Suspected hoodlums have laid siege to Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, wreaking havoc and causing panic in some parts of the ancient city.
Residents now live in fear as hoodlums openly carry out their operations without fear of the authorities.
On Sunday, hoodlums unleashed terror on the residents of Onideore, Ogundipe street and Oranyan in Ibadan South East Local Government Area of the state.
During the mayhem, three persons were reportedly shot while valuables worth millions of naira were looted by suspected vandals.
FirstNews Online gathered that hoodlums numbering over 100 stormed the areas in the wee hours of the day, brandishing dangerous weapons.
Consequently, night trading suffered a serious setback as traders and passers-by scampered to safety.
One of the victims, Badmus Yusuf, in an interview with FirstNews, alleged that he lost the sum of N800,000 in his shop during the incident.
According to him, “As a result of the chaos, some residents of the area were forced to vacate their homes for fear of being attacked.
“Of the four people that sustained gunshot injuries, only one young man had a life threatening case. He had been rushed to the University College Hospital, Ibadan.”
National President of Soludero Hunters Association, Oba Wahab Nureni AjijolaAnabi, while confirming the attack, said it took the combined efforts of hunters and the Amotekun operatives to quell the violence.
Ajijola Anabi said, “We reported the incident at Idi Aro Police Station. I saw some of the boys. The young boys carried two guns. They intended to shoot one person but the bullets hit three other people. We hunters drove them away. I thought they had gone only for them to regroup.
“They regrouped around 12midnight. We were helpless because they ran into densely populated areas to evade arrest. We, observed that they are young boys. We only shot into the air to scare them. The Amotekun operatives later joined us to drive them away. They vandalised vehicles and looted shops.”
The police, however, denied the claim that the matter was reported at the station.
Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Command, Olugbenga Fadeyi, said, “The Divisional Police Officer said it is a blatant lie, that there was no such report at the station. Notwithstanding, efforts have been intensified to know if anything of such happened or not.”