Sola Adeyemo 
•I had no hand in the crisis, insists Auxiliary
Hell was let loose last week Wednesday afternoon when some men of the road transport union, (now otherwise called Park Managers) had a brush with phone sellers at Iwo Road, Ibadan, Oyo State capital over parking arrangement of vehicles which led to killing of the son of the owner of the Complex, Abdul Rahman, and allegedly, another person.
The crisis which shook the popular Iwo Road area for some hours left many innocent persons wounded as everybody was running helter skelter for their dear lives, lest they be caught in the shooting and maiming melee. Several property were lost as the phone sellers said that millions of naira worth of phones were stolen by the hoodlums when they were being attacked and the show glasses in which their wares were displayed were shattered. As gunshots continued to rent the air, many innocent traders and passersby were inflicted with machete cuts and vehicles destroyed. According to the chairman of the phone sellers at the Iwo Road Shopping Complex, who refused to disclose his name “the problem started when Abdulrahman, son of the owner of the complex, wanted to drive in and park his car.
There was no way for him to drive in because commercial vehicles had been parked, blocking the whole frontage of the complex. Other sellers intervened but in the process, the Park Manager operators started flogging them with pankere. Security men including the Operation Burst, Amotekun, police were called in and the crisis was eventually quelled. Much later, the PMS Manager Alhaji Mukaila Lamidi (a.k.a. Auxiliary) came with some of his men and said our people should be dealt with. They started beating the traders,breaking the show glasses and stealing phones on display.
“Everything was happening in the presence of security personnel on ground and they could not do anything. In the process, people were being chased into their shops and subsequently Abdulrahman was attacked in the shop and killed by Auxiliary’s men. It was not only the complex owner’s son that died, some others also died and those injured are in hospitals. Their allegation was that we did not allow their men to freely park and operate in front of the complex. “The incident was an attack and not a clash. Those selling phones have no guns, and no cutlasses. Many of us are just trying to eke out living since we cannot steal. Some of us are graduates.
The man killed is a Master’s degree holder from a UK University. He was so quiet and gentle that he could not have attacked anyone,” he said. The Traders’ Chairman said that millions of naira worth of goods were stolen by the attackers. We had to convey the body of the slain member to the Government Secretariat. Operation Burst security did nothing to rescue us.
They saw Auxiliary and his men violently attacking us, yet they did not intervene.” The PMS Manager, Auxiliary, has however denied his involvement in the attack, alleging that some cultists (Aye Boys) were the ones who attacked the phone sellers. According to him, “It is true I went to the complex but can somebody that is eating be fighting again? When I got there, the crisis had been settled. What I was told by my men was that the phone sellers did not allow them to park and pick passengers. And that the man parked on the road and was causing hold up and they told him to leave but he refused.
It was then the other sellers came out to engage my men. “I saw men of the Operation Burst, the police and even Amotekun already on ground. Since I saw they were keeping the peace there, I just left. Meanwhile, there are some boys (the Aye cult Boys) who were grouped behind the complex. They were the ones that caused the #EndSARS crisis then. They were the ones that came out and attacked the phone sellers. They even fomented trouble there yesterday evening. We had told the government to drive them away from that place. It was not my members that caused the attack.
It was the Eye Boys that fought with the phone sellers. I was not even there when they fought. They had fought and finished before I got there”, Auxiliary said Meanwhile, Governor Seyi Makinde had visited the scene of crisis where he promised to review the Park Management System to forestall a recurrence of such ugly trend. He equally promised to fish out those responsible for the killing of Abdul Rahman who until his untimely death was looking forward to travelling to the United States of America to see his twin daughters. He was said to have secured a visa after a series of attempts over eight years.
Makinde said: “I visited the scene of the Iwo Road incident this morning. The loss of lives during the mayhem that occurred is unfortunate and should never have happened. I give you my word that we will ensure that everyone involved in the dastardly act is brought to book. “I have ordered investigations. In the meantime, we will sanitise the area behind Iwo Road where cultists congregate and review the Park Management System. We have also informed the phone sellers to choose representatives who will discuss how we can assist them.”
