Lagos: Commercial Drivers Raise Alarm Over Constant Attacks By Louts, Management To Meet MC Oluomo

Commercial bus drivers in Lagos State under the aegis of the Joint Drivers Welfare Association of Nigeria (JDWAN) have decried the rate of constant attacks on drivers and conductors by louts suspected to be workers of the Lagos State Parks and Garages Management.

Naija News reports that the President of JDWAN, Akintade Abiodun has disclosed that a meeting has been scheduled with the Chairman, of Lagos State Parks and Garages Management, Musiliu Akinsanya, aka MC Oluomo, over the recent attacks on commercial drivers and conductors by louts working for the agency.

According to him, the group intends to demand that the workers of the agency should be taken off the street and back to the park.

Abiodun told Punch that “At the meeting, we will lodge our complaints and present our reports, so that something will be done about this matter. Our demand is that he should get these boys off the road and take them back to the motor parks. It is unfair for them to be on the highway harassing us.”

However, Naija News understands that the decision to schedule a meeting with MC Oluomo resulted from a recent attack on a conductor by louts suspected to be workers of the agency because of N100.

It was learnt that a commercial bus conductor identified as Saheed Alimi, in the Sabo area of Ikorodu, Lagos State was attacked on Monday by a gang alleged to be workers of the parks and garage management because he refused to pay N100 for dropping passengers at the said bus stop.

It was gathered that the said gang flogged Alimi with canes and dragged him on the tarred road because he refused to pay their demand of N100.

Alimi, who narrated his ordeal to Punch on Thursday claimed he eventually misplaced N14,700 during the attack and was eventually hospitalized.

The attacked conductor said “I told them it wasn’t my final bus stop; that was how they started flogging me with canes; I told the driver to stop because the vehicle was still in motion and we couldn’t speed off in that area. The driver stopped and about three of them started flogging me again; they tore my clothes, dragged me on the floor and I lost the N14,700 in my pocket.

“We went to a police station to report the matter so I could be treated in a hospital. Two officers followed me to the spot where the incident happened but when we got there, we didn’t see them; they had taken to their heels.

“I am actually a driver but I couldn’t drive that day because of the constant pain I have in my hand when I drive.”

The bus driver who Alimi worked with on the day of the attack, Moruff Dawuda also told Punch that, he pleaded with the group to spare his conductor, but they refused and started flogging him as well.

He said, “Saheed (Alimi) is actually a driver but he decided to be a conductor that day. I drove the bus that day and it was because of N100 that they brutalised him. He was beaten and dragged on the floor; his hand was injured. I was pleading with them that he already had pain in his hand but they didn’t listen. Instead, they started flogging me with their canes as well.

“I wasn’t injured, but my conductor was badly injured and he had to go to the hospital. We reported to the Sagamu Road Police Station and he was given a police case request for medical treatment. Please, we need help; something needs to be done about the constant attacks by these hoodlums.”

Meanwhile, an eyewitness identified as Babajide Oguneko, who recorded the incident also submitted that “This is how these agberos (hoodlums) treat commercial bus drivers and their conductors in Ikorodu. See the way they are dragging him. There’s no one to rescue him; they’ve injured him. They’re assaulting him just because of a token.”

While it was learnt that the state Police Public Relations Office, Benjamin Hundeyin, revealed that efforts were being made to apprehend the culprits, efforts to reach MC Oluomo’s aide, Jimoh Buhari to react to the development failed.

The Lagos police PRO said, “The DPO is making efforts to arrest the culprits, who are at large.”