At least, two persons were injured with machetes and many shanties burnt, on Sunday, in Lagos, as Hausa and Yoruba traders clashed at the popular Ile Epo/Oke-Odo Market in Agbado\Oke-Odo local council development area. of Lagos State.
Many food items, including palm oil, peppers and tomatoes, yams and others were also destroyed during the incident that started around 11:00 am and lasted about two hours before armed policemen and soldiers arrived the scene to stop the crisis from escalating.
One, who was simply named Kehinde and of about eight years old said to be among those wounded with machetes while identities of other injured persons could not be ascertained as of the time of filling in this report.
Tribune Online gathered that trouble started between two load carriers, who happened to be a Yoruba boy and another Hausa boy. The Yoruba boy was said to be carrying a bag of oranges on his back and in the process mistakenly hit the Hausa boy on his way and fell down.
It was further gathered that before the Yoruba boy could say sorry, the Hausa boy had slapped him and in the process, the two of them started fighting, and before long, area boys, many of whom living in shanties on the dunghill nearby were said to have taken the opportunity to unleash terror on people in the market and also destroyed food items and carted away some.
One of the sectional leaders in the market, an Hausa man who sells dry pepper, Mr Zulkifil Adam, told Tribune Online that it was the intervention of armed security agents who stormed the scene that prevented the crisis from becoming a major clash between the Hausa and Yoruba traders in the market.
Another woman, who is Yoruba and sells soup condiments corroborated the claim, adding that little disagreement oftentimes lead to major crisis in the market.
The woman also said that it was an Hausa leader, who she simply identified as Baba Maria that quickly calmed the Hausa boys down as they were said to have threatened to continue the fight.
Tribune Online visited the nearby Ile Epo\Oke Odo Police Divisional Headquarters around 6.00 pm and gathered that the leadership of the police from the Rapid Response Squad, Task Force and the army, and the Divisional Police Officer of the station, as well as officials from the Lagos State Waste Management Authority met with the leaders of the Hausa and Yoruba traders and other stakeholders in the market for mediation.
They were all promised to ensure that peace which has been restored in the market is sustained.
However, normalcy had since been resumed in the market.