One Shot As Delta Youths Clash With Soldiers

An unidentified youth was allegedly shot by one of the soldiers drafted to nip in the bud a demonstration on Wednesday in Ozoro, Ozoro Local Government Area of Delta State.
Rampaging youths, under the aegis of Isoko Progressive Youth Centre (IPYC), were said to be attempting to hijack some buses belonging to the state transport company, popularly known as Delta City Buses.
A witness told the Nigerian Tribune that trouble started in the town when some youths, numbering over 200, who had just attended a court session in the town, besieged the Delta City Buses park, demanding free buses to convey them back home.
The rampaging youths took over the park, while threatening to make Ozoro Local Government Area and the state ungovernable unless their demands were met.
President of IPYC, Anthony Ogbalor, alias Dracular, who led the protesting youths, was said to have earlier led the group to Isoko South and North local government areas late last year on a protest mission over alleged marginalisation of Isokoland, especially its youths at the levels of the three tiers of government.
While the skirmish lasted, armed soldiers, who were mobilised to checkmate the raging youths at the park, allegedly shot one of the youths who is now receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital in the town.
The youth had earlier threatened to halt oil installations in Isokoland over their grudges.
In a communiqué issued on December 30, 2012, the youth said their actions should be blamed solely on some Isoko personalities in government who were flirting with the outlawed Isoko youth group, christened the “Isoko National Youth Movement.”