The recent outbreak of violence on Lagos Island, particularly around the Mandilas axis, has raised deep concerns among prominent voices in Lagos. What first appeared as a clash between two market touts has now been described by stakeholders as a symptom of deeper problems—lawlessness, unregulated trading practices, and unchecked youth groups controlling critical parts of the central business district.
Olanrewaju’s Proposal for Market Closure
Reacting to the development, retired Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju called for bold intervention by the Lagos State Government. In his view, the market should be shut down for a 21-day cooling period to allow proper investigations and to prevent further escalation.
“My take on this Lagos Island implosion is simple: close the entire market for 21 days as a cooling period and allow investigations into the conflict. It might lead to a final closure of that type of trading in the central business district,” Olanrewaju stated.
He also suggested that the closure could pave the way for a total clean-up of traffic bottlenecks around Apongbon and ensure a long-term reorganization of market activities. Beyond this, he proposed registering indigenous area boys and enrolling them in automatic skilled training programmes as a pathway to rehabilitation.
“A letter can be written to the governor to consider and implement,” Olanrewaju added.
Adetayo’s Warning on Deeper Ethnic and Structural Tensions
On his part, social commentator Adedamola Adetayo provided a more detailed analysis, warning that the stabbing incident—which involved an Igbo trader and a Yoruba victim—should not be dismissed as a mere clash between two individuals.
According to Adetayo, the violence reflected wider issues within the Lagos trading environment. He alleged that unregulated middlemen, extortionist practices, and the activities of informal groups had taken root, creating a fragile balance of power that could easily collapse into bloodshed.
Adetayo further claimed that some of these groups had evolved into organized cult-like structures with the capacity to challenge state authority. He warned that unless decisive steps were taken, Lagos markets risked becoming permanent battlegrounds where commerce would be dictated not by enterprise, but by violence and intimidation.
A Call for Firm Governance
Both Olanrewaju and Adetayo, while differing in tone, converged on one point: the Lagos State Government must act decisively. For Olanrewaju, temporary closure, investigation, and youth rehabilitation are the starting points. For Adetayo, stronger regulation, elimination of extortion, and breaking the grip of violent groups are non-negotiable.
What is clear is that Lagos Island is too critical to Nigeria’s economy to be left in the hands of unregulated actors. Restoring order, protecting lives, and ensuring that markets operate transparently under lawful authority are essential for the future stability of the state.
If Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his administration fail to act, the island may continue to descend into cycles of violence, threatening not only commerce but also the social fabric of Lagos itself.
Appendix: Raw Commentary by Adedamola Adetayo (27 August 2025)
⚠️ Disclaimer: The following commentary represents the personal views of Adedamola Adetayo. It is published raw, without edits, and does not reflect the editorial position of this platform.
TROUBLE ON THE LAGOS ISLAND.
- I received news of happenings coming out from the Mandillas area of Lagos Island today.
One chap who happens to be IBO had stabbed to death another chap who happens to be YORUBA.
Ordinarily, when viewed at the surface, it would seem a misunderstanding between two touts who happened to be from different ethnicities but, trust me, it is beyond that.
- The greatest challenge for me, and which is a serious problem in Yoruba land, is that the overwhelming majority of my people are almost totally ignorant of anything happening outside Yoruba land. The overwhelming majority of Yoruba people are almost totally ignorant of the characters of other tribes of Nigeria especially the FULANIS AND IBOS.
My people DON’T KNOW these people and it is because, especially for the Aworis, Egbas and Ijebus, we rarely have had cause to travel outside our homeland and definitely not to Ibo land. Only very few Yoruba people ventured and still venture into Ibo land for any reason.
We know little of these people and that is why we are VERY VULNERABLE in their hands because, on the contrary, they know us much better!!!
I can tell you for example that what happened on Lagos Island today is not a new thing with the Ibo people, it is a part of them.
- In Ibo land where they have made TRADING a culture just like the Fulanis have made a culture of Pastoralist cowherding, it is quite possible for you to get into a market and find men who have NO SHOPS at all fronting and hustling as though they had shops in the market.
