It is as if they are afraid of arresting and prosecuting perpetrators of these heinous crime in the area.

People behind the attacks

Investigations also revealed that there  are  two vicious  factions battling over control of the area.   One of the factions, according to reliable sources, has backed out of the battle leaving just another splinter faction to battle with the remaining one in order to take total control of the area.

A resident, who simply identified himself as   Ajibola, who resides in  Ereko, Idi-Oro  told Crime Alert that the   Baba-Alado  led faction, has  refused to back down on their attacks like the other factions.

“Elders in Mushin, in their efforts to end the civil strive in the area, summoned the factions. One of them accepted the agreement but the others did not.  What they now do is to attack people in areas they think are not loyal to them”.  It was revealed that areas loyal to the Babal Alaodo faction includes, the notorious Akala, Mosolashi, Ala-Salatu, Ogunbaye and Onifade streets.   Hoodlums from these areas have been carrying out series of attacks on residents of both the Railway line  of New Balogun street, Yuba street, Ikeolu street, Coker lane, Erekpo, Ogunbanjo, parts  of Idiraba including  Fadeyi areas of the state.

Life around these areas not loyal to the Baba-Alado faction is not longer fun, as residents of these areas have been subjected to constant fear and trepidation.     No week passes without news of  people being shot and killed by armed men who attack them.       When  Crime Alert visited Fadeyi area , people were seen running helter-skelter for their lives following intermittent sounds of gun shots from different directions.   Fear- stricken residents were seen fleeing also in different directions.

“ This is how we run all the time in this area when ever we hear  the sound of a blast, we really don’t wait to see what is behind it.  We  have seen so many people  killed through fighting and now we don’t wait any more to see what is behind it”. a female trader who simply identified herself as Mama Bose told Crime Alert.

It was further revealed that since the attacks intensified, rents in the area has nosedived to lower rates .    “A  lot of people are running away from these area due to the increasing fighting and people don’t want to loose their lives here.  The ugly situation has so far forced a massive decline on the price of real estate.   Formally,  rooms were  rented for N3000 but now it has been reduced  to N1000.   Aside that, commerce is really very poor as you can see for your self, shops are locked and  people are not ready to trade,” stated another resident of the area.

Those residing at Idi-Oro and Idi-Araba who have suffered incessant number of attacks from the hoodlums seem to be worse hit by this development.   Last Monday attack on Idi-Oro where  five persons were killed,  20 vehicles vandalized  and several stores looted was an anti-climax to another attack carried out on Friday, July 22, 2011 at Idi-Araba which led to the gruesome murder of a 16-year-old hairdresser, Nofisat Adeyemi, and a 30-year-old man, Garuba Muhammad, during a vicious attack in the area by the same hoodlums, on Paul Okuntola Street.

Violent clashes

Akinyemi Badejo, a residents believes that government has lost it grip in Mushin due to the ever recurring spate of violent clashes buy warring hoodlums. “It is time for government to  rise  and confront this crisis from the roots in order to put a complete end to the raging violence.  Peace has to return to  this area and that is what we deserve as citizens of this country.   I am sure that all that is needed now is for government to get all parties involved into a round table and explore ways this crisis will be put to an end”.

One of the vandalised cars at Onifade Street, Mushin

The proliferation of ammunition across areas in Mushin has remained the most troubling aspect of the whole issue.  Ever since the outbreak of violence in the area and government murky attempt at quelling the crisis,  no one has ever thought of checking the alarming influx of arms and ammunition into the area.  So far, no fewer than 50 persons have lost their lives in the area during such clashes while properties worth millions have been looted or vandalized.
In the beginning….

Tracing the genesis of the gang war, some of the residents said there was relative peace in the area until  1999  when it was engulfed by serious clashes  between two factions of Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC).   The OPC crisis later threw the entire Lagos State into pandemonium following the enormity   of the carnage recorded  in the area.    Akala street in Mushin, a suburb of the state was practically turned into a battle ground for the warring OPC factions. It took the intervention of the Federal Government, before the situation was finally brought under control.

Residents of Mushin were still basking in the euphoria of the relative peace that had returned to the area, when in early 2010, two factions of the NUTRW engaged each other in another round of battle for territorial control.  There had been several clashes between factions of the transport union in the past over change of leadership, but the early 2010 clash around Olorunsogo area of Mushin however, heralded a new  regime of violence in the area.

The crisis in Mushin is ideally supposed to be a clash between two factions of hoodlums. It has, however, turned into an intricate battle  involving the National Union of Road Transport Workers Union (NURTW), the OPC, several factions of hoodlums   and two political parties.