Calm has returned to Ojota, a boisterous community in Lagos metropolis, after an early morning riot that claimed one life.
Though details of what triggered the mayhem were still scanty at the time of this report, the incident happened during a planned protest organized by groups clamouring for an independent Yoruba Nation.
Eye witnesses said people began to throng to the Ojota area from the wee hours of Monday for the planned protest and it was not certain at what point the event took a violent turn and what triggered it.
“We were just hearing gunshots,” a resident said. “As usual, I woke up early to go to work and I saw people running everywhere. I had to ran back home for safety.”
There were reports that three persons, including a policeman, were killed during the early morning violence. But Benjamin Hundeyin, a Superintendent of Police, and the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, confirmed that one person died.
Despite confirmation by Hundeyin that cops had been drafted to the troubled area to restore order, social media was still buzzing with the story that Ojota was still boiling even as at 1p.m. local time.
But people, especially resident and business owners, have since resumed normal activities.
In fact, former Labour Editor of Vanguard Newspapers, and member of The Crest Readers Hub, Mrs. Funmi Komolafe, who drove past the Ojota area Monday afternoon, confirmed that all was calm.
“Ojota is calm,” she said on The Crest Readers Hub platform, defusing the viral rumour that the place was still on fire. “I just drove past. The incident happened in the early hours of today. Right now, people are moving as if nothing happened.”