They have NO SALES-BOY CONTRACT with any trader but roam about the market hustling for customers of different goods.
All they need to have is a KNOWLEDGE of the qualities, availability, location and prices of various goods which you may want to buy in that market.
These guys will fix themselves in strategic locations of the market and be canvassing customers as if they were legitimate traders.
They become MIDDLE MEN.
For the traders who are sellers it is FREE SERVICE but for the customers who are buyers it is EXTORTION because these hustlers will inflate prices of the goods and the burden is ultimately on the buyers who are mostly Yoruba people anyway. They will normally enter the shops as though it is theirs, do the transaction directly, the seller gets money and they will return to get their share which is more or less from the buyers.
- The IBO TRADERS encourage these arrangements for the simple reason that it advances their ZIONIST agenda on Lagos.
It is a WIN WIN for them.
They own most of the trading shop because they are the ones with the DRUG FUNDS to advance such trading. They will normally give this opportunity only to their Ibo kinsmen wherever they are.
It gives their endless migrants into Lagos something to do, gives them income and at the same time further pushes the Yoruba consumers and competitors into poverty and the youths into agbero sectors.
- But the IBO MAN is a very very aggressive human being who pursues everything he does with violent aggression. He is instinctively violent.
And when it is about Money the Ibo man may just die or kill hunting it.
In contrast, the Yoruba man by nature is easy going and laid-back especially when he has nothing in the game.
He is confined to the role of agbero rent seeker/collector because he WILL OR MAY NEVER be given that opportunity of middle man to an Ibo trader’s store. They WON’T teach him the things he needs to know to function in that capacity. They won’t even allow him near.
So he has to rely on extortion directly from sellers, buyers and middle men.
So, when the IBO middle men, say Chinedu, gets his money from his Ibo kinsmen, Bashiru, the Yoruba chap will corner him for his own Agbero share.
And that is where the problem lies.
- I hear the Ibo chaps, the hustlers have been able to group themselves into a cult formation called “OZUAIYA”.
In the usual style of Ndigbo they will wrap their Igwebuike philosophy around their “business” plan. It is their way of survival.
And there are many of them.
The IPOB would have infiltrated their midst to give them strength.
Soon, the OZUAIYA boys are able to move their frontiers from beyond the Ibo traders to even the Yoruba traders and they are in control of the entire market.
And between them and their “Importer” kinsmen they have enormous money to intimidate the Yoruba agberos by corrupting their leadership.
The OZUAIYA boys are mostly Lagos born anyway and they can effortlessly penetrate the leadership of Lagos who are themselves very uselessly corrupt and ready to throw one another under the bus for MONEY.
- It must have been cooking for a long time, those guys powers must have been rising until today.
The result is what we see now.
In broad daylight an Ibo man had stabbed a Yoruba man to death right in Yoruba land and it is in pursuance of business territorial powers in Yoruba land.
The courage and confidence to do that.
If it was in Kano I can imagine that NO ONE SHOP of Ibo man will remain standing by now but it can happen anywhere in Yoruba land.
And this is Lagos Island.
Can you imagine what they can do in OJO where they are able to easily overwhelm the Yoruba population?
The other day in 2001/2002 at Alaba International Market those guys almost lynched to death Chief Moses Adebayo in broad daylight. That man was a major, infact sole distributor for NigerChin cables in that market. They were going to murder him for that.
In that same Alaba in 2023/2024, those guys marched out carrying GUNS to fight the Aworis of Ojo.
By now I know that the Five Governors of South-East are already on phone with Governor Sanwoolu telling him their people have been victimized in Lagos and he has to do something. By now that idiot called Gbadebo is mobilizing the Obingos to cry Ibo hate.
By tomorrow, Ohaneze will go to Oba Akiolu to go and apologize for the death of Yoruba man.
And the matter will rest.
By Friday the OZUAIYA boys will continue their business and they will do another one, and the cycle will be repeated again.
Until they have gathered enough population and weapons then my people will understand what IBO means.
These things are getting out of hand!!!
#igbimoomoyoruba
#ThinkYorubaFirst©️ Adedamola Adetayo
