Mile 12 clash:4 more killed, 141 arrested as violence continues ….. New Telegraph

• Teacher beheads proprietor’s granddaughter

• ‘Dead woman’ alive, hospitalised
•  Police: No fresh killings, arrest now 141

The communal clash rocking the Mile 12 Market in Ketu area of Lagos, yesterday took a new dimension, with some Hausa traders regrouping for a reprisal that left four people dead, even as the police denied the news of fresh killings.

The renewed hostilities began in the early hours of yesterday at about 4.am, when some aggrieved traders of northern extraction mobilised themselves and unleashed terror on some residents of the area as well as their Yoruba counterparts, who were still doing light business in the area, despite the closure of the market by the state government.

This is even as Saturday Telegraph investigations revealed that the alleged cause of the crisis, a woman, who was said to have been killed by a hit and run motorcyclist, is not dead after all. Though the female trader is said to be lying critically in a hospital in the Mainland area of Lagos, police sources said she is not dead, as people were made to belief.

Saturday Telegraph investigations revealed that the Hausa traders were annoyed that those arrested by the police were mainly Northerners and that no trader of Yoruba origin has been arrested so far. As at press time, 54 people have been arrested in the aftermath of yesterday’s fresh crisis, according to police sources.

“The Hausa people were coming in but there is no place to put their wares, due to the closure of the market, so they were asked to stay and pack their goods on the bridge. “They were plenty, they slept on the road, some of them were bringing tomatoes, some yams, and all kinds of foodstuff, but that had no place to take their goods to.

So, their people met them and told them all sorts of things. They were fed with all sorts of lies. “It was that thing that led to what happened early this morning (yesterday), they regrouped and started attacking people. About four people were killed in the early morning attack.

“Don’t believe what our people are saying, that nobody died, it is not true, four people died in the crisis. That was apart from those that were reported dead before. “They were annoyed that it was only Hausas that were arrested, and that Yorubas are not picked up for interrogation, but we have arrested another 54 people today.

“Today, four people died and many were injured. It happened very early morning. Even on Thursday, somebody was killed in the presence of the Commissioner of Police (CP). The man was macheted and they had to rush the CP to safety”, the source said.

On the cause of the crisis, he added that, “the woman is not dead. She is alive, but in critical condition. The fight started because of the woman, but she is still in the hospital.” However, the Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Police Command, Mrs Dolapo Badmus denied knowledge of the lat-est killings, while confirming that there were arrests early yesterday.

In a telephone conversation with the Saturday Telegraph, Badmus explained that police had beefed up security in the area, and that there were no way hoodlums could have carried out such a dastardly act. “It is a lie, the police has dominated the place since yesterday and we are also assisted by the Nigerian Army.

I don’t know how the killings can continue when police has nominated the area. “We also have about 141 people arrested in connection with the crisis. We will soon charge them to court appropriately, there is no cause for alarm, investigations are ongoing”, she said.