TheCable

There was a confusion in a community in Ojo LGA of Lagos state, during a voter registration exercise attended by traders from the Alaba marker.

Earlier on Thursday, there were comments on social media claiming that thugs had attacked the traders during the voter registration exercise.

Some Twitter users had alsl shared videos, alleging that hoodlums invited the registration venue and disrupted the exercise.

Addressing the claims, Benjamin Hundeyin, Lagos police spokesperson, in a tweet on his official handle, said the situation had nothing to do with ethnicity.

“First, this wasn’t about Igbos. These are the true facts behind the trending videos. The entire Alaba International Market decided to close the market today to enable the traders to register for their PVCs. A phased closure would have been better,” Hundeyin said.

“Consequently, the Ojo Local Government venue of the registration was besieged by a mammoth crowd. The situation was made worse by the fact that only one registration terminal was working.

“One of the people who came for registration made trouble and was challenged by those around. Going by simple probability, the attacker or the attacked is very likely to be Igbo.

“They were simply large in number. However, giving this incident ethnic colouration would not help matters. The entire episode lasted a few minutes. Sadly, recordings from those few minutes are still travelling far and wide.

“Normalcy has since returned, and the Divisional Police Officer there is fully in charge of the security situation.”