Tension in Lagos as riot breaks over naira scarcity

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By Ismail Auwal

A riot has reportedly broke out in Mile 12, a popular international foodstuff market along Ikorodu Road on Friday morning allegedly over scarcity of naira.

Eyewitness account said there was shooting as many civil servants and those going outside Ikorodu had to make a U-turn for fear of being hit.

“Government buses conveying civil servants all turned and returned to Ikorodu? Itowolo is also not safe. Agric, Ikorodu was (sic) unrest a couple of minutes ago. But it looks calm now from where I stand,” said an eyewitness who wrote on twitter via the LagosTrafficReports.

The riot has spread to Ketu and Ojota, also along the Ikorodu Road, but soldiers were said to have been mobilised to quell the unrest.

“There are soldiers everywhere at Ojota. People are just running and we don’t know what is happening,” another source said.

Sources said the riot was in connection with the lingering naira scarcity which had affected businesses and crippled many Nigerians.

“There has been a report of sporadic shooting in Mile 12, with hoodlums setting bonfire on the major road due to naira scarcity.”

However at the time of writing this report, the police spokesperson in Lagos, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said free movement of vehicles and people had been fully restored.

“Our officers and men are still on ground to prevent any breakdown of law and order,” he added.

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