It was a black Eid-il-Fitri celebration in Iseyin, the headquarter of Iseyin Local Government Area of Oyo State yesterday as operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service allegedly shot dead five persons in the town during a clash with suspected smugglers.
The Customs operatives were said to be pursuing a Sport Utility Vehicle conveying bags of rice when the clash occurred.
According to our local sources, the Customs operatives started shooting and bullets hit some persons, who were out celebrating the Eid-il-Fitri, and five of them died.
The killings cause tension and sparked protest in the town.
Meanwhile, Oba Abdulganiyy Salau, the Aseyin of Iseyin, has condemned the killings.
The king in a statement said Customs personnel should henceforth keep to the 40-kilometre radius to the border, which the law allowed them, in order to stop wasting the lives of his subjects.
Oba Salau said, “We will no longer allow Customs officers and men to continue wasting the lives of our promising young ones, our future and hope, and so drastic steps shall be taken to look into the remote and the immediate causes of the killings.
“The Aseyin-in-Council is going to intervene in this matter and we shall get to the root of it. I enjoined members of the families of the victims to repose confidence in the traditional institution, because prompt actions are being taken to allow peace to reign permanently in the town.”