
Iyana Ipaja, Tuesday morning
Lagos commuters stranded, as mini bus operators protest killing of colleague by Task Force operatives

[By VICTOR NZE]
Following the alleged killing of a mini bus (Danfo) operator in the Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos, Tuesday, the drivers have pulled out of the roads in protest.


A source confirmed to Oracle Today newspaper that the commercial mini-bus drivers after a meeting called to register their grievances and plight over activities of operatives of the Lagos State Task Force on Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit, withdrew their services from the roads.
According to the drivers, the withdrawal of operations from the roads is for two days, starting from Tuesday.
The protest is also against the alleged killing of their colleague, same Tuesday, by operatives of the Task Force.
“These people (task force), their own is too much. We are protesting, we will not work in Alimosho, from Iyana Ipaja to Iba; we are staying away from the roads. Imagine, today, they killed our member and his conductor. Our members have all been warned to keep their buses away from there. Anybody we see his bus on the road, we will damage it. These task force people are giving up too much problem, and we are going to settle that matter today,” said Taju Akintayo also a driver who plies the Ikotun-Iyana Ipaja axis of the Iyana Iba-Iyana Ipaja road, Tuesday.
It was further learnt that the incident that sparked the protest today was the alleged killing of a bus driver and his conductor at Iyana-Ipaja on Monday.
The enforcement of the stay-away by the mini-bus drivers was also assisted by members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) which is the parent body for all commercial motor operators on the Lagos roads.
For commuters on that axis, other than the intervention of the Lagos BRT operations many were stranded going in or out of Alimosho council as they were caught unawares by the action of the mini-bus operators.
Stranded commuters lined up the stretch of road from Iyana –Ipaja through Egbeda to Isheri – Ikotun-Igando-LASU Road-Iyana Iba in the state.
Private cars and some renegade commercial bus operators who tried to intervene by assisting the stranded commuters were violently attacked, as some commercial buses suffered broken windscreens as a result.
Responding to the allegation of high-handedness by his operatives, Chairman, Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force), Mr Sola Jejeloye, acknowledged that there are some fake and corrupt individuals who pretend to be members of the task force to extort innocent drivers.
He said that the unit was doing everything in its power to apprehend those guilty of the allegations.
“We have arrested some of them in the past and we have strengthened our surveillance to arrest those still in the act to bring them to book.
“I, hereby, appeal to residents and protesting commercial drivers to give peace a chance as everything will be fine to address this once and for all,” he said.
He, however, stated that there was no evidence yet to prove the extortion made by his men.
“I urge anyone with evidence of extortion against task force men to come forward and I assure them of prompt action against such errant officers as deterrence,” the Task Force boss said.