Naira Scarcity: One dead as police, soldiers clash with protesters in Ibadan

One protester was killed on Friday in Ibadan as security officers clashed with a group protesting against scarcity of fuel and new naira notes in Apata area of the capital of Oyo State.

Protests have been going on in many parts of the city since Friday as mostly young people expressed their frustration over the scarcity in the state. Similary scarcity of naira notes and petrol are being experienced across Nigeria.

A group of protesters also attacked the Oyo State governor’s office on Saturday when security agencies attempted to deny them access to speak with the governor.

On Saturday, soldiers and police officers were deployed to major areas where protests were taking place.

But, the protesters in Apata refused to stop their protest when the security officers approached them.

A commercial vehicle driver who pleaded anonymity for fear of victimisation told our reporter that the security officers shot into the air to scare away the protesters.

The source said, in the process, bullets hit one man who died instantly, forcing others to run for safety.

“They were soldiers and police officers. They wanted to disperse those that were protesting but the protesters were adamant, they refused to leave,” he said.

“At a point, we started hearing gunshots, they were shooting into the air, everyone had to scamper for safety. What we later heard after then was that bullets hit one man and he died instantly.”

Adewale Osifeso, the police spokesperson in the state, confirmed the incident.

Mr Osifeso identified the dead person as a vigilante.

He said the body was deposited at a government hospital for post-mortem.

“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,” he said

The police spokesperson said a group of hoodlums attacked the security officers with guns, stones and other dangerous weapons while they were patrolling the area.

“Today Saturday, 04/02/2023 at about 1015 hrs, while embarking series of confidence building patrols around different blackspots 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,” he said.

“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” he added.

“The trained officers, cautious of the level of casualties that might be recorded should they engage at the location, resorted to restraints and professionally took charge at the scene while arresting the situation with reasonable force in line with standard operational procedure.”

Mr Osifeso however said normalcy had been restored to the area.

“Meanwhile normalcy has since returned to the area with heavy deployment of patrol teams and other tactical assets visibly on ground,” he said.