Nigeria: Two Houses Set Ablaze As NURTW Factions Clash in Modakeke

By Gbenga Olarinoye, 20 May 2003

Osogbo — TWO houses were, yesterday, set ablaze in Modakeke, Osun State in a renewed hostility between two factions of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).

The two factions of the union in the town have been at daggers drawn for the past two weeks over the leadership of the NURTW. Our correspondent who visited the town, yesterday, saw bonfire made at strategic positions while militant members of the union were sighted in the town waiting for opportunity to strike.

The whole community was engulfed with thick smoke from the bonfire for greater part of yesterday while drivers who were plying Ondo road were forced to divert their journey because of the crisis. Similarly, both commercial and social activities were paralysed in the town as inhabitants were scampering for safety. The palace of the traditional ruler of the town, Ogunsua of Modakeke, Francis Adedoyin, which was torched, last week, by the protesters remained closed while the whereabout of the Ogunsua who fled the palace last week still remained unknown.

It was gathered that some prominent indigenes of the town who have been slated for elimination have fled to neighbouring towns. The state Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Shehu Bayero, confirmed the burning of the two houses and the recovery of three sophisticated guns.

Alhaji Bayero also told journalists in Osogbo, yesterday, that 12 people have been arrested in connection with the crisis and are now helping the police in their investigation.

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