Police officers and motorcycle riders battled on the Iyana Iba, Alaba, Agric, and Barracks ends of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway in Lagos State on Thursday, causing chaos.
The confrontation began when personnel from the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit (Task Force) and the Rapid Response Squad visited the regions to police state traffic laws, according to Naija 02 sources.
The agents were claimed to have confiscated motorbikes along the road and given residents of the Alaba Rago Market notice to quit the premises.
Some of the motorcyclists opposed the confiscation of their bikes, resulting in a fight between them and the security personnel, according to our sources.
Residents’ verified video footage released on Twitter caught the moments when several motorbike riders assaulted police officers.
One of the videos, shared by Harrison Onuoha @chukwunaeduya, shows police firing as demonstrators, allegedly Hausa Okada riders, flung stones and sticks at them.
“See crowd of Aboki pursuing policemen; see the policemen running and shooting. Look at the road; everywhere, there is no road. Aboki holds sticks, police hold gun, but still running,” the man capturing the video said in Pidgin English.
Commuters lamented being stuck while several routes were blocked by demonstrators, according to another resident, @emazkid7.
“Aboki and policemen are seriously fighting at Iyana-Iba Ojo Lagos Badagry Expressway. Stay away from the axis,”
the user said.
While filming himself, the user said:
“Good morning everybody, anybody seen at Iyana Iba, Iyana Isashi, Alaba International, Tradefair, no movement anywhere. Better you stay back, Hausa and police are fighting, shooting gun everywhere.”
There was also tension at the Volks and Agboju end of the highway, according to Gbemi Dennis.
During the operation, authorities seized around 200 motorbikes, according to Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer Benjamin Hundeyin.
He said:
“There was no clash, no casualty, nobody injured. Police impounded over 200 motorcycles and as expected, some of the motorcycle riders were unruly and confrontational, but nothing degenerated into a clash.
“The motorcyclists were just resisting the impoundment of their motorcycles. Before the current ban, there has been an existing ban.”
115 bikes were detained during another enforcement operation in the state’s Lekki district, according to task force authorities.
CSP Shola Jejeloye, the agency’s chairman, was reported in a statement as saying that the operation will continue.
“We will make sure that their activities are curtailed till they abide by the rules. They will never be above the law no matter how large their numbers are,” he added.
The lynching of a sound engineer, David Sunday, by suspected motorcyclists who beat him and his coworkers, Frank and Philip, among others, on Admiralty Way, Lekki, prompted the operation, dubbed ‘Operation Kogberegbe,’ according to Naija02.
Yomi Idowu, Chairman of the Lekki Phase I Residents Association, called the killing “dastardly, animalistic and senseless.”
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