There was a pandemonium in Fagba area of Lagos yesterday when some transporters stormed the Fagba Park, wielding dangerous weapons.
Some transporters said loyalists of former Tricycle Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria (TOOAN) Zone ‘C’ Chairman Alhaji Azeez Abiola, popularly known as Istijabah, who felt threatened by the announcement of Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya popularly known as ‘MC Oluomo’ as Chairman, Lagos Parks and Garages Committee by the Lagos State government, stormed the park to attack loyalists of Akinsanya.
Many passengers including passers-by scampered for safety.
Abiola denied that his loyalists caused the crisis.
He said he had alerted security operatives including the Commissioner of Police Abiodun Alabi of imminent danger in the morning.
However, Olagunji Rasheed Akande, a tricycle driver, whose three-wheeler was burnt, said the boys were loyalists of Abiola.
According to him, the boys were shouting Akinsanya’s name and abusing him.
He said: “We were at the park around 10.30am. I parked my tricycle in the next street; I was not even on the line. I went to relieve myself when someone told me that my tricycle was being vandalised. When I got outside, I saw so many people about 40 to 50 of them, masked up. They came with buses, tricycles and bikes. They claimed to be from Abiola and kept shouting ‘where is the Chairman (the park chairman)!’ but the chairman had run away. The park is called Fagba Park. They kept shooting their guns; I counted nothing less than 15 to 20 guns including Pump action, pistols and local guns. Some were masked up whiles some weren’t. I can identify about for four or five of them. They were from Istijabah’s (Abiola) group.”