Soldiers yesterday stormed a filling station on Ikorodu Road, Lagos, following the stabbing of their female colleague by some black market operators.
It all happened at Mobil Filling Station, Onipanu Bus Stop, where people scrambled to buy fuel with jerry cans.
The soldiers stormed the station, beating up people. The station was temporarily shut by the soldiers who wielded swords, cudgels and horsewhips.
They chased away the station attendants; beat up people indiscriminately on the adjoining Kayode Street, through where it was learnt, the hoodlums escaped. Traders on the street hurriedly closed shops and ran for dear lives.
An eyewitness, who simply gave his name as Samson, said the injured soldier was trying to ensure order at the station when the hoodlums attacked her.
Samson said: “The soldier was on the queue for fuel when the boys arrived with jerry cans and disrupted the queue. The soldier cautioned them to be orderly and volunteered to ensure all the people who came with jerry cans got fuel.
“But because the boys were in a hurry to get fuel, they interrupted the orderliness at the filling station. The soldier was punched by one of the boys and this led to a free-for-all.”
In the ensuing confusion, The Nation gathered that the soldier was stabbed by the hoodlums, who fled the scene immediately.
Her colleagues numbering about 10, arrived in a Volkswagen Gulf car marked BQ 49 FKJ and commercial motorcycles. They also crossed over to Forte Oil Filling Station on the other side of the road and chased away people who came to buy fuel with plastic containers.
Policemen attached to the nearby Onipanu Divisional Station, stood, watching the soldiers. A man identified as Alfa, was hit on his left eye with a club by one of the soldiers.
The Nation watched as the soldiers drove into Forte Oil to fill the jerry cans in their vehicle. Normalcy has returned to the area.