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Yoruba Nation Rally: One Dies, Dozens Injured
At least one person has died and no fewer than four of the Yoruba Nation agitators have been arrested by Nigerian Police after dispersing dozens of the demonstrators less than 10 minutes after they took over Gani Fawehinmi Park in Ojota axis of Lagos State, demanding secession of Southwest region from the country.
It was learnt that the deceased was standing at the entrance of her shop when she was hit by a stray bullet allegedly shot by a law enforcement officer while dispersing the protesters.
The Guild gathered that the protesters ran towards where she standing and that the officers shot at them, but rather than the bullet hitting a protester, it hit and killed the lady.
Aside from the deceased lady, dozens of traders and protesters sustained varying degrees of injuries while trying from been hit by bullets shot by security officers deployed to maintain law and order at the rally ground.
Earlier, four protesters were picked by the law enforcement agencies and kept in a waiting truck, blackmaria, after they shot tear gas canisters and blank bullets at the demonstrators to scare them off the premises.
It was learnt that the attack on the demonstrators started on Saturday when the agitators took advantage of the interview been conducted for Commissioner of Police, Lagos Command, Hakeem Odumosu, by pressmen to storm the park and brought out their flags, chanting and reciting the recently composed Yoruba nation anthem.
The protesters, who were armed with different banners designed with pictures of Yoruba activist, Sunday Adeyemo popularly called Sunday Igboho, and other inscriptions to express their displeasure over alleged attack on their relatives across the six southwest states.
Aside that they also demanded for secession, the protesters took over a large portion of the Ikorodu, distributing handbills and fliers to sensitize Lagosians and garner more supports for the demonstration across the state.
Realizing that the number of protesters had started increasing, the law enforcement officers attacked them with water cannon and teargas cannisters to prove their earlier threat that no protests would be allowed across the state.
