Pandemonium as task force, transport workers clash in Lagos

 Pandemonium broke out on Wednesday during a clash between officials of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Enforcement Agency and transport workers in the Abule-Egba and Agege areas of the state.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the transport workers were protesting the rumoured death of a yet-to-be-identified motor boy, who reportedly fell to the ground while the task force personnel were chasing after the driver of a commercial bus for allegedly violating the traffic rule.

It was learnt that the driver, while conveying passengers to a destination in the state, allegedly drove against the traffic and upon sighting the task force personnel, made a U-turn and zoomed off to evade arrest.

The motor boy, who fell to the ground, was said to have sustained severe injuries and reportedly became unconscious in the process.

The driver, it was learnt, bolted as the task force officials took the injured motor boy into custody.

An eyewitness, who identified himself simply as Kola, said the motor boy died, adding that the driver, who was angered by the development, mobilised some transport workers to protest the incident.

He said, “Someone was killed in the Agege area. What we gathered was that officials of the task force were chasing a commercial vehicle and in a bid to intercept the driver, the officials used their vehicle to hit the bus and the motor boy fell to the ground and died.

“They took his corpse away in a Black Maria and it was the driver, who went to organise others to protest his death and they clashed with the task force officials at Abule-Egba.”

During the clash, a transport worker, identified simply as Gboye, alleged that the task force also brutalised two of his colleagues and beat a motor boy to a pulp.

He stated, “We were outside this morning when we suddenly saw officials of the task force chasing an LT bus and when they intercepted it, they dragged the driver down and beat him mercilessly. While beating the driver, the motor boy was also brutally assaulted and he collapsed on the road. The passengers had to run away as the officials impounded the vehicle, but some courageous people carried the motor boy off the road.

“It was during this incident that the protesting transport workers from Agege got to the Abule-Egba area and the clash happened between them and the task force officials. But the officials were able to pin one of the transport workers down and started dealing machete blows on him. He was also taken away in a Black Maria.”

Hundreds of commuters were stranded on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway as commercial bus drivers stopped operations during the protest.

The clash, which had a ripple effect on commercial motorists in the area, made commuters to resort to trekking to their various destinations.