Fresh evidence exonerates Owode Onirin traders from alleged deaths linked to market fires

Fresh evidence has shown that no lives were lost during the reported clash at Owode Onirin, Lagos, on August 27, 2025, contrary to earlier claims that several people were killed in the incident.

Findings revealed that there is no pictorial or verifiable evidence to support reports that anyone died at the Owode Onirin market during the disturbance.

However, a separate incident that occurred in Ikorodu has been linked to the false reports.

A young man who escaped death recounted how he and five others were taken to a beach in Ikorodu by unidentified gunmen.

According to his account, the six men — said to be internet fraudsters — were forced to transfer ₦2 million each to their captors before being taken out of a patrol vehicle one after another and shot dead.

The survivor said he managed to escape into a nearby church, where he met a pastor who sheltered him.

A resident who saw him speaking with the pastor quickly alerted the local security head in Oreta, who informed the community vigilante group.

The group later handed the man over to the police at Igbogbo Police Station. Reports soon followed that the corpses of the five victims had been taken to a mortuary in Ikorodu.

Attempts to confirm the matter at the Igbogbo Police Station were unsuccessful, as the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) reportedly denied that anyone was brought to the station.

Sources, however, confirmed that detectives from the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti, later visited the scene.

It was further gathered that the case was initially transferred to Zone 2 Police Command before the Commissioner of Police directed that it be moved to the Lagos State Police Command.

A few days later, reports emerged linking the five bodies recovered from the Ikorodu mortuary to the Owode Onirin clash — a claim now disproved by new evidence.

Community leaders and eyewitnesses have called on the Inspector-General of Police, Lagos State Governor and Lagos State House of Assembly to ensure a thorough probe into the killings and bring those responsible to justice.

They also urged the authorities to release the identities of the victims, noting that the lone survivor remains the key witness who can help identify the deceased and clarify the true events behind the Ikorodu killings.