Soldiers on Friday unleashed violence on Palmgrove and Onipanu areas of the Ikorodu Road in Lagos State as they destroyed BRT buses and brutalised residents following the killing of a lance corporal identified as Matthew Ishaya, who was knocked down by one of the buses. The lance corporal was said to be riding a power bike when he collided with the BRT bus that killed him. An eyewitness, who simply identified himself as Oladosu, said, “The BRT driver wanted to swerve from its lane and could not control the speed at which he was moving when the accident occurred. The soldier too was on top speed. So, neither of them was able to slow down when the incident occurred. The soldier ran under the bus and died in the process.”
It was, however, learnt that the soldier was preparing to hold a naming ceremony for his newly-born baby on Saturday (today). When the driver of the bus discovered that he had killed the soldier, he was said to have fled. Dozens of soldiers said to have come from the Intelligence Unit of the Nigerian Army at Yaba, later stormed the Palmgroove, Obanikoro, Fadeyi and Onipanu areas, setting ablaze BRT buses in sight. As of the time our correspondents visited the scene, not less than six BRT buses had been set ablaze at the Palmgroove and Onipanu areas. Two of the buses were seen still burning at 12noon. The soldiers blocked one side of the road, creating at least a six hour traffic standstill on the usually busy Ikorodu Road.
The shed at the bus stop was also not spared as it was razed. One of our correspondents noted that a filling station was located beside where the BRT buses were set ablaze. Apart from the burnt buses, 10 others were vandalised with window smashed and their tyres punctured. Eye witnesses also recounted tales of the beating that residents, passersby and onlookers got from the rampaging soldiers. Journalists and curious residents, who attempted to take photographs or make recordings at the scene of the mayhem, were not spared as phones, cameras, tablets and iPads were confiscated and smashed by the rampaging soldiers. An eyewitness said, “They beat people and smashed their smartphones and tablets. They even beat a policeman who was trying to capture the incident.”
One of the policemen, who was at the scene, confirmed the incident to our correspondent. He said, “As you can see, we even had to call our commissioner to plead with the soldiers to release our colleague’s phone. He is there begging them.” An operations manager of the BRT scheme, Mr. Joseph Anosike, said, “We have driven all our buses to the depot to prevent them from further destruction. “I have called all our drivers to remove all our buses from the road and park them. The soldiers are not even allowing any of our buses to ply the road anymore. “Once the soldiers see any in sight, they order the passengers to disembark and then set it ablaze or smash the glasses. We have lost some buses in the process.”