Some operatives of the Lagos State Parks and Garages Management popularly called ‘Agberos or hoodlums’ have brutalised a commercial bus conductor, Saheed Alimi, in the Sabo area of Ikorodu.
The victim narrated to Punch how he had dropped off passengers at the bus stop on Monday when the hoodlums approached him and demanded N100 as payment for using the bus stop.
Alimi said he refused and the gang started flogging him with canes and tore his clothes as they dragged him on the tarred road.
The conductor claimed he lost N14,700 during the attack and later lodged a complaint at the police station before he was hospitalized.
He said: “I told them it wasn’t my final bus stop; that was how they started flogging me with canes; I told the driver to stop because the vehicle was still in motion and we couldn’t speed off in that area. The driver stopped and about three of them started flogging me again; they tore my clothes, dragged me on the floor and I lost the N14,700 in my pocket.
“We went to a police station to report the matter so I could be treated in a hospital. Two officers followed me to the spot where the incident happened but when we got there, we didn’t see them; they had taken to their heels.
“I am actually a driver but I couldn’t drive that day because of the constant pain I have in my hand when I drive.”
An eyewitness, Babajide Oguneko, who recorded the incident, lamented the constant attacks by the touts on commercial drivers and conductors.
He said: “This is how these agberos (hoodlums) treat commercial bus drivers and their conductors in Ikorodu. See the way they are dragging him. There’s no one to rescue him; they’ve injured him. They’re assaulting him just because of a token.”
In an interview, the bus driver, Moruff Dawuda, confirmed the conductor was badly injured, noting that he also pleaded with the hoodlums to spare him but they didn’t listen to him.
He said: “Saheed (Alimi) is actually a driver but he decided to be a conductor that day. I drove the bus that day and it was because of N100 that they brutalised him. He was beaten and dragged on the floor; his hand was injured. I was pleading with them that he already had pain in his hand but they didn’t listen. Instead, they started flogging me with their canes as well.
“I wasn’t injured, but my conductor was badly injured and he had to go to the hospital. We reported to the Sagamu Road Police Station and he was given a police case request for medical treatment. Please, we need help; something needs to be done about the constant attacks by these hoodlums.”
The President of the Joint Drivers Welfare Association of Nigeria, Akintade Abiodun, said a meeting had been scheduled with the Chairman, of Lagos State Parks and Garages Management, Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo, regarding recent attacks on commercial drivers and conductors by touts working for the agency.
According to him, the drivers are demanding that the ‘agebros’ should be taken off the road and allowed to stay at the motor parks.
He said: “At the meeting, we will lodge our complaints and present our reports, so that something will be done about this matter. Our demand is that he should get these boys off the road and take them back to the motor parks. It is unfair for them to be on the highway harassing us”.
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