Ogun gov’s townspeople clash with neighbours, two killed

There was disquiet in the hometown of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, Iperu-Remoland, following the death of two persons over boundary dispute.

The lingering boundary dispute was between Ogere, a neighbouring community, and Abiodun’s hometown in Ikenne Local Government Area.

Our correspondent gathered that the violence broke out on Thursday when youths from Iperu and Ogere towns engaged themselves in a fight.

In an interview with our correspondent, an eyewitness identified the victims as Owolabi and Obinna. He said the victims were from Ogere and were allegedly killed between Wednesday night and Thursday morning when Iperu youths reportedly stormed Ogere Toll Gate market and killed them.

Advertisement

According to sources, the cause of the violence was some Iperu indigenes claiming ownership of some parts of Ogere Toll Gate market. It was learnt that the disputed land was being occupied by northerners selling herds of cattle, pepper, yam and other farm produce.

The angry youths were reported to have insisted that being the owners of the disputed land, they should be the ones collecting the revenue from traders in the market.

The source, who is a resident of Ogere, said, “The youths collecting the revenue for the government from this market are mainly from Ogere but Iperu youths had for a long time been agitating to take over the job because that part of the market is Iperuland. The matter didn’t start yesterday; it has been a lingering boundary dispute.

“It is however sad that things got out of control on Wednesday night when we heard that youths from Iperu mobilised, stormed the market and shot two people to death. One indigene popularly called Obinna died on the spot while the other one called Owolabi later died in a hospital.”

It was learnt that the intervention of the security agents had helped to restore calm. Several calls made to the Police Public Relations in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, did not connect while a message sent to his mobile phone had yet to be replied to as of press time.