Two commercial motorists on Wednesday, were murdered by officials of the Lagos State Taskforce at Emmanuel Bus Stop, Abule- Egba following a disagreement over traffic offense.
According to reports gathered by LagosspyNG, the victims, a commercial bus driver and his conductor, were allegedly shot by the officials for yet to be ascertained reasons.
An eyewitness account stated that the Taskforce officials crushed the driver with their patrol vehicle, which subsequently provoked the members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the axis for a reprisal attacks and vandalism.
The crisis and rampage escalated to Alakuko area with sporadic gunshots heard and bottles flung across the road.
Vehicular movement was restricted during the chaos while there are reports that some road users were hit by stray bullets and multiple accidents were recorded as people struggled to leave the scene of violence.
It was gathered that commuters lamented as they were forced to walk long distance due to the absence of commercial bus drivers operators while the crisis was on going.
One Faidah Isola, who said she trekked from Abule Egba to Kola Bus Stop as a result of the fight between drivers and Taskforce, described Lagos as a terrible place.
Narrating his experience, a Twitter user said he saw how vehicles were reversing and making U-turn on the road.
“I was just hearing crashes. Some Policemen in a Keke beside me saw what was happening in front and stayed put. Cars were just running into each other, some looking to run into UBA for safety. Some urchins were smashing windscreens and displaying madness.
“I just found my way into that street beside UBA met traffic there, then people began to make U-turn again. The rearview looked clear, so I turned too,” he wrote.
The Lagos State police Command denied that its men killed anyone, insisting that the violence was as a result of false alarm raised by an errant driver who fled after he was caught driving against traffic.
Police spokesman, Bala Elkana, said five suspects have been arrested and calm restored. He insisted that no one was killed, explaining that it was the driver’s recklessness that pushed his conductor off their vehicle because their door was bad.
“Nobody died. Not even the conductor who fell off the vehicle as a result of the way his driver drove to evade arrest. He is admitted in the hospital. What happened was that the task force team was going for enforcement when they saw the bus driving against traffic. The driver also saw them and to evade arrest, he made a quick turn. Because of the speed, the door to their bus, which had already pulled out, fell off and the conductor fell with it.
“The driver fled the scene and he was the same person who went to tell his other colleagues that task force killed his conductor. Those ones then grouped themselves and came in four or five buses to attack the policemen.
“They injured the task force officials. One had serious injuries but four others had minor injuries. Reinforcement was sent in from neighbouring divisions and the situation was brought under control.
“Five of the suspects were arrested and that vehicle has been impounded. The conductor is on admission in a hospital where the task force team rushed him to after he fell from his bus. That is what I was told happened,” Elkana said.
