One Killed As Security Agents, Protesters Clash In Oyo

One person was killed during a confrontation between security agents and protesters on Saturday in Oyo State, South-West Nigeria.

Hundreds of persons had commenced a protest against the scarcity of naira notes and petrol on Friday, leading to the vandalism of banks, shops, amongst others.

In a statement, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Adewale Osifeso said the killing of the individual occurred at 10:15am while security agents were on a combined patrol in the Apata area of the Ido Local Government Area in the state.

“Today Saturday, 04/02/2023 at about 1015hrs, while embarking series of confidence-building patrols around different black spots and flash points, the joint convoy patrol comprising of the police and other agencies ran into a band of hoodlums around Apata Junction Market, Apata Area under Ido Local Government Area,” the statement partly read.

“In a rather surprising event, the hoodlums who had perfected plans to molest residents, harass shop owners and loot shops on sighting the combined convoy of security launched a series of unprovoked attacks by firing guns, hurling stones, sharp objects and other dangerous missiles at them.

“During the rage, an individual identified to have been a member of a vigilante group and who was reported to have died in the fiasco has since been deposited at a government hospital for post-mortem.”

The police spokesman said normalcy had since returned to the area with deployment of patrol teams and other tactical assets visibly on ground.