Two killed as NURTW, PMS officials clash in Oyo

There was pandemonium in the Ali Iwo area of Ibadan, Oyo State, on Tuesday, following the alleged killing of two persons by hoodlums suspected to be members of the Park Management System and National Union of Road Transport Workers.

The two sides were said to have engaged in a bloody clash which caused confusion in the community.

PUNCH Metro gathered that some PMS boys, who were returning from the inauguration of a bus terminal built by the Oyo State Government, were passing through Bere-Oje to the Gate area when violence erupted.

A source said, “The problem is that the PMS people have become untouchable and that is why they have continued to harass and kill at will.

“Nothing has happened to the one who was fingered in the killing of a young man at Iwo Road in 2021. There are other cases like that and that is why they have continued to violate the law.”

But the Public Relations Officer of the PMS, Alhaji Emiola Jelili, blamed the NURTW for the violence.

He said, “We passed through Bere-Oje to Gate when we were returning from the commissioning of the bus terminal at Challenge by Mr Governor (Seyi Makinde). One of the leaders of the NURTW and his boys have a place where they usually sit, but we did not meet them when we passed.

“We were already at home when we were told on the phone that the NURTW leader and his boys attacked our men.

“A Toyota Camry driver was coming from Lagos and when he got to the area where the NURTW members were on the same route, they ambushed him because he wore our vest; they dragged the driver out and attacked him with a cutlass. They killed one of the passengers in the car.

“They carried out the attack to outshine the inauguration of the bus terminals; it is all about politics.”

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso, said the police had begun investigation into the incident.