It was all fury at Palmgrove,Lagos yesterday after soldiers seized a stretch of the ever busy Ikorodu Road, vandalising vehicles ,beating up motorists and commuters and disrupting traffic flow for several hours.
Thousands of motorists and commuters caught in the breakdown of law and order ran helter skelter for their lives.Many motorists abandoned their cars.Commuters were harassed by the soldiers and street urchins who cashed in on the situation to deprive people of money,handsets and other valuables.
Newspaper photographers who rushed to the scene were also attacked by the soldiers and hoodlums.Their cameras were either seized or smashed.
No fewer than four buses belonging to the Lagos State –owned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) were burnt and eight others vandalised.
The soldiers were venting their anger over the alleged killing of a fellow soldier in a motor cycle accident at the Idi-Iroko Bus Stop on the road earlier in the day.
They blamed a BRT bus for killing the soldiers.
There were two versions of how the soldier died.
One was that the soldier rammed into the broken-down BRT bus and died instantly.
The vehicle was said to have been parked on that spot since Wednesday after developing a fault.
Apparently,there was no hazard warning to alert other road users to danger ahead.
The other version was that two soldiers were riding motorcycle on a BRT lane when they were hit by a LAGBUS at 9 am.
One died instantly and the other slightly injured.
The deceased soldier was said to be on the back seat of the motorcycle when tragedy struck. Small motorcycles are banned from plying Lagos highways.
Witnesses said the second soldier then rushed to a nearby barracks and mobilised his colleagues to the accident scene. About a hundred of them rushed to the scene and immediately went on the rampage.
They were soon joined by the area boys to unleash terror on passers-by.
There were no deaths or injuries in the incident. The soldiers blocked the road and s gridlock soon ensued.
Policemen looked on as the soldiers and the street urchins terrorised innocent citizens.
Drivers and passengers inside BRT buses fled as the rampaging soldiers went for them. Passengers of smaller buses had to abandon the buses and run for their lives.
As the traffic situation on the road deteriorated,commercial vehicle drivers hiked their fares.
Commercial activites in and around the area were paralysed for as long as the rampage lasted as shops and offices shut down
Television stations broadcast pictures of the buses up in flames. Twitter and Facebook buzzed with comments from residents lampooning the soldiers for their action.
NURTW 1st BRT,the transport company which is in charge of the operation of the Bus Rapid Transit buses plying Mile 12 to TBS route denied that its vehicle killed any soldier yesterday.
Public Relations Officer of the company, Nonye Onwumere, said in a statement that the deceased soldier ran into a stationary LAGBUS bus and died in the process.
She said: “On Thursday night, a red LAGBUS, which is run by Mutual Assurance and marked Mo63, broke down on Ikorodu Road before Palmgrove Bus Stop. Early in the morning, around 7.15am, a military personnel on a bike, driving on top speed, ran into the stationary bus.
“After the accident, three female and two male soldiers going to work, alighted from a vehicle to help their colleague. After seeing the extent of the accident, they gathered and became violent, stopping all BRT buses and ordering the passengers down. They beat some of the passengers and BRT personnel and then set some of our vehicles ablaze. They did not even care to know that our BRT are different from the red buses.
“The accident, which was not caused by our vehicle, has caused enormous losses as four of the buses which are not up to a month old have been burnt beyond repair while 13 others have been seriously vandalised. We lost over N100m”
“According to corridor supervisors at the scene, four BRT personnel were beaten and abducted by the soldiers but were later released.”
An eyewitness who gave his name as Bade said: “ a few minutes after the incident occurred, we just saw a lorry load of armed military men. They set a BRT bus ablaze.
“ An officer among them who probably was averse to the action tried to put out the fire. The situation went out of hand after another officer who was boiling with rage charged the junior officers to show what makes them different from civilians.
“Immediately he made the statement, the soldiers went wild , setting ablaze every BRT bus that came their way and vandalizing several others. They vandalized no fewer than seven buses. They did not limit their anger to the buses alone. They also unleashed terror on innocent road users who were trying to use their Ipads, camera phones and other devices to take shots of the burning buses. Some of the victims had their devices seized and smashed by the soldiers. Others were thoroughly beaten and later released for attempting to take photographs of the scene.”
A BRT bus driver who preferred anonymity said he and his passengers were forced to disembark from the bus by the angry soldiers. “Immediately they ordered us to get down, they instructed us to frog jump. I can’t remember the last time I did such a strenuous exercise. ”
A resident who gave his name as Sunday berated the military for the action saying: “Even if their colleague was truly killed by a BRT bus driver, they shouldn’t have gone ahead to unleash terror on the people. ”It was an accident which could have happened to anyone. If all of us act like this every time someone is killed in an accident, what would become of the state and the country at large?
Spokesperson for the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army , Lt Col OA Ochagwub said of the development: “This morning (yesterday) between 6:30 – 6:45am, a BRT bus knocked down and killed a soldier around Obanikoro area while on his way to the office.
“The driver of the bus took the body of the soldier into the bus and attempted to drive away. But when the other soldiers who witnessed the incident rushed to the scene, the driver of the bus ran away with the key. The soldiers then secured the vehicle which was later towed away to safety in our custody.
“Area boys then took advantage of the incident and started attacking BRT Buses. From observation you will discover that, the BRT buses bunt are far away from the scene of the incident and that the BRT bus in particular that killed the soldier was not attacked nor vandalized and it is still intact.
“Our personnel were immediately dispatched to the scene to restore normalcy. So that traffic could flow. .
