Etim Ekpimah
Ikorodu residents and passers-by were heavily attacked by hoodlums who hijacked #EndSARS protest around Ogolonto area of Lagos State.
The hoodlums, who were at the scene of the protest around 5.38pm on Saturday, filled the entire area with smoke from weed before causing frenzy after getting drunk.
They took advantage of the expressway that had been barricaded by the protesters to attack the protesters with machetes, guns, bottles, sticks, and iron, before assailing innocent Nigerians, who were passing through the area. Tanker drivers were also attacked as beat and emptied their pockets.
The hoodlums looted shops, attacked motorists, broke vehicles’ wind screens, mirrors, snatched bags and phones from passers-by around 6.30pm before they eventually disappeared.
One of the eyewitnesses, who identified himself simply as Tunde, told our correspondent that the violence was not actually caused by the #EndSARS protesters but by those who hijacked the venue and made it seemed as if it were the protesters, who went violent.
He said, “I was there, this is not a secondary account. We were coming back from Akowonjo when we suddenly met the boys at Ogolonto. They stopped us and asked for money; we told them that we had already given the money to some another group behind them.
“They broke vehicles’ windscreens, vandalised mirrors, robbed passengers of their phones and jewelleries, even the tanker drivers were not spared as they robbed them, too.
“Passengers alighted from buses and ran into people homes to escape from being robbed by the hoodlums. Even some of the protesters, who spoke with us as they were running for their own lives, said they were overpowered by the hoodlums.”
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said on Sunday that around 6am residents and victims of the Saturday attacks resisted attempt by the #EndSARS protesters to gather around their area to foment trouble.
“However, today Sunday, October 19 around 6am, the residents and victims of the Saturday attacks resisted the moves of the same violent protesters to gather and foment troubles again.
“Incidentally, the situation became rowdy, but the Area Commander Area N, Ijede, ACP James Usen, has raced to the area to restore normalcy,” he said.
He added that the Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu has appealed to protesters to effectively manage their protests and control themselves to be orderly and peaceful.