By ANOZIE EGOLE

As residents of Sango Ota in Ogun State count their losses following the one week clashes unleashed in the town by hoodlums popularly known as agberos and the police, palpable fear has enveloped the town.

Last Tuesday, clashes between the police and hoodlums led to reported death of 25 persons, including students, workers, church worshippers, drivers, traders, bankers in the industrial and highly populated town over leadership tussle of the motor parks.

But there are others versions to the reported deaths too. But all agreed that the vast majority of causalities were innocent residents who were going about their duties that Tuesday.

A female trader who was caught in the crossfire told Saturday Vanguard that their bus had left the Ogbayo end of the Ijoko road for Oshodi about 6 am.

As the bus neared the Veevee company near the Sango end of the road, the trader said a group of young men and women in their early twenties barricaded the road. The driver made to pass the group but they told him they would waste him if he passed . The driver obeyed and after some pleasantries and payment of money, the driver was let off.

Victims evacuating their belongings while relocating from the trouble areas

He continued his journey but at the Sango under bridge junction, the sporadic shots so overwhelmed the driver that he told everyone to take care of himself. He himself bolted and the passengers followed, leading to scampering and disorder.

A well dressed young man from the bus, trying to run to away was hit on his side by a bullet and he died on the spot.

The hoodlums, another version said, were mostly under the bridge. The police station, just near the bridge was locked up as the police men were scared and could not confront the hoodlums. Even the shops built by the police on the walls of its station were looted by the hoodlums and there was nothing the police could do about it.

One of the blames the traders have against the police there is that the station is highly compromised. They noted that the hoodlums and the police share the money they get from the drivers and traders.

The police would see some people fighting but would not do anything but shift away from the scene and continue to collect their money from the bus and okada drivers, they said. With this synergy between the police and the hoodlums, it was difficult for the police to fight the hoodlums, they alleged.

But some of the traders said the police were not even as well armed as the hoodlums. According to the man, a carpenter, police were responsible for the most of the killings that happened that day, though another women, a trader countered him, blaming it on the hoodlums.

According to the carpenter, he was walking along the Ijoko road that early morning with another who was going to the aluminum village in Dopemu area of Lagos to buy his materials. The Sango scene was chaotic as the mobile police were said to be shooting, spreading bullets and tear gas in the air.

People were asked earlier by the hoodlums to raise their hands up as some of them were frisked of their belongings. And the people were walking about with hands raised up. Perhaps, the young man the carpenter was working with did not raise up his hand.

He had tried to cross a gutter but fell inside. And the police shot him on his leg, he said. The man cried but four or five of the mobile policemen rushed at him and began to pummel him with the butts of their guns. The man cried with his bloodied head and showed them his ID card as a worker but the police men ignored him and continued to beat him.

They later on took him into their van. He said the hoodlums had retreated when they saw the policemen who had started shooting, forcing the touts to drive off up in their buses. It was the indiscriminate shooting by the police, that led to the killing of the 25, he alleged.

He went on to say that another okada man was hit by bullet and he died beside his bike. When later people wanted to find out who he was, his wallets, phone and ID card were gone.

There were other tales from other traders. One lady said though she could not say police killed most of the victims, the police killed one young man in its station at Ota there. This was when the mobile policemen from outside Ota were drafted to the scene and some sanity had been returned.

The young man, one of those registering sim cards under the bridge had begun to film the scene with his camera. The police saw him and rushed at him and his group, beating and dragging them to the police station. The young man had tried to escape at the station but was shot by the police and he died at the spot, she said.

The trader said that right before her, a man coming back from a Christian vigil was shot by the hoodlums. The hoodlums also raped many women, snatched many bags and purses and killed many people, including students of Igamode Grammar School and Sango High School who were caught in the crossfire.

Parents of the students, who said the police killed the some of the students had besieged the police station for explanation on the death of their wards but the police locked them out.

According to the woman, the hoodlums in Ota are well known. If any iota of intelligence is used, they will be picked up. But for now, the police only work with them and they share their loots together.