The Nigerian Army has denied that its officers were responsible for the attack on BRT buses and drivers in
Lagos on Friday.
Witnesses had told NigeriaEye how rampaging soldiers attacked BRT buses along the Ikorodu road. The soldiers were allegedly protesting the killing of their colleague by a BRT bus driver.
NigerianEye also learnt that about Four BRT buses were burnt down and three others with damaged wind screen along the Onipanu/ Palmgrove section of the Ikorodu Expressway.
Speaking to journalists, the Nigerian Army spokesperson, Olajide Olaleye, denied that the soldiers set the bus ablaze.
He blamed "area boys" for the mayhem.
"It's not true that the soldiers destroyed buses or set any bus on fire. What happened was that a BRT bus knocked down a soldier and killed him. As usual in Lagos, area boys gathered and a few soldiers stopped at the scene as well.
The GOC has dispatched military policemen to the scene to help restore law and order," Mr. Olaleye said.
Meanwhile at the scene of the mayhem, NE witnessed soldiers, accompanying an OPMESA truck, with the insignia of a one star general, confiscating phones and brutalising those taking pictures of the burnt buses.
There were conflicting reports on the state of the soldier who was hit by the BRT bus while riding a motorcycle on the BRT lane reserved only for such buses.
Some witnesses who managed to take pictures, sent them NigerianEye.
It is still not clear if the soldier who was hit, died. While some witnesses claimed that the soldier died, others claimed that the soldier was knocked down by the bus on the BRT lane but was not killed.
They said he made a phone call after he was knocked down; and refused to listen to pleas from those at the scene to forgive the driver of the bus.
"The army officers who gathered there told us that the bus driver and the army officers were struggling for supremacy on the road, the driver wanted to push him away from the road and in the end, he hit him," said Olalekan Ajayi, a witness.
The accident prompted army officers, including those from the Nigerian Army Ordinance Corps, some kilometres away, to rush to the scene.
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Stupid soldiers! Where they're needed @ Sambissa, you won't find them there.
ReplyDeleteWe've read so many versions of this story that we don't even know which one to believe. One told us the soldier rode into a stationary broken down bus,the other said the soldier who was on high speed on his speed byke,collided with another bus while avoiding a BRT bus on speed.
ReplyDeleteOne thing is,you guys can do whatever you like but stop calling us fools. If the army was not involved in the destruction done,why stop people from recording the events there? Why restrict people from using their mobile devices? Why beat up a journalist who was try trying to capture activities there? At least they should have allowed him get the story of how a wreckless bus driver knocked down a soldier and nothing was done to save his life as they claimed. We are far away from being civilised,that's the truth. We see everyday how those that should protect the law are ones that always break it. When you see a vehicle driving against the traffic,it's either a police man or a soldier or other security operatives are driving or sitting in front and protecting the person breaking the law. Intellectual poverty is our problem. In Nigeria,once you are a security operative,you are above the law. They all piss me off!
Unknown soldiers nahin do ham
ReplyDeleteWe will only see changes once the people starts to seek answers to stuff like this. I hope Fashola will put the Army on the spot by seeking prosecution for the crime committed here.
ReplyDelete