3 killed as drivers clash in Ogun

Olayinka Olukoya, Abeokuta - 25.04.2008

AT least three people were feared dead on Thursday in Abeokuta, Ogun State, when rival groups of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) engaged one another in a bloody clash.

About 10 vehicles were damaged. Nigerian Tribune gathered the clash started in the early hours of the day when some members of the union were said to have invaded the popular Kuto park over who controls the park and it later spread to the Ita-Oshin park.

At 7.30 a.m. when the Nigerian Tribune visited the scene, policemen were positioned at the park to maintain law and order. Shop owners and travellers alike were seen in groups discussing the development which affected commercial activities in the both areas.All shops in the area were shut while travellers were stranded.

Some travelers who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune expressed their displeasure over the matter, calling on the state government to find a lasting solution to the problem.

Armed policemen had since taken over the parks in order to forestall further breakdown of law and order and normalcy has since returned to the areas.

The chairman of a union in the state, Mr. Tajudeen Baruwa, while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, said he was not a party to the problem as being insinuated in some quarters.