Inter-Schools’ Competition Turns Violent As Two Secondary School Pupils Clash, Shoot Guns During Riot

Pandemonium broke out in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital on Monday, when pupils of two public secondary schools clashed.

It was gathered that the riot was as a result of the death of two of their colleagues during an unauthorised inter-schools’ gambling competition.

The incident involved senior school students of the Baptist Boys High School (BBHS), Saje and students of Ilugun High School, all located within the Federal Housing Estate (FHE), in Elega, Abeokuta.

It was gathered that the students of BBHS had invaded the Ilugun High School with various dangerous weapons, including guns, cutlasses, broken bottles and assorted charms to avenge the deaths of their colleagues, allegedly stabbed to death in the previous week.

The incidents paralysed commercial activities and vehicular movements in some parts of the state capital.

It was reported that it took the intervention of the police to restore normalcy to the affected areas.

Shop owners, who had earlier opened for businesses were said to have hurriedly closed down and scampered for safety, while vehicles and commuters also deserted the area for fear hours.

Our correspondent learnt that the students shot sporadically in different directions and chanted anti-management songs to warn the principals and teachers of the schools to steer clear.

One of the shop owners in the area, who managed to return after security operatives had taken over, explained that the students of the two schools were last week, involved in gambling, in which those of the BBHS won massively at the expense of their colleagues in Ilugun.

“The gambling, however, degenerated into a conflict, wherein two BBHS students were stabbed with broken bottles.

“One of the BBHS students stabbed, died last Friday, while the second one died yesterday (Sunday). But the students of BBHS were not happy about the incident and that was why they came out in violent protest against students of Ilugun High School today”.

Contacted, the state’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Abimbola Oyeyemi confirmed the incident, adding that the command had deployed security operatives to the area to restore sanity.