Commercial activities have gradually commenced at FESTAC Town, Lagos on Tuesday after an early morning sporadic shootings by suspected oil thieves that were escaping from security personnel.

A resident of the area, who gave his name as Mr Ayodele George, said the bunkers had besieged the area at about 6 a.m., shooting sporadically into the air for over an hour.

“At first we thought they were armed robbers as they were shooting sporadically into the air but later we discovered they were a group of oil bunkers who came heavily armed.”

He added that the police and soldiers promptly responded to the distress calls by residents.

Another witness who gave his name as Emeka said that the armed men were a group of thieves heading to a creek in FESTAC Town but were being chased by the police.

The News Agency of Nigeria observed that soldiers had blocked roads leading to 4th Avenue junction and the police were said to be chasing the thieves.

Some police patrol vehicles were still parked at strategic places in the neighbourhood as commercial activities gradually returned to the town.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Joseph Offor, when contacted told NAN that the incident was not robbery as reported earlier.

“There was no robbery in FESTAC Town this morning, what happened in the community was sporadic shooting by some hoodlums in the creek but the place is calm now.

“We arrested and paraded some of them last week and impounded a tanker with about 7,500 litres of petroleum products with a hose and pumping machine.

“They are not happy, and I guess that is the reason for them to wake up this morning to disturb the neighbourhood.

“In swift reaction, the soldiers and the police were immediately deployed to the scene but there are no arrest so far.” (NAN)