Oyo Police Command has refuted the claims that 200 houses and 29 cars were set on fire at Odo-Osun/Ita Baale/Aderogba areas of Ibadan, saying that an incident of such magnitude did not occur, and was a figment of the imagination of such rumour peddlers.
It added that six suspects were arrested and gun recovered in connection with the crisis at Labiran area and its environs on Saturday, January 30, 2021, by police teams deployed to the areas.
Speaking on the issue in a statement, the state police spokesman, CSP Olugbenga Fadeyi said that what happened was that hoodlums from the areas came out in the early hours of January 29, with dangerous weapons, to loot shops and make a bonfire.
Fadeyi disclosed that a house and two shops were looted, culminating in the swift response of police patrol teams to douse tension and dislodge the hoodlums.
He added that while patrols were intensified to forestall further attacks and lootings, the hoodlums came out of Aderogba area at about 8:15p.m., and attempted to vandalize and loot shops at Beyerunka and Ogbori Efon areas.
“Police patrol teams and that of Amotekun were drafted to the area. During a hot chase by the teams, a cut-to-size dane gun was recovered from one of the hoodlums, while the bonfire made by them was put out,” he said.
This, he added, made the hoodlums flee the scene, while the constant patrol was intensified in the areas after normalcy had been restored.
The PPRO stated further that the police were on the trail of the hoodlums, for more arrests and subsequent prosecution in a court of law.
