Pandemonium as Okada riders, illegal shanty owners clash with Taskforce in Lagos

There was pandemonium Wednesday at the Fagba area of Iju and Abattoir area of Okoba when commercial motorcycle operators and illegal occupants of shanties on rail lines engaged the officials of the Lagos State Taskforce.

Many people, including Policemen were injured during the fight that lasted for close to an hour.

During the fight, gun, bottles, stone, irons ,charms and other cudgels were freely used by the okada rider and shanties owners against the police .

The police also used teargas and shot into the air to scare their attackers away.

Residents, passersby and traders ran for cover while motorists drove recklessly to flee the scene.

However, many people were injured during the crisis either from the dangerous weapons used or in the cause of the stampede.

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A shanty owner at Fagba, Muhammed Usman, told our Correspondent that,” the cost of renting a house in Lagos is too expensive and beyond the shanties owners, so we decided to store our goods in the shanties. We can’t afford house rents in Lagos. I am a scavenger, no landlord will give me a house to store the rubbish that I pick everyday and we are not allowed to sleep in Abattoir market. “Our places in the North have been taken over by bandits and terrorists.we don’t know where to run to.Taskforce should leave us alone”

An Okada rider,Musa Ibrahim,said,” we pay money for tickets to the officials of the Lagos state government, yet it is the same government that sends its agency to come after us. If they don’t want us to operate in the area, they should stop selling tickets to us. The same thing with the police. We contribute money for the police,yet they are the ones that will still excort government agency to raid us. That is why we will continue to resist the government agencies, especially Taskforce and the police.We will fight them with anything at our disposal. I am happy that some policemen will regret coming to raid us today, because we really dealt with them”.

However, Director, Press & Public Affairs Lagos state taskforce, Gbadeyan Abdulraheem, in a statement said, the agency successfully cleared out shanties and impounded 359 okada.

Source: blueprint.ng