A Lagos State-owned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) vehicle, marked 240216 and managed by the Lagos Bus Services Ltd. (LBSL), was attacked in the Orile area of Lagos on Monday, FIJ can report.
Some accounts on X started circulating videos of the incident on Thursday. According to those social media accounts, the bus was attacked by agberos, a lingo for bus conductors and unofficial transport tax collectors in the state.
An undated statement signed by Afolabi Olawale, a public affairs officer at the LBSL, on Wednesday confirmed that hoodlums descended on the long bus while journeying from Mile 2 to Leventis, vandalising the bus and dispossessing passengers of their personal effects.
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Like the social media posts and other news reports on the incident, Olawale did not state the exact date the incident took place. In a video clip shot by a masculine voice, believed to be an LSBL employee, the real cause of the attack was almost disclosed, but the voice abruptly stopped and went ahead to narrate how the incident happened.
“We heard that the incident happened due to the LAMATA (Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority) enforcement that was trying to…,” the man said. LAMATA is an agency that manages the whole gamut of state-controlled public transport infrastructure.
However, the immediate cause of the attack remained unsaid.
On Thursday, FIJ visited Alaba Suru, the exact area in Orile where the bus attack happened, and spoke with two eyewitnesses.
FIJ can report that the attack was championed by aggrieved commercial motorcyclists whose motorcycles (known as okada) had earlier been confiscated by a task force team enforcing the subsisting okada ban policy in some parts of the state.
A petty trader at Alaba Suru, whose identity is withheld, told FIJ that the task force officials had gone to some areas, including Alaba, to seize motorcycles from erring commercial motorcyclists when the attack happened.
They further explained that one person got shot in the Alaba area during the enforcement activity. Usually, attempts at enforcing the ban on motorcycles by task force officials is resisted by motorcyclists, giving rise to violence.
Yesterday, BRT passengers were att@cked, rōɓbed in broad daylight by thûgs in orile, Lagos State. pic.twitter.com/dhLFOAPu0l— CHUKS (@ChuksEricE) August 15, 2024
Shortly after the enforcers left the Alaba area, an army of aggrieved motorcycle owners took over the road, marching towards Orile Bus-stop. When they got to the front of Sari Iganmu Junior Secondary School, they saw the BRT bus in traffic.
Witnesses claimed that the attackers chose to express their anger on the bus because it was a government property.
“They were too many on the road shouting, causing traffic congestion. When they saw the bus, they started shouting BRT and throwing various objects at it. People were on the bus,” the trader told FIJ.
“I believe they did that, believing it was a government property. It was the only bus they singled out for attack. Other vehicles in the traffic and commercial vehicles parked by the roadside were not attacked.
“When things like this happen, you cannot separate thugs from those who are genuinely angry. But the task force also had “area boys” [street thugs] on their team. It has become a practice for them to engage street boys during enforcement operations.”
“THINGS ARE TOUGH, BUT STEALING IS NOT A SOLUTION”
While noting that life was difficult for many people under the current economic dispensation, the trader stated that destroying the bus and stealing from fellow innocent Nigerians was unpardonable.
“One of the passengers on the bus bought sachet water from me. He said he was robbed of his phone and other items. I felt pity for him.
“I think that the government has warned motorcyclists about operating in those areas. But when family economies have crumbled, people would defy even the most stringent restrictive orders to make ends meet.
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“I know the government meant well for us by warning motorcyclists from operating in certain areas and advising traders to stay off the roadside, but the majority of us cannot afford a standard shop that cost millions of naira to rent.
“They (government) should consider that most of us are vulnerable and are struggling to survive. I think they should not be doing everything by force. They should be giving their policies a human face.”
When contacted for comments on Thursday, Benjamin Hundeyin, the Lagos police public relations officer, told FIJ that the incident had been reported to the command, but no arrest had been made.
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