When our correspondents visited the area, it was observed that about 10 vehicles were vandalised with broken pieces of glass scattered all over the area.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the clash, which began around 10am, was as a result of the resistance by some drivers to arrest by the task force personnel.
An eyewitness, Ms Bejide Lawal, said the people who were involved in the incident were drivers, noting that the police wanted to arrest them but they resisted.
Lawal explained that when the police were unable to arrest the drivers as they began pelting the personnel with missiles, the police started firing live bullets and tear gas canisters at the crowd.
She stated that the police were eventually able to arrest some of the drivers.
Lawal said, “The police fought with the drivers this morning. They wanted to arrest the drivers but the drivers prevented the police personnel. But as the police insisted on arresting them, the drivers began to hurl stones at them.
“It was then that the police personnel started firing shots in the air and at the crowd. They also fired tear gas canisters at the people. Apart from this, they arrested some drivers.”
One of the drivers, identified simply as Mutiu, whose bus was vandalised, said the attack was a reprisal by the task force personnel.
Mutiu noted that on Tuesday, the task force personnel were prevented from making arrests by soldiers around the area.
He alleged that the soldiers failed to intervene when the officers returned on Wednesday.
He stated, “On Tuesday, when the task force officers came to Mile 12 to arrest buses on the service lane, the soldiers on duty prevented them, because it was an illegal operation.
“When they came today (Wednesday), they started impounding all the vehicles that were on the service lane. One of the drivers resisted arrest and he was attacked with a machete. That was when the drivers mobilised to confront them. The officers fired tear gas canisters but the drivers were undeterred by that.
“They chased the task force officers and in reprisal, the officers chased the drivers back to the Mandela Garage and they started vandalising buses and shooting indiscriminately. It was in the process that one of the conductors, Tunde Oja, was hit by a stray bullet.”
Another motorist, simply identified as Dairo, said the vehicles vandalised were undergoing repairs, lamenting that the task force personnel were frustrating his and others’ source of livelihood.
He said, “These vandalised vehicles were parked for repairs and were not on the road, yet they still deemed it fit to come and vandalise them. Some of the vehicles had been parked here for months, because we don’t have money to repair them yet.
“We are trying to make a honest living, yet the government is frustrating our efforts.”
A commuter, Mrs Serifat Tijani, said passengers had to alight from the buses they boarded in order to take cover while the shooting lasted.
However, the Chairman of the task force, CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi, said the enforcement operations around Mile 12 were carried out to rid the area of cultists and miscreants disturbing innocent members of the public.
In a statement issued by the spokesperson of the agency, Adebayo Taofiq, he said the task force arrested seven notorious miscreants and a cult leader for attacking its personnel.
Egbeyemi added that the agency acted on ‘Save our Soul’ petitions submitted to its office by the residents of Mile 12 and its environs.
He said, “During the attack, an officer of the agency, Sergeant Damilola Adeojo, was seriously injured with cutlasses and broken bottles, and he is presently receiving treatment and undergoing series of tests at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.”
The chairman, however, said that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Zubairu Mu’azu, had directed that all those arrested be charged to court.
“One of the arrested miscreants, Mr Ojo Opeyemi, claimed that they were given cutlasses and broken bottles by their group leaders at the Akanimodo area to attack the task force personnel,” he added.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Bala Elkana, confirmed that one person was killed in the clash.
He added that investigation was ongoing to determine what led to the death.
Elkana stated, “The hoodlums came with all manners of weapons to attack the officers when they went to carry out their duties. A sergeant from the task force was injured and is now in the Intensive Care Unit receiving treatment.
“They (task force personnel) had to fire tear gas canisters to disperse the hoodlums, which resulted in the death of one person. The CP has ordered an investigation into the matter.”
Posts
Thank you for reaching out to us. We are happy to receive your opinion and request. If you need advert or sponsored post, We’re excited you’re considering advertising or sponsoring a post on our blog. Your support is what keeps us going. With the current trend, it’s very obvious content marketing is the way to go. Banner advertising and trying to get customers through Google Adwords may get you customers but it has been proven beyond doubt that Content Marketing has more lasting benefits.
We offer majorly two types of advertising:
1. Sponsored Posts: If you are really interested in publishing a sponsored post or a press release, video content, advertorial or any other kind of sponsored post, then you are at the right place.
WHAT KIND OF SPONSORED POSTS DO WE ACCEPT?
Generally, a sponsored post can be any of the following:
Press release
Advertorial
Video content
Article
Interview
This kind of post is usually written to promote you or your business. However, we do prefer posts that naturally flow with the site’s general content. This means we can also promote artists, songs, cosmetic products and things that you love of all products or services.
DURATION & BONUSES
Every sponsored article will remain live on the site as long as this website exists. The duration is indefinite! Again, we will share your post on our social media channels and our email subscribers too will get to read your article. You’re exposing your article to our: Twitter followers, Facebook fans and other social networks.
We will also try as much as possible to optimize your post for search engines as well.
Submission of Materials : Sponsored post should be well written in English language and all materials must be delivered via electronic medium. All sponsored posts must be delivered via electronic version, either on disk or e-mail on Microsoft Word unless otherwise noted.
PRICING
The price largely depends on if you’re writing the content or we’re to do that. But if your are writing the content, it is $60 per article.
2. Banner Advertising: We also offer banner advertising in various sizes and of course, our prices are flexible. you may choose to for the weekly rate or simply buy your desired number of impressions.
Technical Details And Pricing
Banner Size 300 X 250 pixels : Appears on the home page and below all pages on the site.
Banner Size 728 X 90 pixels: Appears on the top right Corner of the homepage and all pages on the site.
Large rectangle Banner Size (336x280) : Appears on the home page and below all pages on the site.
Small square (200x200) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Half page (300x600) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Portrait (300x1050) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Billboard (970x250) : Appears on the home page.
Submission of Materials : Banner ads can be in jpeg, jpg and gif format. All materials must be deliverd via electronic medium. All ads must be delivered via electronic version, either on disk or e-mail in the ordered pixel dimensions unless otherwise noted.
For advertising offers, send an email with your name,company, website, country and advert or sponsored post you want to appear on our website to advert @ alexa. ng
Normally, we should respond within 48 hours.