Soldiers In Lagos Burn BRT Buses, Beat Up Workers By SaharaReporters, New York
Soldiers in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, on Friday unleashed mayhem on the Palm Groove part of the city, in protest of injuries to a fellow soldier who was hit by the driver of a mass transit vehicle called Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).
Two eyewitnesses who spoke with SaharaReporters over the phone confirmed that the accident occurred in the morning, adding that a soldier riding a motorcycle was knocked down when he collided with a BRT bus.
They said that, contrary to impressions that other soldiers began to rampage over the death of their colleague, the soldier who collided with a BRT bus merely sustained some injuries.
“Everyone who gathered around the scene of the accident begged the angry soldier [who collided with the bus], but he refused to listen,” said one of the eyewitnesses. He added: “I don’t know exactly the extent of his injury, but someone who could make a call to his colleagues in the army was surely not injured to a level where he could not forgive the driver.”
One source added that minutes after the soldier made a call, dozens of other soldiers arrived at the scene and began vandalizing all BRT buses on sight.
In a reaction later, army officials claimed that the soldier who was hit by the bus actually died.
One of our sources depicted the frightening scene that unfurled once more soldiers descended on the scene. “Any BRT bus that they could lay their hands on, they set it on fire,” he said. He added: “I don’t think the buses they burnt were less than seven. You needed to see the flames that went up in the air.”
Our sources said BRT ticket sellers and other staff of the commuter buses were not spared severe beating by the furious soldiers. “I’m sure some of them have never been beaten in their lives the way they were beaten this morning,” one source said.
The incident resulted in a terrible traffic gridlock on Ikorodu Road, stretching beyond Maryland bus stop all the way to the Ketu area of the sprawling city of Lagos.
Our sources said many commuters were left no choice but to disembark from vehicles and trek to their places of work and other destinations.
“This kind of thing is just rubbish and should not be happening in any society,” said one of our sources, an engineer who had to abandon his vehicle and scuttle to safety to avoid the anger of the rampaging soldiers.
“Is this country so lawless that a group of soldiers can hold thousands of road users to ransom? Soldiers are supposed to help to maintain law and order. If they are the ones who are now breaking the law, it is such a huge shame.”
The military later released a statement contradicting the testimony of the eyewitnesses who spoke to us. The statement claimed that the soldier involved in an accident with a BRT bus actually died. The statement also denied that soldiers went on a rampage, instead accusing hoodlums on the scene of taking advantage of the fatal accident to unleash violence and other criminal activities.
The army statement, signed by a military spokesman, Omale Ochagwuba, read in part: “This morning, between 6:30 and 6:45 a.m., 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 toed 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 burnt [were] far away from the scene of the incident and that the BRT bus in particular that killed the soldier was not attacked or vandalized and it is still intact.”
The statement also credited army personnel “immediately dispatched to the scene” with restoring normalcy.
