The Lagos State Government has suspended the operations of the National Union of Road Transport Workers in the Idumota area of Lagos Island following the deadly clash recorded in the area.
Lagos State Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, made this known in a chat with The PUNCH on Tuesday.
“It is a suspension in the area where there was trouble, not a general suspension in the state,” Omotosho told our correspondent.
Also, the Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Transportation, Oluwatoyin Fayinka, in a statement on Tuesday, said NURTW operations are suspended at Eyin Eyo, Church Street and Idumota Bridge indefinitely due to the recent violence in those areas.
The statement was titled, ‘LASG Suspends NURTW Activities At Eyin Eyo, Church Street And Idumota Bridge’.
Fayinka said the decision was taken at a stakeholders’ meeting comprising NURTW, Central Business District and Lagos State Market Women Association (Iya Oloja General and Iya Oloja of Lagos Island) on Tuesday.
Fayinka further stated that the Rapid Response Squad will station an Armored Personnel Carrier on Idumota Bridge to deter motorists from driving against traffic in compliance with traffic Rules and Regulations and to enforce the suspension of the NURTW within the axis and simultaneously flush out the Oju Opake boys lurking along Plaza around Church Street axis.
Also suspended are the activities of the transport union at Church Street and John Street particularly Keke Marwa and Mini Buses (Korope).
“State Security Operatives are hereby put on Red Alert to ensure Safety and Security of lives and property in Lagos Island and environs,” Fayinka stated.
The Lagos State Rapid Response Squad had on Monday arrested prominent NURTW members in the state, Kunle Poly and Sego.
The police said Kunle Poly and Sego are principal suspects in the recurring clashes in Idumota and its environs.
The latest clash which occurred last Thursday had intermittently crippled commercial activities in the area.
“The arrest was effected today at a meeting where the two NURTW members along with some other stakeholders converged.
“Kunle Poly and Sego are currently being transferred to Zone II, Onikan, Lagos,” the RRS said in a statement.
The PUNCH had reported that two persons were feared killed during a clash between two factional members of a transport union in the Idumota area of Lagos.
The two factions – Eyo boys, reportedly loyal to a union leader known as Kunle Poly, and Kosoko boys – have been at loggerheads over control of territory in the bustling commercial centre.
It was gathered that Eyo boys expected Kosoko boys collecting levies from commercial bus drivers on Idumota Bridge to make returns but the latter declined.
The growing tension reportedly erupted in a clash around 12pm on Thursday as hoodlums fired gunshots and brandished cutlasses.
One person was said to have been shot dead while another bled to death from machete cuts inflicted on him.
The violence forced traders in markets around the area to abruptly shut down their shops and run for dear life.
Videos of the clash went viral on Friday, with one of the clips showing a bloodied youth being carried away in a wheelbarrow as people ran helter-skelter.
However, normalcy was restored to the area on Friday as policemen and soldiers were stationed in strategic points around the scene but commercial activities had yet to fully return.
-PUNCH
