Violence reigns freely along the Abule Egba axis of the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway Wednesday as two commercial motorists were allegedly killed in the early hours of the day by officials of the Lagos State Taskforce following a disagreement.
The victims said to be a driver and conductor, were allegedly shot by the officials for yet to be ascertained reasons.
Another account indicated that the Taskforce officials crushed the driver with their patrol vehicle, a development that provoked the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the axis.
At the time of this report, the crisis was said to have escalated to Alakuko with sporadic gunshots heard and bottles flung across the road.
Motorists caught up in the chaos alleged that some road users were hit by stray bullets while multiple accidents were recorded as people struggled to leave the scene of violence.
Commuters also lamented the absence of commercial vehicles which forced most of them to trek for long distances.
Indeed hundreds of commuters were stranded at the Ota Toll gate as Lagos bound buses decline to carry passengers going towards Abule Egba where enraged NURTW members and touts barricaded the expressway.
They stopped commercial bus drivers and ask them to drop their passengers in solidarity with those killed in the mellee.
Most of the Lagos bound vehicles at Toll gate area charged exorbitant fares as they explained they had to take alternative routes to come out after Abule Egba,the theatre of the crisis.
Hence,a journey of about thirty minutes took one hour as the on going repair of the expressway being undertaken by construction giant Julius Berger, made a road diversion at Kola and this caused major traffic gridlock.
Commercial buses which failed to drop their passengers had their windscreen damaged by the angry men of the NURTW.
One Faidah Isola, who said she trekked from Abule Egba to Kola Bus Stop as a result of the fight between drivers and Taskforce, described Lagos as a terrible place.
Narrating his experience, a Twitter user said he saw how vehicles were reversing and making U-turn on the road.
“I was just hearing crashes. Some Policemen in a Keke beside me saw what was happening in front and stayed put. Cars were just running into each other, some looking to run into UBA for safety. Some urchins were smashing windscreens and displaying madness.
“I just found my way into that street beside UBA met traffic there, then people began to make U-turn again. The rearview looked clear, so I turned too,” he wrote.
Police spokesman Bala Elkana could not be reached for comment at the time of this report.
