By Moses Okorie
365Daily – Eid-el-Fitr celebration on Thursday turned sore at Iseyin in Oyo State as residents scampered for safety following heavy gun battle between operatives of Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and some suspected smugglers.
Four lives were lost and properties destroyed in the clash.
According to agency report, the exchange of gun shots by the customs officials and suspected smugglers threw the rustic town of Iseyin into panic.
The report further said that Mr Muftau Abilawon, the former Caretaker Chairman of Iseyin Local Government Council, confirmed the bloody incident in a telephone interview on Thursday night.
“I have been duly informed by a traditional Chief, the Ikolaba of Iseyin, Chief Ismail Tikalosoro, who called me and narrated the incident to me on phone.
“He advised that I brief the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security about the matter, which I did immediately and he has promised to intervene.
“ I understand that the four corpses were taken to the palace of the Aseyin of Iseyin, where the chiefs appealed for calm and asked the aggrieved residents to deposit the corpses at Fadoks hospital.
“The chiefs also begged them not to set the Customs base in Iseyin ablaze, which they yielded to but it was too late for the Toyota Hilux van as it was on fire already before the appeal,’’ he said.
Abilawon, who had resigned from office to participate in forthcoming council elections, appealed for calm and order in the ancient town.
Efforts to get the Police Command’s spokesman in Oyo State and the NCS spokesman in the state proved futile as calls and messages put to their phones were not picked not replied.