There was palpable tension on Friday after a suspected smuggler rammed into a commercial motorcycle in Itori, Ewekoro Local Government Area, Ogun State, thereby causing several enraged youths to go on the rampage.
According to a report by Daily Post, the driver of the automobile drove as though he was being pursued by police authorities, murdering the okada rider on the spot.
According to reports, this resulted in pandemonium as adolescents at the scene of the event went on the rampage, torching homes.
WITHIN NIGERIA gathered that the mob was enraged because they feared the smuggler was being pursued by agents of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).
They were alleged to have attempted to burn down a hotel where customs inspectors stay, but were foiled by the intervention of the police.
Cars and motorcycles where reportedly vandalised in the melee, which affected traffic on the old Lagos-Abeokuta highway for almost an hour.
The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident.
“Yes, there was a riot at Itori today. A vehicle belonging to smugglers rammed into an okada rider and killed him on the spot. People at the scene of the incident had the belief that the vehicle was being chased by customs officers. That was how they went on rampage. They caused serious crisis.
“They set about three vehicles on fire today. There is a hotel at Papa where they said customs officers do lodge, they went there, making efforts to burn the hotel.
“But the Commissioner of Police (CP Lanre Bankole) has gone there today with DC operations and other officers of the command. Calm has been restored,” Oyeyemi said.
The police spokesman added further that some people have been arrested over the tumult, warning residents against jungle justice.
“We have made some arrests. We have been warning people to desist from taking laws into their hands. If anything happens, you cannot just go on rampage and believe you can be destroying people’s properties. Some arrests have been made and we are going to make an example of those arrested,” he said.
Asked, the PPRO noted that the command is yet to establish whether or not the smuggler was being chased by customs officers.
Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer of the NCS, Ogun 1 Area Command, Ahmed Oloyede, said officers of the command had no knowledge of the incident.