The Osun Police Command said that it arrested five people suspected to be involved in Saturday’s communal clash between Ede and Ido-Osun communities in the state.
The state Commissioner of Police, Dorothy Gimba, who spoke with journalists in Osogbo, described the incident was “an unfortunate clash” and said that four policemen suffered severe machete cuts while “a handful” of the law enforcement officers sustained other injuries while trying to restore order.
Gimba confirmed, however, that nobody died from the violence. “But the command has drafted a police contingent, including a patrol team, to the area to stop the fight and restore peace,” she said.
The violence followed a clash between youth groups over the renaming of an airport on May 3 after the late MKO Abiola, in Ido-Osun, Ede North/Egbedore local government areas.
According to the commissioner, “violence erupted when some disgruntled youths removed the signpost bearing `Proposed MKO Abiola International Airport and re-wrote it as Ido-Osun/Ede MKO Abiola International Airport’.”
Gimba said that the irate youths, who were armed with dangerous weapons such as guns, cutlasses, axes and cudgels, had earlier kidnapped the traditional ruler of Ido-Osun.
The commissioner said that the traditional ruler was held hostage in Ede, but that the police swiftly moved to the place where they rescued him.
She, however, expressed regrets that some hoodlums descended on the police and injured some of them when the law enforcement agents intervened to restore peace.
Gimba said that the command was already investigating the circumstances surrounding the clash, to bring those involved to book.