(GIST): Youth clash: 6 die during football match in Lekki

Ilaje after one of the clashes (Photo: Punch)

A violent youth clash during a football match at the Ajah area of the Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos State has left six people dead, reports say.

Many others were also injured when an argument started out as the youths gathered to play football during the compulsory monthly sanitation exercise.

Police reports claim that the fight was between three groups, the Olumegbon boys, Ajah boys and Ilaje boys who were arguing over control in the area.

According to reports, an eyewitness said the destruction had already occurred before the police reached the scene. The witness said Ilaje boys were not playing football but got involved in the clash when Ajah boys attempted to escape through their own territory.

“Ajah youths were playing football. Later Olumegbon boys arrived the place and soon an argument ensued which led to the clash. As the fighting continued, some of the Ajah boys tried to escape through Ilaje Community so the youths attempted to push them back so that they would not be embroiled in the fight.

“The Ajah youths in the process, killed two of our youths and of course a fight ensued,” he said.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, had confirmed that six youths, two from each group were killed during the fight.

“Six youths were killed in the clash which started during a football match. Two youths from Ilaje, two from Ajah and two from Olumegbon were killed. Their fight  is always because of supremacy claims,” she said.

The Punch reports:

It was learnt that before the police could respond, the wounded had been rushed to the hospital, while the dead had been taken away by their respective factions.

The Olumegbon boys were said to have carried the corpses of their dead colleagues to the palace of the Olumegbon.

It was learnt that the incident was also part of a supremacy battle for the control of motor parks in the area.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the factions were formed after some landowners started having disagreement over parcels of land in the area. The issue soon metamorphosed into divisions as each faction started having its area of  control, including motor parks.

It was learnt that some elders and security agents had made various proposals for peace to reign in the area.

Some of the proposals were that no member of a faction should trespass on another faction’s territories.

A faction going into another faction’s motor park to collect toll, and dispute over land, had often been the causes of most of their clashes.

PUNCH Metro had reported in December 2012 that over seven people were killed during a similar clash between Ajah and Ilaje youths which left over 50 houses burnt.