Lagos government imposes curfew on Ajegunle

Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu on Monday imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Ajegunle, in Lagos’ Ajaremo/Ifelodun council area, to halt fighting between suspected Ijaw youths and the members of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), a largely Yoruba interest group. “We cannot continue to tolerate the breakdown of law and order,” Tinubu said. In a statement published in the ‘The Guardian’ newspaper of Lagos on Tuesday, he said the curfew would run from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. and until further notice. He also ordered anti-riot police to patrol all creeks and riverine areas of the state as the crisis threatens to spill beyond Lagos, a city of some seven million people. This directive came as the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) issued a statement threatening “to attack persons of Yoruba origin whenever they are found”. Nevertheless Tinubu appealed for calm, saying he urged “all community leaders, traditional rulers, religious leaders and other opinion leaders in the affected areas and all over the state to help preach the message of peace”. Fighting broke out on Saturday when bands of young men allegedly attacked some Ijaw youths at a funeral for one of their members. In retaliation, ‘The Guardian’ said, quoting witnesses, Ijaw youths set fire to the OPC headquarters, prompting other OPC youths to attack more Ijaws. Figures for the number of dead are unknown. Lagos Police Commissioner Mike Okiro said five people had died, but the newspaper quoted independent sources as saying those were only the bodies seen. Others, they said, had been burnt beyond recognition.