Fight over prostitute causes Major Riot in Ibadan

BITTER claims over a suspected prostitute  on Thursday night resulted in a violent fight between a Fulani and a Hausa man at the Bodija Market area of Ibadan, Oyo State.
By yesterday, it degenerated into a mini ethnic war by supporters of both parties, leading to the death of two persons, large-scale destruction of property, and torching of a Police post.
Sanity was thrown to the winds when some Hausa men decided to fight the cause of their own, who was allegedly stabbed by the Fulani man. They attacked a police station and forcefully released the Hausa man. They then set fire to the station, resulting in the shooting of one them by the Police.
Though people in the market said two persons were shot dead, the Police Commissioner Mr Tambari Yabo Muhammed, said that only one person was killed in the melee.
Eleven vehicles and nine motorcycles were either burnt or vandalized. The bloody clash forced thousands of marketers and traders to flee, abandoning their shops and wares. Some butchers, whose shops are close to the place, left their meat on the table and ran for dear lives.
When the irate Hausa men besieged the Police post, all detainees under investigation were set free, while the Fulani man, who stabbed the Hausa counterpart was taken away.
But for the quick response of policemen tagged Operation Burst, men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps,and  soldiers, who checked the crisis, it could have escalated beyond control.
When we visited the scene yesterday, all the stalls, shops, banks, filling stations in the area were deserted, while the troubled spot was barricaded by fierce-looking policemen.
Shedding light on the cause of the crisis, one of the officers on night duty at the police post, who pleaded for anonymity, said that there was a clash between a Hausa man and a Fulani over a commercial sex worker in Bodija on Thursday night.
The Hausa man was said to be the regular visitor to the prostitute who also welcomed the Fulani man whenever he came for brisk business.
Angered by the act of the Fulani man, the Hausa man was said to have quarreled with his rival and this led to a serious crisis, which made commuters and other residents, especially those living near the market to run helter skelter.
The source said that the Fulani man was said to have stabbed his counterpart, and he was arrested by other Hausas and taken to the station.
But, to the surprise of the policemen, early yesterday morning, some angry Hausas stormed the station and demanded that the suspect they took there be released to them to be killed.
For hours, the policemen reportedly pleaded with them to allow the law to take its course, but all these fell on deaf ears.
One of the police officers said:  “I was in the University of Ibadan when my colleague on duty made a distress call that some Hausa men had stormed the office. While we were talking, the invaders were struggling to disarm him and in the process he fired shots to scare them away. This further angered the miscreants who set fire on the station and forcefully took the suspect away.
“They broke the fence to gain access after locking the gate”.
Our reporter gathered further that the hoodlums started chasing the policemen, who had to escape through the back fence because they did not want to shoot the hoodlums.
One of the policemen however said that he was disappointed that some other traders in the market were even identifying them to the invaders to attack them.
Confirming the incident, the state commissioner of Police, Tambari Yabo Muhammed, said that six suspects had been arrested over the incident.
He dismissed the rumour that the killing of the Hausa man by the policeman caused the crisis, adding however that the police post was merely partially burnt.