Posted by By FEMI BABAFEMI, VICTOR OGBONNAYA, GABRIEL DIKE, IME OLA, CHRISTOPHER OJI, OLUWATOYOSI OGUNSEYE and MARTINS NWANNE on
Parts of Lagos were Monday thrown into confusion as commercial drivers clashed with street urchins popularly called ‘agberos', with two feared killed and several others wounded.
Parts of Lagos were Monday thrown into confusion as commercial drivers clashed with street urchins popularly called ‘agberos', with two feared killed and several others wounded.
At least 20 persons were arrested at the end of a joint effort by both the police and the military who moved to stop the bloody clash from spreading.
Tension has been building up between the drivers and touts in the last four days following the return of the agberos who were chased away from the roads by soldiers in an operation that lasted over a week.
Eyewitness told Daily Sun that trouble started at the popular Mile 2 bus stop at about 8a.m when the touts demanded money from bus conductors, who refused.
Their refusal soon sparked off a clash at the end of which several people were left injured while over 20 others were arrested. As a result, commercial buses were withdrawn from major roads leaving hundreds of commuters stranded.
The state police commissioner, Mr Ade Ajakaiye who confirmed the face-off disclosed that those arrested were being detained at the Area E command. He could, however, not confirm the number of death and arrest but unconfirmed sources said a conductor was killed at Niger bus-stop, Apapa, while a driver was killed at Ijesha area.
In the same vein, the state commissioner for transportation, Mr Muiz Banire told Daily Sun on phone that the decision of commercial drivers to liberate themselves from the touts was a good development.
"We are in support of the drivers, anybody collecting money on the road is a criminal, so any action taken by the unions to remove the agberos from the roads is justified," Banire stated.
After the early morning clash the drivers abandoned their vehicles and took to the roads o protest the return of touts.
At Oshodi Oke bus-stop, commuters from Agege, Iyana Ipaja, Sango, Yaba, Obalende, Mushin, Ikeja and other parts of Lagos were stranded because of the withdrawal of vehicles by the protesting drivers.
Many commuters had to resort to trekking to get to their various destinations.
Some commercial buses that dared to pick passengers from Oshodi had to drop them at Ilasamaja bus-stop for fear of being attacked by the agberos who were breaking windscreen and attacking passengers with bottles and knives.
One of the injured, Akeem Olubi, 24, was on his way to Mile 2 when their bus was suddenly attacked by the agberos.
According to him, one of agberos threw a bottle into the bus which the landed on his head, giving him a deep cut. He was rushed to a nearby hospital by sympathisers.
Many commuters who could not make the journey on foot turned back home.
At Isolo, Ilasa, Cele and Coker, the touts took over the Expressway and attempted to burn tyres on the road while others carried stones and big planks to attack motorists.
The situation got out of hand at Cele and Coker when some of the drivers and their conductors smashed the windscreen of some commercial and private vehicles.
The action forced other commercial and private vehicles to make U-turn on the expressway thus causing confusion while the police were not around to check the situation.
With the protest and commercial vehicles off of the roads, several passengers who were caught unaware were stranded at the bus stops even as many trekked to their destination.
Commercial motorcyclists also known as Okada riders took advantage of the protest to charge desperate passengers between N400 and N500 from Oshodi to Mile 2, while they charged between N250 and N300 from Oshodi to Cele bus stop.
At Cele and Coker, the commercial drivers were chanting war songs as they asked the Lagos State Government to take immediate action against the area boys.
Private vehicle owners were forced to place green leaves on their cars while some commercial drivers were seen in groups protesting in their vehicles.
A spokeman for the protesting drivers and conductors, Mr Darlington Nwosu who led a team of protesters to the corporate headquarters of The Sun Publishing Limited, Kirikiri Apapa said the protest followed the cold blooded killing of one of their colleagues, a bus conductor at Niger-bus-stop, Apapa, threatening that the action was a continuing one.
According to him, "we don't want agbero on Lagos roads and we know that the only solution is for the Federal and State governments to immediately clear the roads of these miscreants. They injure and even kill drivers and conductors without any provocation except for failure to pay them the embarrassing high levies".
He pointed out that they have resolved to pull their vehicles off Lagos roads as from Tuesday when they claimed the action would be total.
"We sent a delegation to Alausa to alert the Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu of our decision to go off the roads. You can imagine a situation whereby virtually every kobo you make on each trip is taken off you and you still will make returns to the owners of the vehicles. Enough is enough".