Gunmen suspected to be members of a group calling itself O’odua Nation agitators early Saturday in Ibadan invaded the Oyo State Secretariat at Agodi.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the invasion was however repelled by state security officials.
A security man at one of the commercial banks around the secretariat main gate said that gunmen numbering more than 10 blocked the Secretariat-Total Garden Road to enable the invaders gain access to the secretariat complex.
Gun shots rang sporadically as some members of the Amotekun Corps, stationed nearby as part of regular security measures by government, confronted the gunmen.
The gunmen who dressed in military camouflage were however subdued by a combined team of policemen, soldiers and operatives of the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. A few of the miscreant were arrested while others took to their heels and were pursued into the nearby bushes and forest.
Eyewitness accounts said the gunmen had headed straight to the State House of Assembly premises located within the secretariat, removed the Nigerian national flag and replaced it with their O’odua Nation flag, before the intervention of the Amotekun Corps.
Credible News reports that the building, within the Oyo State Secretariat complex, served as the abode of the defunct Western Nigeria Parliament that housed the Western Region House of Assembly and the House of Chiefs in the First Republic.
The arrival of more security men as back-up saved the situation, thereby helping to overwhelm the gunmen.
“It was in the process of their leaving the Assembly complex that we started hearing gun shots and everyone began running for safety,” an eyewitness said.
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NAN reports that the gunmen had arrived in an ash-colour Hiace bus and two motorcycles, which have now been seized and taken to the State Police Headquarters.
The Special Adviser to Gov. Seyi Makinde on Security, Fatai Owoseni said the situation has been put under control but described the gunmen as miscreants.
“There is no need to panic. Everything is under control,” he said.
Adewale Osifeso, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, confirmed the incident but could not give further details.
Reports hinted that 16 suspects were arrested over the incident, while two of them sustained bullet wounds and some others escaped with gunshots. Those arrested are detained at the State Police Headquarters at Eleiyele, while security personnel have been stationed at the secretariat gate.
