2 brothers, 3 others killed during political rally in Lagos

Five people, including two brothers, have been shot dead in the Ajegunle area of Lagos.

They were shot after hoodlums hijacked a campaign rally organised by a Senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) which went through Oduduwa and Layinka streets and moved down to Cemetery Road in Amukoko.

Punch reports that the rally turned violent on Layinka Street when some politicians, who accompanied the unnamed Senatorial candidate, began to share gifts.

As the supporters and residents scrambled for the items, some thugs, who felt they were being sidelined, attacked the supporters.

Two other factions of the thugs also reportedly clashed, shooting at one another and vandalising property. Two young men of the same parents, identified simply as Abeeb and Idris, were among the five persons killed in the fracas.

Abeeb, more commonly called Abere, was shot twice in the belly and died instantly, while Idris, his younger brother, was initially rushed to a private hospital in the area before he died.The two young men lived with their parents on Alayabiagba Street, Boundary, Ajegunle.

A shop owner, Ojedokun, who witnessed the incident said the thugs looted her goods and shot continually, during which stray bullets injured several passersby.

She said:

“Trouble started when the aspirant began to share out gifts to supporters. He gave out mobile phones, pressing irons, among other things. As people scrambled for those gifts, trouble began.

The thugs brought out guns and began to shoot to scare away people. They began to smash bottles on the ground and attack one another. Even the policemen, who accompanied the rally, fled for their lives. Stray bullets hit people. We later heard that about six people were shot dead.”

The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, confirmed the incident saying, “The police in Ajegunle recovered two corpses, and the Amukoko division recovered another one. The cause of the violence was that some hoodlums again went on a rampage. Intense efforts are ongoing to arrest the perpetrators of the violence.”